52 Salmon^ Herbal. Lib. I. 
Seed in fomwhat long and fquare pointed Husks or 
Cods , which Seed is very fmall and Blackifh. 
fan car Aire, Jlsp/l&dif • 
VIII. The Specification. There has been nothing 
in a conftant Obferation, to which they can be laid 
to be peculiar ; Authors having as to their Virtues 
been filent. 
IX. T be Preparations. You may make from the’ 
Roots, I. A Decoffion. 2. A Juice . 3. An EJJence. 
4. A Syrup. An Ointment. 6 . ABalfam. 7. A 
Catap/afm. 8. A Saline SinUure. 
The Virtues. 
X. Altho’ Authors have laid nothing of the Vertues 
of thefe Plants; yet, by theit Taftes, and other Sig- 
natures, they leem to have the Virtues of the Garden 
Afpboielsfiao poffibly not lb Potent and Efficacious: I 
have made feveral ttyalls of them, and have found 
the Drcocfion'ln open obftruftions of the Lungs and 
provoke Urine. With the Juice given to ij. ounces 
for fome days in White Wine, I once, provoked the 
Courfes in a Woman where they were obltrufted : 
and with the Syrup and EJJence, I have cured fome 
that have had extream Colds. The Balfam I know 
to be a good Vulnerary, and the Ointment is very 
difcuflive and refolutive, and good againft the Gout. 
The Saline Tinffjere provokes Urine, and clears the 
Reins and Urinary Paffages of Sand, Gravel, Slime 
and Tartarous Matter, given to ij. drams in White 
Wine : the other Preparations I have not much ufed ; 
but this laft, (as it is theeafieft made) I have often- 
times proved, and that with good Succfs. 
CHAP. XXXVIII. 
Of Garden ASPARAGUS. 
*r 
IV. The letter Kind, has a Root which conjifts of 
of a few whitifh long Fibres , not creeping far , or 
much , but increafing into f undry Heads, from whence 
fpring forth many fmooth green Leaves , narrower , 
fhorter, and frefher than the former , ( Gerard fays, 
two Inches and a half or three Inches long, fome what 
broad at the bottom and fharper towards their ends ) 
not much unlike to a narrow Flower de luce, but 
neither fo hard nor fo thick-, from among which 
Leaves rifes up a Stalk, which fcarcely attains to be a 
Foot high , having very few fmall Leaves thereon, 
( Gerard fays it is fmooth and without any Leaves 
thereon •, ) towards the top whereof, in a f piked Head 
comes forth fmall Flowers, of a paler yellow than the 
former, and of a pretty Star like fafhion, which be- 
ing gon, there fuccecds fmall three fquare reddifh 
Husks, or longijh little Cods, which , Gerard fays, are 
fometimes four or five Square, and in which is con- 
tained fmall reddifh brown Seed. 
V. The F laces. They are both found Wild in 
England , as well as in other places beyond Sea, in 
MarfhandWet Grounds: the firft near Lancafler, 
in the Moorifh Grounds there, as alfo near unto 
Mandfley, and Mart on , two Villages not far from 
thence j as alfo at the Foot of Baefhot Hill in the 
Weft of England, near to a Village of the fame 
Name. The fecond grows near Egham, not far 
from the River fide there, and in many other places, 
in the Weft of England. 
VI. The Times. They Flower in May, June, 
.and July and the Seed is ripe, about a Month 
after the Flowers are gon : molt of their Leaves re- 
T 
He Names. It is called in Arabick, Halion, 
Lf Helion : In Greek, ’AoW^of, x) 'A^A^.yr^, 
'Of^V/0K, ’am 7« r 0f/^V,from provoking Luft: In Latin, 
Afparagus & Corurda: In Englijh , Afparagus, 
Sparagus , and Sperage. 
II. The Kinds. There are feveral Species of this 
Plant, 1. The Garden Kind. i. The Wild Kinds, 
or which there is, i. The Sea or Marfh. 2. The 
Rock Kind. 3. The Prickly : of which three laft, in 
the two following Chapters. The Garden Kind is 
alfo 1. Afparagus Sativus vel hortenfis vulgatior, 
feu Minor, The Common Garden Afparagus, or 
Letter Kind. 2. Afparagus Sativus, vel hortenfis 
Major, The Greater Garden Kind. 
III. The Defcriptions. The firfi or Smaller Kind, 
by it greatly encreafes : from this Root there rifes 
out of the Ground, divers whitifh , green , fcaly 
Sprouts, thick, tender, very foft and Brittle, of the 
thickncfs of the greatefl Swans §>uil/, or fomewhat 
thicker, in Tafie not much unlike to Green Beans or 
Peafe, having at top a certain fcaly foft Bud, which 
in time does rife up into very long and J lender round 
green Stalks, bigger or lejfer as the Roots are in 
Growth , and growing to be three or four Feet high 
or more ( as the Ground is in goodnefs) ivhich Stalks 
fend forth divers f mailer Branches , whereon are 
fet many little green Leaves, like Fennel, but Jhor- 
ter and f mailer, and growing up to the top, much 
finer than the Leaves of Dill •' among which, at the 
Joynts thereof, come forth , fmall Moffie, yellowijh 
Flowers, Which yield a Fruit or Berries , green at 
fir ft, afterwards red as Coral, of the bignefs of a 
White Pea -, wherein is containedgrofs blackifh Seed, 
and 
