Chap, 536. ‘EngUJh Herbs. 
which grow only from the middle of each Leaf on the 
itnderjidr , and pa fs dozen into the Water, but reach 
not to tin.- bottom, to draw Kourijhmcnt from the 
harth : be fide s this Root, the whole Plant conflfs of 
nothing but /mall, round, green Leaves, lying on the 
Surface or Lop offending Waters, in Pools, Ditches 
and Ponds , without either Flower or Seed that could 
be ever obferved. 
ought to be premifed, and to be ufed at the lame 
time. D wf cor ides lays it is a Remedy againft St. 
Anthony s-fire, all manner of Inflammations, and the 
burning Fits of Agues. Ducks greedily devour it; 
^ mingled with Bran and given them. 
IX. The Ointment. It is .a fine cooling thing, 
good againft Phlegmons and hot Pains of the Joints 
and the Haemorrhoids of Piles, whether broken or 
not broken, if anointed thereon. 
X. The Cataplafm. If it is made of the Herb 
beaten up with Barly-ft ower, it prevails againft the 
Gout, and confolidates Ruptures in young Children • 
ana is profitable againft the Swelling ol the Cods' 
and or Womens Breafts before they be grown too 
much, becaufe it does not weakly repel the Humors. 
If it is made with Wheat Flower or Meal, it pre- 
yails much againft hot Tumors, as Phlegmons and 
the like, asalfo Pains of the Joints proceeding from 
Heat -, and helps the falling down of the Funda- 
ment in young Children. 
XI. The 1 tijli/led Water. It is good againft an 
trylipelas ; and Matthiolus efteem*t highly for re- 
filling all inward Heats and Inttamfmions, as alfo 
peftilential Fevers, to help the Redjiefs of the Eyes 
andahe Swellings of the Tefticles,' by repelling of 
the Humor, Cloths four times doubled being wet 
therein and applied : and fo applied, it cools an E- 
ryfipelas or St. Antbon/s-fhe. 
C H A P. CCXXXVI. 
Of DYER S-W EED, 
Called , 
WOLD or WELD. 
IV. Nota. Matthiolus , and from him Lugdu- 
nenfis , makes a ftrange Relation concerning this 
Plant, fcarcely to be believed ; and it is this : That 
if it Ihould happen (as fometimes it may) by In- 
undations, or any other Accident, that thefe fmall 
Lentils or Ducks-meat be carried away into running 
Waters, as Rivers, Brooks, fmall Streams, &c. as 
foon as they flick to or touch the Shoar, they are 
wonderfully encreafed for by their Roots, which 
grow from them like Threads, they penetrate and 
fallen themfelves into the Ground, and then grow- 
ing, come to be Plants, like unto ' Stfymbrium , Wa- 
ter Mint , or Ladies Smocks ; and that this thing has 
been obferved by the diligent Searchers of Nature, 
and not without much Admiration of the Matter of 
Fact. Vix credo, indeed I know nothing of it. 
V. The Qualities. According to Galen , Ducks- 
meat is cold and moift in the fecond Degree ; Ano- 
dyne, Repercuflive, Arthritick and Alexipharmick : 
but this laft it is by Accident. 
VI. The Specification. It refills and cools Inflam- 
mations after a peculiar manner. 
VII. The Preparations. You have, I. The green 
Herb. 7. An Ointment. 3. A Cataplafm. 4. A 
dijii/led Water. 
The Virtues. 
VIII. The green Herb. Applied to the Forehead, 
it eafes the Head-ach coming of Heat. Applied in 
Extremity of the Pains of the Gout, it alleviates 
them * hut fometimes endangers the fending of the 
.Humor up into the Stomach ; therefore Univerfals 
I.'T'tfE names. It is a Plant which was un- 
X known to the Greeks : the Latins call it 
Luteola and Herba Lutea ; it is the Lutea P/inii 
Itb. 33. cap. ;. Vitruvius lib. 7. cap. 14. calls it Lu- 
teum ; and Virgil Bucol. Eclog. 4. calls it Lutum : in 
Englijh, Dyers-weed, alfo Wo/d or Weld. 
II. The Kinds. It feems to me to be an Herb of 
its own kind ; but Bauhine referrs it to the Geni/hi 
TinHorum, or Green-weed, of which we (hall, God 
willing, treat in the next Chapter, but to that we 
think it has no Relation. Some thought it to be the 
Refeda of Pliny, becaufe they agree well in divers 
parts. Cajalpinus lib. 9. cap. 35. makes it the A\y- 
agrum, vel Melampyrum Diofcoridis : but all thefe 
things are to be difputed. It took its Name of Lu- 
tea and Luteola , not only from the yellow color of 
the Herb and its Flowers, when it is dry, but chief 
ly from the yellow color which it Dyes things into. 
Tragus took it to be Antirrhinum, becaufe the Seed- 
Veffels have (as it were) holes therein. Some will 
have it to be Phyteuma Diofcoridis ; others St/ li- 
thium Diofcoridis, as Lacuna and Gefner. Matthi- 
olus calls it Pfeudoftruthium. Dodonrus, Herba Lu- 
tea. Label, Luteola. Lonicerus and Tabernmonta 
mis , Catenance : but all thefe things it is impofllble 
to be -, I am induced therefore to hold to my own 
Opinion before declared. 
III. It is twofold, viz. 1 . Lutea vel Luteola vul- 
garis, Common Wold, Weld or Dyers-weed. In 
Candid there grows a fmall fort of Luteola ; which 
fome Authors would make te be a different kind 
from that juft now named, which Honorius Bellas 
Epijl. 2. ad Chtfium will have to be Stnnhium ve- 
il t 
rum 
