Lib. 2. Of the Hiftory of Plants. 
fmel,as are the leaues likewife : after vv hich 
come the feeds, fmall, crookedly turning or 
winding one with another, made into a fine 
little head. The root hath a fvveet fmeffprer 
ding far abroad, blacke without 3 and of a 
darkilfired colour within. 
t 2 There is alfo another which by 
Fuchfms ,T ragus ^Lomcerus ,Gcfner ,and others, 
is called Barba Capri : it hath large wooddie 
rootes, leaues of the bignefTe, and growing 
fomewhat after the manner of the wild An- 
gelica : the ftalks are crefted,and diuided in- 
to fundry branches, which carry long ben- 
ding fpikes oreares ofwhitefioures & feeds 
fomewhat like thofe of the common kinde. 
Thi s floures at the fame time as the forme?, 
and I hauenot yetheard of itwildevvithvs, 
but onely feene it growing with M r . T radef. 
cant. $ 
T he Place. 
Itgrowethin thebrinkesof waterie dit- 
ches and riuers fides, and alfo in medowes: 
it liketh waterie and moift places, and grow- 
cth almoft eucry where. 
«|J The Time. 
It flourethand flourifbeth in Iune, Iuly, 
and Auguft. 
The Names. 
It is called of the later age Reginaprati^c 
Barba Capri:o( fome, Vlmaria, a foltontm Vlmi 
fimilitudine , from the likeneffe it hath with the Elme tree leafe.- in high Dutch, ^ctfbatt. Itis 
called Barba Hire i, which name belongeth to the plant which the Grecians do call Tragopogon: of 
Awuillara, Potent ilia maior . It hath fome likeneffe with Rhodora Pliny, but yet weeapnotaffirmeit 
to be the fame. It is called in low Dutch fteiWCtte i in French, Barbe de Cheure,Rcine dcs Praia: in 
Englilh,Meadef-fweet,Medow-fweet, and Queene of the medowes. Camtrarius of Noremberg 
faith it is called of the Germanes his countrimen,l©tlt:ffle feiraut : becaufe the roots, faith he.feem 
to be eaten with wormes. I rather fuppofe they call it fo,bccaufe the antient hackny men and horf- 
leaches do giue the decoction therof to their horfes and aifes, againft the bots and wormes, for the 
which it is greatly commended. 
TbeTcmpcraturc. 
Mede-fweet is cold and drie, with an euident binding qualitic adioined. 
ay The Vertues. 
The root boiled, or made into ponder and drunke,helpeth the bloudy flix,ftaieth thelaske,and Ai 
all other fluxes of blond in manorwoman. 
It is reported, that the floures boiled in wine and drunke, do take away the fits ofa qttartaine a- B 
gue.and make the heart merrie. , - 
The leaues and floures farre excell all other flrowmg herbes, for todeckevphoules,to draw in C 
chambers, halls, and banqueting houfes in the fommer t ime- for the fmell thereof makes the heart 
merrie, deliahteth the fenfes ■ neither doth it caufe head-ache, or lothfomeneffe to meat, as fome 
other fiveet fuelling herbes do. _ . . 
The diftilled water of the floures dropped into the eies ; taketh away the burning and itching D 
thereof.and cleareth the fight. 
P j ^ 
C h a p. 4 1 o. Of Gurnet Saxifrage* 
I Regina prati. 
Queenc of the Medow. 
7 be Defer ipt ion. 
T His^reat kinde of Pimpinell, or rather Saxifrage,hath great and longroots, fafliioncd 
like a Parfnep,ofan hot and biting taflc like Ginger : from which rifeth vp an hollow 
- “ ' ~ Italic 
i 
