*335 
Lib. 
3 - 
Of the Hiftory of Plants. 
Winter: The whole fhrubbe lookcs as if itwere fprinckled ouerwithduft. 
3 To thefe may be added another growing with many branches to the height of the Sloe- tree 
or blacke Thorne, and thefc are couered with a blackifh barkc, and armed with longiprickles : the 
leaues,as in the firft, grow forth of certaine knots many together, long, narrow,flefhie, greene, and 
continuing all the yeare : their tafte is aftringenr,fomewhat like that of Rhabarb : the fioures lhevv 
themfelues at the beginning of the Spring, of a greenifh colour,growing thicke together, and neere 
the fetting on of the leaues ; in Summer it carries a blacke fruit aimoft fikea Sloe, round, and harfit 
of tafte. 
•O' The Place , 
The firft ofthefe graves in fundry places of S paine, Portugall, and Prouince : the other varietie 
thereof C/w/?#/ faith he found but onely in one place, and that was neere the citic Horivela, called by 
the Antients Orcellis, by the riuer Segura,vpon the borders of the kingdome of Valentiaithe fecond 
graves in many maritime places of Flanders and Holland, and in fome vallies by riuers fides. The 
third graves in the vntilled places of the kingdome of Granado and Murcia, $ 
The Time. 
This Ram is eucr greene together with his leaues : the fruit or berries remaine on the fhrub.yca 
euen in Winter. 
. f Names. 
The Grecians call this thorne ;.vn< the Lacinesalfo Rhamnus - and of diuers itisalfo named 
that is Spina alba, or white Thorne, Spina Cerualis , or Harts-thorne, as we finde writ- 
ten among the baftard wo^ds. Marccllus nameth it Spina falutaris, and Herhafalutaris ± which hath, 
faith he, as it were a grape. It is called in Italian 'JWarruca and Rhamno : in Spaniih ^Scamhrenes : in 
Englifh,Ram,or Harts Thorne. 
*[ The T emperature. 
The Ram, faith Galen , doth drie and digeft in the fecond degree, it cooleth in the later end of the 
firft degree, and in the beginning of the fecond. 
•7 The Vertues. 
j’-arlT 
The leaues, faith Diofcorieks, are layed pultis wife vpon hot cholcricke inflammations, and Saint A 
Anthonies fire, but we mull vfe them whileft they be yet but tender, as Galen addeth. 
t The leaues and buds or young fhootsof thefirft,areeatenasfallads withoile, vineger,and B 
fait, at Salamanca and other places of Caftile, for they haue a certaine acrimonie and aciditie 
which are gratefull to the tafte. A deco&ion of the fruit of the third is good to foment relaxed^ 
and weake or paraly ticke members, and to eafe the paine of the gout, as the Inhabitants of Grana 
do told Clufiua. % 
t Our Author io this chapter gaue onelf the figure of the third, vjdthc icfcriptioa of the firtt, and the place of the fecond, with the namcj and faculrici is 
Chap. zy. Of Qbrijls Thorne. 
TheDcfcription. 
C Hrifts Thorn or Ram of Lybia,is a very tough and hard fhrubby bufh, growing vp fometimes 
vnto the height ofa little tree, hailing very long and fharpe pricklie branches : but the thornes 
that grow about the leaues are Idler, and not fo prickly as the former. The leaues are final!, 
broad, and aimoft round,fomewhat fharpe pointed ; firft of a darke greene colour, and then lomwhat 
reddifh . The floures grow in clu fters at the top of the ftalks,of a.yel low colour : the husks wherein 
the feeds be contained, are flat and broad, very like vnto fmall bucklers as hard as wood, wherein are 
contained three or foure thin and flat feeds, like the feed of Line or Flax. 
( The Place. 
This Thorne grovveth inLybia ; it is better efteemed of in the countrey of Cyrenethanis their 
Lote tree, as Pliny affirmeth. Of this fhrub Diphilus Siphnitu in ^ then am in his foureteenth booke 
maketh mention, faying, thathee did verie often eat of the fame in Alexandria that beautifull 
Citie. 
Petrtu SclloniM who trauelled oner the Holly Land, faith, that this fhrubbie thorne Paliurm was 
the 
