IB, 3, 
Of the Hiflory of Plants. 
3 The fame Author fetteth forth another fort which he found in the mountaines of Morau i* 
and Hungary, hauing a trunke or ftocke of the height of three or foure cubits, cohered with a bark 
greene at the firft, afterward fpnnkled ouer with many blackefpo^: the boughesare diui W to 
ward the top into diners fmail branches, very brittle arldeafife to breake, whereon ate placed k-aues 
by couples alfo, one oppofite to another, fomewhac fnipf about the edges, in if, ape like thofe of 
the great Myrtle, of an aftringent tafte at the beginning, after fomewhat hot and bitter • amono-ft 
which come forth fmail floures ftandtngvpon long naked foot- (Dikes, confifting of foure 1 ,'tde 
Ieaues of a bright Ihining purple colour , hauing in the middle feme few fpots of yellow • after 
commeth the fruit, foure cornered, not vnlike to the common kindc,ofa fpongious fubftance and 
a gold yellow colour: wherein is contained not red berries like the other, but blacke, very like to 
thofe of Fraxinella, of a fhining b lacke colour like vnto burnidied home ; which are deuoured of 
birds when they be ripe, and the rather becaufe they fall of themfelues out of their huskes other 
wife the bitternefie of the husks would take away the delight. 
The Place. 
The firft commethvp in vntoiled places, and among flmibs,vpon rough bankes andheapes of 
sarthiit feructhalfo oftentimes for hedgesin fields, growing amongft Brambles and fitch other 
Thornes. 
The other forts Carolus Clufius found in a wood of Hungarie beyond the riucr Drauus and alfo 
vpon the mountaines of Morauia and other places adjacent. ’ 
•If 7 he Time. 
The floures appeare in Aprill ; the fruit is ripe in the end of Auguft, or in the moneth of Sen. 
tember. v F 
The Names '. 
Thcophraflus callcth this fhrub w,^,, and deferibeth it in his third booke of the Hiflorie of 
Plants : diuers alfo falfly reade it Anonymos : Petrus C r'fcentius calleth it Fufantim, becaufe fpindles 
be made of the wood hereof, and for that caufeitis called m higb-Durch^pinDelbaum yet mod 
ot them J^sn^OllU'tl : in low Dutch, #apcnl) 0 Ut: in Iralian, Fufano: in French, Fotin, and Bonnet 
defreslre : in hnglifh, Spindle tree, Prick-wood,and Prick-timber. 
*[ 7 he Temperature and Pcrtues. 
- TIlls >s hurtful! to all things, as Thcophraflus writeth, and namely to Goats : hee faith the it 
iruit hereof killeth/o doth the Ieaues and fruit deftroy Goats efpecially.vnlefTe they fcoure ac wel ^ 
vpvvardsas downwards : if three or foureofthefe fruits be giuen toa man they purge both by vo- 
Chap; 107 . Of the blacky t)J[ Her tree , 
•J The Vefcriftitm. 
T Heblacke Aller tree bringeth forth from the root ftraight ftalkes diuided Into diuers bran* 
dies : the outward barkc-whereofis blacke, and that next to the wood yellow, and giueth a 
• u ■ cr j' our as ydlowas Saffron : the lubftanceof the wood is white and brittle, with a reddifli, 
pith in the mid ft : the Ieaues be like thofe of the Alder tree, or of the Cherry tree,yet blacker, and 
a little rounder : the floures be lomewhat white : the fruit are round berries, in which appeared 
certaine rift or chinke, as though two were ioined together, at the firft greene, afterwards red, and 
alt of all b lacke : in this there be two little ftones : the root runneth along in the earth. 
«[ T he Place.- 
r . Tb e AHer treegroweth in moift woods and copfes : I found great plenty of it in a wood a mile 
00m llhngton, in the way from thence toward a fmail village called Harnfey, lying vpon the right 
pant o the way t and in the woods at Hampfted neere London, and in mod woods in the parts s- 
bout London. r 
«f The Time. 
The Ieaues and floures appeare in the beginning of the Spring ; and the berries in Autumne.’ 
The Names. 
This (nriib is called y^ilnus nigra, or blacke Alder: and by others, Frangula : Petrus Crefcemius 
nameth it Auornus in low- Dutch, ^patfeetlljOUt, and oftentimes ^StflljOUt, becaufe boies make 
lor themfelues arrovves hereof : in high-Dutch, f aUlbatBW • it is called in Lnglift, blacke Alfef 
tree ; and 01 diuers Butchers pricke tree. 
Hhhhhfs . iff thU 
