18 YELLOW WATER FLAG. PAPYRUS. 
facture of hair-powder, and other articles for which an 
agreeable scent is required. It is sometimes employed 
in medicine as a pectoral or expectorant, and sometimes 
in dropsies. In a recent state the root is extremely 
acrid ; and, when chewed, it excites in the mouth a 
pungent taste, which continues for several hours; but 
this acrimony is almost wholly dissipated by drying. 
Orris-root is chiefly imported from Leghorn. 
25. The YELLOVi WATER^FLAG, or COMMON 
IRIS (Iris pseudacorus) is a very conspicuous plant in most 
of our marshes. It has sword-shaped leaves, and, about the 
middle of July, bears large and beautiful yellow flowers. 
The roots of this plant possess qualities which render 
them capable of being applied to many useful purposes. 
Their astringency is such that it is supposed they might 
he employed with great advantage in the tanning of 
leather. In the island of Jura, one of the Hebrides, 
they are used for dyeing a black colour ; and the inha- 
bitants of some parts of Scotland adopt them instead 
of galls in the making of ink. For this purpose they 
are cut into thin slices, and boiled, or infused in water, 
till the liquid is deeply tinged with blue. This is poured 
clear off, and the blade of a knife, or some other piece 
of iron, is put into it, and rubbed hard with a rough 
white pebble, by which process, after a little while, the 
liquor becomes perfectly black. 
A slice of the fresh root, if held between the teeth, 
will, it is said, almost instantly remove the sensibility, 
and thus alleviate the pain, of tooth-ache. The leaves 
of this plant are considered poisonous to all cattle ex- 
cept sheep. 
26. The PAPYRUS is a sedge-like plant (Cyperus papy- 
rus), which grows in watery places in Egypt, Syria, Sicily, 
and Madagascar. 
It has a three-sided stem, many feet in height, which is 
terminated *by a bushy head 9 consisting of a large and com- 
pound clustre of flowers. 
From this plant the ancients made their paper ; and 
