Tribe i. The Theater ofTlantes. Chap. 45. zf|i 
they alfo drive forth the long wormes of the belly. There is a kinde of Birdlime made of thefe fruites.by boylih^ 
them a little in water to take away their skinnes and Hones, and after boyling them more to a confluence, thg 
which as Matthiolae faith was ufed at to catch birds, but Alpinus faith they ufe it in Sgypt , as a plailtes & 
'diffolve hard tumors or fwellings. 
Chap, XLV. 
Rnfcui. Butchers Broome. 
He firfi (hootes that fproute from the roote of Butchers Brome are thicke whitifh and fbotfs 
fomewhat like unto thofe of Alparagus, but greater, which in fome places are eaten in the lam* 
manner that Afparagus fhootes are; thefe riling up to be a foote and and a hulte high ate Ipreaa 
into diverfe branches, greene andfome- 
what crefted with the roundncs,tough, 
pliant, and flexible, whereon are fee 
dome what broad and almoft round, hard leaves, 
fharpe and prickely pointed at the ends, of a darke 
greene colour, and fomewhat like unto Mirtle leaves, 
two for the mod part fet at a place , very clofe or 
neare together : about the middle of the leafe on 
the backe or lower fide from the middle ribbe break- 
eth forth a fmall whitifh greene flower confiding of 
foure fmall round pointed leaves, Handing upon a very 
fhort or no foote dalke,and in the place whereofcom- 
meth a fmall round berry green at the firft,and red like an 
Afparagus berry when it is ripe, but greater wherein are 
two or three white hard round feedes contained: the 
roote is thicke, white, and great at the head, and from 
thence fendeth forth diverfe thicke, long tough white 
firings. 
The “Place, 
This groweth generally throughout this hand, in 
copies, and upon heathes and wade grounds, and of¬ 
tentimes under or neare the Holly bufhes. 
The time. 
It (hooteth forth his yong buds in the Spring, and the 
berries arc ripe about September,the branches and leaves 
abiding greene all the winter, 
The Names 
It is called in Greek!? f* f m Oxymyrfinc,i. acuta Myr- 
(ylvefLis,( but there is another 
Myrttu fylveflrU accounted of among the ancients, 
which is like unto the tame or manured kinde jjand 
Pliny in his 1 s. Booke and 7. Chapter, confoundeth 
both thefe together, in giving to the one the faculties of 
the other .) wte-wtS* Mytthacantha , Myrtus jpinofa, 
p. v .!. Marinafpina, and of Theephrafus 
Ccntromyrrbine, Pliny faith they called it Chama myrjine, . 
and Acaron or rather Actron which is one of their badard names,of the tatmes Rufats and Rufcum, in theApothe- 
caries fhops'Sr»/ca<,andof fome as Marce/lut faith Scopa regia. The Arabians Scrapio, and others fowly erred 
in calling the berries’hereof Cubebe ,which are certaine aromaticall graines or berries like unto Pepper, but with 
a (mall point or end. RueUias tranfiation of “Diofcoriics Greeke coppie is faulty herein, that he faith the berries 
hang downe from the leaves, when as the Greeke words are, it hath round berries in the middle of the leafe, 
which Theoph rajhtt confirmeth in his?. Bookeand 17.Chapter, faying it is proper as Well to Law us ALxan - 
Aria as Rufous to beare the finite on the leafe. The Italians call it Rafco and “Pongitopo, as if you would lay Pricke- 
moiifo, even as the Germans doe Xlneffdorn ,and both from the Greeke c Marina jpina yaodarcendi, mu- 
ribas afalfa carne appenfa circumligetur-. the Spaniards call it M bartx & Gilbarbeyra: the French Bats piquant, 
the “Dutch Scekende palmre : and we in Englifli Kneeholme and Butchers Broome, 
The Vermes, 
Hyfuis, Butchwi Broome* 
The rootes and leaves of Batchers Broome arc hot in the fecond degree,and dry in the firft with fome tenuitic of 
parts "the'young fhootes are eaten like unto AfparagU3,but bccaufe they are more bitter,they are rather tiled Phy* 
iically, and are very profitable to open obftru<ftions,to provoke urine> and to amend the ftrong fmell thereof,and 
is one of the five opening diureticall rootes in the Apothecaries fhoppes,helping to expell gravell and the ftone s 
ftrangury, and womens monethly courfes by drinking the decoftion of the rootes made with wine; the lame 
alfo helpeth the yellow jaun dies, and the head a<;h, and with fomefugaror hony put thereunto helpeth to ex-* 
peftorate flegmc, and to clenfe the cheft of much clammy humours gathered therein: Diofccrtde j attributeth to 
the leaves & berries the fame effefts: yet fome doubting of the operation hereof to fuch purpofes as afore is faid, 
do hold it to be as effeftuall in knitting and confolidating of broken bones and parts out of joync,as Solomons realc 
Comfric or the like, to drinke the decoftion of the rootes, and apply them poultis wife unto the affetfed place. 
The pliant twigges or ftalkes with leaves ferved in former times for many ufes, to binde their vines or otnet 
things, as Virgil his Vcr fes doe teftifie in the fecond of his g eorgk ks in thefe w or ds* 
1 
