HER 
•401 
to fprinkle dying perfons with oil, and balfam, and 
water, pronouncing over them prefcribed forms of words 
in the Hebrew language. Lardner thinks it highly 
probable that Heracleon received all the books of the 
New Teftament, as other Chriftians did ; and that there 
is ground for arguing that he received likewife the Old 
Teftament. He feems to have written commentaries 
upon feve'ral parts of the New Teftament; and it is 
certain that he wrote a commentary upon St. John’s 
Gofpel, from which Origen has quoted numerous paffa- 
ges. Thefe have been collected; and illuftrated with 
notes by Grabe, in the fecond volume of his Spicilegium , 
p. 85-1x7. 
HERACLE'ONITES, the followers of Heracleon, 
whofe fchifm is defcribed above. 
HER ACLEOTES, a philofoplier of Heraclea, who, 
like his mafter Zeno, and all the Stoics, firmly believed 
that pain was not an evil. A fevere illnefs, however, 
attended with the mod acute pains, obliged him to re¬ 
nounce his principles, and the philofophy of the Stoics 
alfo, about 264 years before the Chriftian era. He be¬ 
came afterwards one of the Cyrenaic fetl, which placed 
the fummum bonum in pleafure. He wrote fome poetry, 
and chiefly treatifes of philofophy. 
HERACLE'UM, in ancient geography, a promontory 
of Cappadocia.—A town of Egypt near Canopus on the 
weftern mouth of the Nile, to which it gave its name. 
—Alfo the port town of Gnoflus in Crete. 
HERACLE'UM,/. [from Hcraclides, the father of 
Hippocrates.] The Cow-Parsnip ; in botany, a genus 
of the clafs pentandria, order digynia, natural order of 
umbellatae, or umbelliferae. The generic characters 
are—Calyx : umbel univerfal, manifold, very large ; 
partial flat: involucre univerfal many-leaved, caducous; 
partial halved on the outfide ; leaflets three to feven, 
linear-lanceolate, the exterior ones longer; perianthium 
obfcure. Corolla : univerfal not uniform, radiate ;,flof- 
cules all generally fertile ; proper, of the dilk equal, 
five-petalled; petals bent in and hooked, emarginate; 
of the ray unequal, five-petalled ; the outer ones larger, 
and more bifid, oblong, hooked. Stamina : filaments 
five, longer than the corollets; antherae fmall. Piftil- 
lum: germ fubovate, inferior; llyles two, approxi¬ 
mating, fhort; ftigmas Ample. Pericarpium : none; 
fruit elliptic, comprefied, emarginate, ftriated in the 
middle on both fides, margined. Seeds : two, ovate, 
leafy, and comprefied.— EJfential CharaEler. Involucre ca¬ 
ducous ; corolla difform, inflex-emarginate; fruit el¬ 
liptic, emarginate, comprefied, ftriated, margined. 
Species. 1. Heracleum fphondylium, of common cow- 
parfnip: leaflets pinnatifid, even ; flowers radiate. Root 
biennial, thick, yellowifli without, white within, run- ' 
ning deep into the ground, fweet to the tafte, with fome 
acrimony.' Stem two, three, and four, feet high ; round, 
furrowed, rough with white hairs, hollow within, 
branched from the bottom. Leaves hairy and fcabrous,- 
frequently a foot in length, and more than half a foot in 
breadth, pinnate, and waved; the pinnas pinnatifid, 
lobed, ferrate, the odd one cloven into three to the 
bafe. Florets white, greenifh-white, or purplifti-; they 
have a horned appearance before they expand, particu¬ 
larly the outer ones; thefe are very irregular, having 
their outer petals four times the fize of the inner ones; 
in the central florets, they approach much nearer to 
regularity; antherae greenifh, ftigmas femitransparent. 
Seeds large, fmooth, fcarce vilibly ftriated in the mid¬ 
dle, having three riling ridges on each tide ; the leafy 
border is often purplifti. The central flowers are fre¬ 
quently abortive. Native of mod parts of Europe, in 
hedges and paftures, orchards, and near water; particu¬ 
larly in moil! and fertile foils. Flowersfrom May to July. 
The feeds have a ftrong fmell, fome.what like that 
of a bug; they are accounted diuretic and ftomachic. 
Linnaeus fays that the plant is ufed in Scania again!! the 
"dyfentery. Ginelin informs Us that the inhabitants of 
Vol.IX. No. 594. 
HER 
Kamtfchatka, about the beginning of July, colled! the 
footftalks of the radical leaves, and after peeling off 
the rind, (which is very acrid,) dry them feparately in 
the fun, and then, tying them in bundles, lay them up 
carefully in the (hade in. bags; in this date they are 
covered with a yellow faccharine efllorefcence, tailing 
like liquorice ; this, being fhakeii off, is eaten as a great 
delicacy. The Ruffians diflil an ardent fpirit from the 
ftalks thus prepared, by fil'd fermenting them in water 
with the greater billberries (Vaccinium uliginofum) ; 
which Gmelin fays is more agreeable to the tafte than 
fpirits made from corn. The leaves are a favourite 
food with rabbits and fwine; kine, goats, and (lieep, 
alfo'eat them; but horfes are faid not to be fond of 
them. Our old writers call this plant cow parfnep, v;ca- 
dow-parfnep , and madncp. In Norfolk it is called hog- 
weed. The dry ftalks are named, in common with thofe 
of fome other umbellate plants, hexes, dr Acchjies. 
2. Heracleum anguftifolium, or narrow-leaved cow- 
parfnip: leaves croffwife-pinnate, leaflets linear; corol¬ 
las flofculofe. This is probably merely a variety of the 
loregoing, and grows plentifully at Berkhamftead in 
Hertfordfhire, near the place where Ray found it; and 
where both forts may be feen growing from the fame 
root. The diftin£tion of the flofculofe and radiate co¬ 
rolla'is very uncertain, as Hudfon well remarks. Lin¬ 
naeus thus diftinguifhes it: the ftature is the fame with 
that of H. fphondylium, but the leaflets are extremely 
narrow, linear, at the common petiole pinnate croffwife, 
being four at each joint; the anterior leaflet lobed at 
the bafe. Flowers uniform, green and white. Accord¬ 
ing to Krocker, dark or yeliowifh green, not white. 
13. H. longifolium. This differs from tire common 
fort in having the fegments of the leaves very long, the 
primary ones being from half a foot to a foot in length, 
oblong, lanceolate, acute, fmooth above, rough under¬ 
neath, rarely and fhortly fubdivided :. whilfl the plant 
is young the leaves are palmate, divided into long feg'- 
ments; ftera hirfute, with white hairs, four feet high; 
ftriated and furrowed. , 
y. H. elegans. In the feed, flowers, anthers, and 
piftils, this agrees with H. longifolium ; in the leaves it 
approaches nearer to H. anguftifolium : it differs from 
both in having the fegments of the leaves very narrow, 
fhorttr, very confluent; the leaves are moftly ternate, 
being divided into four or five fegments only in the 
larger ones. Thefe three are rather to be confidered 
as lingular varieties than as fpfecies : hence Crantz has 
united them under the name of H. proteiforme. 
3. Heracleum Sibirjcum, or Siberian cow-parfnip: 
leaves pinnate; leaflets in'fives, the middle ones fefli(e ; 
corollets uniform. Root biennial. Stem deeply furrow¬ 
ed, hifpid. Leaves convex, even; at the bafe of the 
leaf-fheaths a thick white beard'. Native of Siberia. 
From this fpecies a fpirit is drawn at Kamtfchatka, 
called raka, as related in Cook’s Voyage. It is ufed 
alfo as food, like the firft fort. Mr. Miller cultivated 
it in 1768. 
4. Heracleum panaces, or palmated cow-parfnip: leaves 
pinnate; leaflets in fives, the middle ones feffile ; flow¬ 
ers'radiate. Root biennial. Stem much talier than the 
common fort, attaining the height of fix feet, hirfute, 
round, (Tightly angular, branched. Leaves on long, 
channelled, rough petioles, tinged with purple, arifing 
from a very large, obtufe, hirfute (heath ; flowers large, 
radiate, greenifh or yeliowifh white. This fpecies is of 
the fame nature with the others, and is ufed for the fame 
purpofes. Native of Italy, Silefia, and Siberia. Culti¬ 
vated by Gerarde in 1597. He.calls it Hercules all-heal . 
5. Heracleum Auftriacum, or Auftrian cow-parfnip: 
leaves pinnate, wrinkled and fcabrous on both fides 
flowers fubradiate. Root knotty, with circles round it, 
and a few fibres. Stem from afoot to two feet in height, 
flightly angular, ftriated, folitary, fmooth, foft, with a 
white pile only towards the top, fcarcely branched. 
S K Leaves 
