PIMPINELLA. 
to twenty rays. Mr. Miller remarks, that the lower leaf¬ 
lets, which are the larged, are near two inches long, an 
inch and half broad at their bafe, and of a dark green, 
and that white and red flowers rife from the fame feed. 
Native of the fouth of Europe, Germany, Swifierland, 
and England. With us it grows chiefly in woods and 
hedges in a calcareous foil, flowering in Auguft, or even 
later. Ray marks it to grow in the woods ofCambridge- 
fhire, Bedfordfliire, Kent, &c. Mr. Woodward, in Rip- 
ron-wood, Huntingdonfhire; Mr. Ballard, in Worceder- 
fhires Dr. Pulteney, in Hollinghall-wood, Leicefterfhire; 
Mr. Robfon, about Thirfk and Burroughbridge, in York- 
fhire; Dr. Smith, under the walls of York - , Dr. Milne, 
near Clandon-place, in Surrey; in Petworth-park ; near 
Lord Petre’s at Brentwood ; at Greenhithe, by the 31ft 
mile-ftone on the Canterbury road ; on Hampftead-heath; 
at Leads, near Claremont, in Surrey ; about Guildford 
and Godaiming; between Wimbledon and Merton; Dr. 
Sibthorp, in Stow-wood and Noke-woods, Oxfordfhire; 
in Wednefbury-field, Staffor.dfhire, with a red flower ; in 
hedges near Maidftone, Kent, with all the leaves jagged. 
This and the former fpecies partake nearly of the fame 
qualities. The root is very acrid, burning the mouth 
like pepper. It affords a blue oil. Its acrimony has oc- 
cafioned it to be ufed to cure the tooth-ache, and to 
cleanfe the fkin from freckles. It is chewed to promote 
the fecretion of faliva, and is ufed in gargles for diffolv- 
ing vifeid mucus in the throat. In Germany it is pre- 
feribed in the afthmaand dropfy. 
/ 3 . P. orientalis. Root biennial, branched. Stem 
grooved and angular, panicled with branches. Primary 
root-leaves having five petioled leaflets, the lower cor¬ 
date crenate, the middle obliquely ovate, the end one 
ovate, equal, three-lobed, crenate; the fecond root- 
leaves quinatealfo, but the two lou'er leaflets three-part¬ 
ed-palmate multifid, the middle ones fmaller and lefs 
jagged, having a feflile oblong leaflet at the bafe, longi¬ 
tudinally truncate upwards; the odd leaflet three-lobed. 
The fecond year the root-leaves or lower ftem-leaves 
have fometimes feven leaflets, but mod commonly five, 
the lowed ternate, the red three-parted multifid, deeply 
pinnatifid, almod like Aconitum napellus. The peti¬ 
oles of the root-leaves are three inches long, three-fided 
and grooved above; the fheaths flriated-nerved and wide, 
frequently purple. The umbels have from fourteen to 
fixteen rays, about half an inch in length but fomewhat 
unequal. The umbellets have about fixteen very /lender 
rays, two lines long. Flowers white. Seeds fmooth. 
Found by Tournefort in the Levant, and by Jacquin in 
Audria. 
y. Mr. Miller’s P. audriaca is probably a variety of the 
magna, but it does not correfpond with the orientalis, as 
far as we can judge by his defeription. The lower leaves 
have five pairs of leaflets, with an odd one ; they are placed 
at a wider didance than the other forts; are near two 
inches long, and three quarters of an inch broad in the 
middle, drawing to a point at each end, and are deeply 
cut in regular jags oppofite; they are of a lucid green, 
and are placed on long foot-dalks. The flems are two 
feet high, divided at the top into two or three flender 
branches, and at each joint have one pinnatifid linear 
leaf. Mr. Miller gathered the feeds in Boerhaave’s pri¬ 
vate garden near Leyden, under the name of Tragofeli- 
nurn audriacum maximum, foliis profundiffime incifis. 
3. Pimpinella lutea, or yellow burnet-faxifrage : leaves 
pinnate, pubefeent; leaflets cordate, toothed, gaflied in 
front; peduncles filiform, panicled. Leaves nearly thofe 
of P. magna. Root-leaves pubefeent, petioled : leaflets 
unequally and bluntly toothed, often gafhed in front: 
terminating leaflet commonly three-lobed. Petals yel¬ 
low, very fmall; filaments of the fame colour. It flowers 
in funimer, and has an aromatic odour. Native of Mount 
Atlas. 
4. Pimpinella glauca: leaves fuperdecompound ; fiem 
angular, very much branched. Root fufiform, fibrous. 
451 
brown without, white within. Stem ere£I, feldorn at¬ 
taining a foot in height, four or five-cornered, very 
fmooth, divided from the very bafe into fmaller branches, 
and into very fmall ones much diverging. Leaves alter¬ 
nate, the lower petioled, the upper oppofite or in threes, 
feflile, near four inches long, two inches wide, the lad 
pinnas fhort, twice-trifid, linear, fomewhat flefliy, quite 
entire, all glaucous-green, and fmooth. Flowers fmall, 
white. It is not a fpecies of Sefeli, becaufe it has no 
partial involucre. Native of Germany, France, and 
Italy. 
5. Pimpinella Capenfis, or Cape burnet-faxifrage: 
leaves fuperdecompound ; fegments acute ; dem driated. 
Found at the Cape of Good Hope by Thunberg. 
6. Pimpinella peregrina, or nodding burnet-faxifrage : 
root-leaves pinnate, crenate; upper leaves wedge-form, 
gaflied ; umbels before flowering drooping. Root long, 
white, and fibrous ; of a very fharptalle. Radical leaves, 
(at lead when raifed in a garden) prodrate, and numerous ; 
thofe which appear fird are fimple, the next ternate, and 
the fucceeding ones pinnate: leaflets roundifii and cre- 
nated. Stem folitary, two feet high, driated and branched 
above ; it has but few leaves, the lower ones of which re- 
femble more or lefs the radical ones ; but the upper ones 
are varioufly divided into lanceolate fegments. The 
flowers are white, and the petals hairy on the back. The 
feeds have no fmell, and, when fird chewed, fcarcely any 
tade, but in a fliort time are very acrimonious, and ex¬ 
cite a great heat in the fauces. Native of Italy and 
Spain. Cultivated in 1739, by Mr. Miller. 
7. Pimpinella anifum, or anife : root-leaves trifid, 
gaflied. Root annual. Lower leaves divided into three 
lobes, which are deeply cut on their edges. Stem a foot 
and a half high, dividing into feveral flender branches, 
which have narrow leaves on them, cut into three or four 
narrow fegments. Flowers fmall, yellowifh-white. It 
flowers in July, and if the feafon proves warm, the feeds 
will ripen in autumn. It is a native of Egypt, but is cul¬ 
tivated in Malta and Spain, whence the feeds are annu¬ 
ally imported into England. It was in our gardens in 
1551, as appears from Turner. 
The feeds have an aromatic fmell, and a pleafant warm 
tade, accompanied with a confiderable degree of fweet- 
nefs. In didillation with water, three pounds of them 
yield an ounce or more of eflential oil, which, even when 
the air is not fenfibly cold, congeals into a butyraceous 
white concrete. Its fmell is very durable and diffufive, 
and its tade milder and lefs pungent than almod any 
other didilled vegetable oils. Thefe feeds yield an oil 
likewife by exprefliori, of a greenifh colour and grateful 
tade, drongly impregnated with the flavour of the feeds : 
fixteen ounces lightly moidened by expofure to the fleam 
of boiling water, are fa id to afford one ounce, compofed 
of a grofs, infipid, inodorous oil, of the fame nature 
with common expreffed oils, and a part of the eflential 
oil of the feed, on which the flavour depends. The feeds 
of anife have been long ufed by phyficians as an aroma¬ 
tic and carminative, in preference to thofe of mod other 
umbellate plants; they have alfo been efleemed good in 
pulmonary complaints, and, like thofe of fennel, to pro¬ 
mote the fecretion of milk. Their chief ufe, however, is 
in flatulencies, and in the gripes, to which children are 
more efpecially liable; and they are combined with fuch 
purgatives as are apt to produce thefe effects. Weak- 
nefs of the Aomach, diarrhoeas, and lofs of tone in the 
primae vise, are likewife complaints in which anife-feeds 
are fuppofed to be peculiarly ufeful. The eflential oil, 
which is the oniy officinal preparation now directed by 
the Pharmacopoeias, is ufually grateful to the ltomach, 
and may be taken in the dofe of twenty drops. In dif- 
eafes of the bread the oil is preferred, but in flatulencies 
and colics the feeds in fubdance are faid to be more ef¬ 
fectual. It is aflerted that the oil is a poifon to pigeons. 
8. Pimpinella dichotoma, or fork-leaved burnet-faxi¬ 
frage: peduncles oppofite to the leaves; floriferous leaves 
7 twice 
