Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

FAMILY HERBAL. $S
and all disorders of the breast and lungs ; they
cause expectoration., and are Yery balsamic and
astringent.
The Cotton Thistle. Acanthium.
A TALL and stately wild plant, common by
our way sides, and known by its great white
prickly leaves and red flowers. It is four or
five feet high. The leaves which grow from
the root are a foot and a half long, a foot broad,
deeply indented at the edges, and beset with yellowish
thorns; they are of a whitish colour, and
seem covered with a downy matter of the nature ot
cotton. The stalks are thick, round, firm, and upright
; and winged with a sort of leafy substances
which rise from them, and have the same sort of
prickles that are upon the leaves. The ordinary
leaves upon the stalks are like those which grow
from the root, only they are more deeply indented,
and more prickly ; the flowers are purple ; they
stand in long prickly heads, and make a beautiful
appearance. The root is very long, thick, and
white.
The root, is the part used, and that should be
fresh gathered. It opens obstructions, and is good
against the jaundice, and in dropsies, and other
disorders
arising from obstructions. It also moderately
promotes the menses. It may be dried
and given in powder for the same purposes. But
the virtues are much less.
Couch Grass. Gramen caninum.
A VERY troublesome weed in fields and gardens,
but very useful in medicine. Nature
has made those plants which may be most useful