Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

FAMILY HERBAL. 103
appearance. There are many species of it. Hut
that used in medicine is the kind called the middle
cudweed., a herb impious. It has this last name
from the whimsical observation of the young flowers
rising above the old ones, which is called the
son's growing above the father. This cudweed,
is a little low plant, it seldom rises to a foot high.
The stalks are tough, firm, white, slender, and upright
; they are very thick, set with leaves, which
are small, oblong, white, and pointed at the ends, and
seldom lie xery even. The flowers are a kind of
brown or yellowish heads, standing at the tops, and
in the divisions of the stalks.
The herb bruised, and applied to a fresh wound,
stops the bleeding ; it may be also dried and given in
decoction, in which form it is good against the
whites, and will often stop violent purging?.
Cummin. Cuminum.
A PLANT of the umbelliferous kind, cultivated
in every part of the East, for the value of the seed.
It grows a foot and a half high. The staik is
round, striated, green, and hollow. The leaves are
large, and very finely divided in the manner of
those of fennel. The flowers stand in larjre clus-
ters, at the tops of the branches, and they arc small
and white, with a blush of red. The seeds are long
and striated.
The seeds are used. Our druggists keep them.
They are of a very disagreeable flavour, but 01
excellent virtues ; they are good against the colic
and wind in the stomach, and, applied outwardly,
they will often remove pains in the side. Tbey must
be bruised, and a large quantity laid on.