Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

230 FAMILY HERBAL,
is disagreeable.
It strengthens the stomach, and
promotes the menses. It is in this latter respect h
very valuable medicine, but the use of it must be continued
some time.
MiiiTLE, Mj/rtus
A litti.i; shrub, very beautiful in its mannei
of growth, a native of Italy, hut common in our
gardens. The trunk is covered with a rough
brown bark. The branches are numerous, slen-
der, tough, iu\i\ reddish. The leaves are very
beautiful ; they are small, short, of a fine green,
pointed al the .U, not serrated at the edges, and
they stand in .great numbers, and in a beautiful
order upon the branches. The flowers stand on
short fooi stalks ; they are large, white, and full
of threads : the fruit is a round black berry, as
large as the biggest pea,
and has a crown at the
top. The leave.-, when bruised, have an extremely
smell. ine shrub will bear our climate
fragrant
better than is imagined'; there are, in some places,
that stand the winters
hedges of it five or six feet high,
without (he least hurt.
The leaves and berries of the myrtle are \\?cd ;
they are cordial and astringent. A strong infusion
of the ;'; sh leaves is good against a slight purging,
i i i