Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

tfB FAMILY HERBAL.
grows four feet high. The stalks are slender,
tough, and covered with a smooth brown bark. The
leaves are oblong and narrow : they arc small,
of a dusky green colour, broadest in the middle,
and placed in pairs opposite to oue another, and
tbey are of a somewhat firm substance, and have no
indenting at the edges. The flowers are white and
little, but they stand in tufts at the ends of the branches,
and by that make a good appearance. The fruit h a
black berry : one succeeds to tevcry flower in the
cluster.
The tops are used ; and they are best when the
flowers arejust beginning to bud. A strong infusion
of them in water, with the addition of a little honey
and red wine, is excellent to wash the mouth and
throat, when there are little sores in them, and when
the gums are apt to bleed.
Purslain. Portulaca
A common plant in our gardens, and of a very
singular aspect
grows a foot long, but trails on the ground. The
:4alks arc round, thick, and fleshy, of a reddish
colour, and brittle.
very The leaves arc short and
broad . they are of a good green, thick, fleshy, and
: we h&ve few so succulent. It
broad, and blunt at the end. The flowers are little
and yellow : they stand among the leaves toward the
tops < f the stalks. The root is small, fibrous, and
whitish.
Purslain is a pleasant herb in sallads, and so whole-
some, that 'tis a pity more of it is not eaten : it is excellent
against the scurvy. The juice fresh pressed
out with a little white wine, works by urine, and \n
excellent against stranguries and violent heats, ant?
also against the scurvy.