Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

FAMILY HERBAL. 281
and distinguished by its ragged leaves, and clusters
of yellow flowers. It is two feet high. The stalk
is robust, round, striated, and often purplish. The
leaves are divided in an odd manner, into several
parts, so that they look torn or ragged ; their colour
is a dark dusky green, and they grow to the
stalk without any foot-stalk, and are broad and
rounded at the end. The (lowers arc moderately
large and yellow, and the tops of the branches are
so covered with them, that they often spread together
to the breadth of a plate. The whole plant has
a
disagreeable smell. The root is fibrous, and the
seeds arc downy.
The fresh leaves are used : but it is best to take
those that rise immediately from the root, for they are
larger and more juicy than those on the stalk : they
are to be mixed in pultices, and applied outwardly
as a remedy against pains in the :
joints they have a
surprising effect. It is said that, two or three times
applied, they will cure the sciatica, or hip gout, when
ever so violent.
Raspberry B^sh. Rubus idceus.
A little shrub, common in our gardens, but wild
also in some parts of the kingdom. The stalks are
round, weak, tender, of a pale brown, and prickly.
The leaves arc each composed of five others : they
are large, of a pale green, indented about the edges,
and hairy. The flowers are little, and of a whitish
colour, with a great quantity of threads in the mid-
dle. The fruit is the common raspberry, composed
like the blackberry of several grains : it is soft to the
touch, and of a delicate taste. The colour varies,
for white ones are common.
The juice of ripe raspberries, boiled up with
sugar, makes an excellent syrup. It is pleasant, and
o