Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

320 FAMILY HERBAL.
and dentated at the edges : the flowers are small
and blue ; they grow in slender spikes, arising
from the bosoms of the leaves ; the root is small
and fibrous.
The whole herb is used,- and it is best fresh, An
infusion of it drank in quantities, works by urine,
and opens all obstructions : it promotes the menses.
There was an opinion lately that this plant would
cure the gout. The dried leaves picked from the
stalks, were sold in our markets, and people made a
tea of them. The opinion was so prevalent, that
the plant was in a manner destroyed .for many
miles ab&it London, but like all other things,
that want the truth for then' foundation,
nothing.
Sprignel. jSIcum.
it came to
A wild plant not altogether unlike fennel.
It grows two or three feet high. The stalks are
round, striated, and branched. The leaves are
large, and divided like those of fennel, but into
narrower and finer
parts, and they
arc
dark green colour. The (lowers are
of a
little
very
and
white, but they stand in dusters at the tops of the
stalks, and are
conspicuous by their number. The
root is long and brown, and there are always a
quantity
of filaments at the head of it like hairs:
these are the fibres of (he stalks of former leaves.
The root is used, and it is best fresh taken up.
An infusion of it is excellent medicine in the gravel ;
it also opens obstructions, and promotes the menses.
The root dried and given in powder strengthens the
stomach, creates an appetite, and is good against
the colic.