Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

326 FAMILY HERBAL.
quite to the middle rib : there are some smaller
on the stalk, but few. The flowers are numerous :
they are red, and of the form of the flowers of thistles.
They grow out of a scaly and thorny head. The
seeds are winged with down. The root is
oblong.
The root is used ; a strong infusion of it is ex-
cellent against the gravel, and is good also in the
jaundice.
mine.
It opens obstructions, and works by
Starry Headed Anise Tree. Anisum sldlatum.
A tall and very beautiful tree, native of the
East, and much esteemed there. The trunk is
covered with a thick bark : the branches arc
irregular and spreading. The leaves are very
each of
large and beautiful ; they are composed
ten or twelve pair of others set on a common rib,
with an odd one at the end ; they are longish,
broad, serrated at the edges, and pointed at the
ends, and are of a beautiful pale green colour,
and of a fragrant smell when bruised, such as that
we perceive in the young leaves of the walnut
tree, but with a mixture of somewhat aromatic.
The flowers stand at the tops of the branches, on
divided pedicles ; they are white and very fra-
grant. The fruit is of a
singular figure, of the
shape of a star, and of a woody substance it is
;
composed of five or more rays, and in each is a
single, smooth, brown seed. They have the smell
of aniseed, and thence have been called by the
name, for there is not the least resemblance between
the plants which produce the two ; one
being a small herb, and the other a large and fine
tree.