by the Rev. Charles Holbech, of Farnborough, Warwickshire, (by whom we have been favoured with specimens,) whilst exploring the rocky promontory of Berry Head, Devon. It grows in great plenty, amongst coarse grasses, about two hundred paces from the westernmost battery, on the Dartmouth side. It has more recently been observed by Dr. Wollaston on the south-western extremity of the Mendip Hills, Somersetshire. P. Aug.-Sept. E.) SANTOLI'NA.* Recept. chaffy: Down none: Calyx tiled, hemispherical. S. MARITIMA. Flowers forming a corymb: leaves oblong, blunt, scolloped, very downy. E. Bot. Dicks. H. S.-(Hook. Fl. Lond. 137. E.)-E. Bot. 141-Mill. 135—J. B. iii. a. 157. 2-Pet. 20. 8-Lob. Adv. 201, and Ic. i. 480. 1-Ger. 516Clus. i. 329. 3-Dod. 65-Ger. Em. 640. 3-Matth. 860-H. Ox. vi. 4. 47. (Root descending to a great depth, branched. Stems recumbent at the base, brittle, cylindrical, leafy; branches upright. Leaves numerous, alternate. Stigma protruding. Fl. Brit. E.) Whole plant white and cottony. Leaves spear-shaped, scolloped, blunt. Chaff as long as the calyx. Seeds two-edged, downless, whence it should seem to be rather a species of Santolina. Linn. Blossom bright yellow. (Florets remarkably prolonged down the sides of the germen, forming two ear-like appendages, whence the novel generic distinction, Diotis, of Desfontaines. E.) SEA COTTON-WEED. (Irish: Liah Luss beag. Welsh: Llwyd boneddig; Moredafeddog. S. maritima. Huds. With. Willd. Fl. Brit. E.) Athanasia maritima. Linn. (Diotis maritima. Hook. Sm. E.) On the sea shore. Near Abermeney Ferry in Anglesey; and between Penzance and St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall. Ray. Isle of Shepey; and near Poole, Dorsetshire. Hudson. On the Devonshire coast. (On the beach just above high-water mark, one mile north of Landguard fort, Suffolk. Sir J. E. Smith. On the Burton and Bridport sands. Rev. Palk Welland. E.) P. Aug.-Sept. SUPERFLUA. TANACETUM. Recept. naked: Down none: Calyx hemispherical, tiled: Florets of the circumference trifid, narrow-strap-shaped, sometimes wanting. T. VULGARE. Leaves doubly winged, cut, serrated. Woodv. 115-Kniph. 2-(E. Bot. 1229. E.)-Ludw. 22-Fl. Dan. 871Dod. 36. 1-Lob. Obs. 432. 1, and Ic. 749. 1-Ger. Em. 650. 1-Park 81. b.-H. Ox. vi. 1, row 1. 1, f. 1-Pet. 20. 9-Blackw. 464-Fuchs. 46— J. B. iii. a. 131. 2-Ger. 525. 1-Trag. 158-Matth. 908-Lonic. i. 151. 3. (Supposed to be derived from a district of Gaul, near the Alps, wherein it abounds. E.) (Flowers golden yellow, numerous, forming a dense corymb: florets of the circumference rarely apparent. E.) Stem frequently reddish, (upright, two feet high, scored, scarcely hairy. Leaves alternate, amplexicaul. Leafits of the calyx blunt, membranous at the edge. Imparts an agreeable aromatic odour. E.) COMMON TANSY. (Irish: Luss na Frank. Welsh: Gystlys cyffredin. E.) Mountainous meadows and pastures. Banks of rivers and swampy places: (also on dry banks. E.) Banks of the Irwell and other places about Manchester. Mr. Caley. Banks of the Dove. Mr. Pitt. Between Piper's Hill and Bridgewater; and in Devonshire, (as about Teignmouth, Torquay, &c. frequent. (It abounds at Wark, and Ford-castle, near Kelso: also on the side of Gare-loch, on the borders of Scotland. Encyc. Brit. Opposite Alcester mill, on the side of the turnpike road. Purton. Plentiful on Newmarket Heath, Cambridgeshire. By the side of a rill between Penmon church and the sea, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. Among the cliffs at Cheddar, Somersetshire. E.) P. June-(Aug. E.)* Var. 2. Leaves curled. Ger. 525.2-Dod. 36. 2-Lob. Obs. 432. 3, and Ic. i. 749. 2-Ger. Em. 650. 2-Park. 81. a-J. B. iii. 132. Ray informs us that this variety was first observed in England. It grows by the Tees near Connis Cliffe, Durham. Mr. Robson. (Lane near Wol◄ sington, Northumberland. Mr. Winch. E.) ARTEMISIA.† Recept. slightly hairy or naked: Down none: Calyx tiled: scales converging: Florets radiate, none. (1) Stems trailing before flowering. A. CAMPES'TRIS. Leaves many-cleft, strap-shaped: stems wand-like. (E. Bot. 338—Fl. Dan. 1175. E.)-Ger. 948. 5, Abrot. camp.-J. B. iii. a. 194. 2-Pet. 20. 4-Dod. 33. 2-Lob. Obs. 442. 3, and Ic. i. 767. 2—Ger. 1106. 5-Park. 94. 7-Matth. 852-Lonic. ii. 23. 2. Stems numerous, (often reddish, about two feet high, E.) angular, declining, much branched. Leaves, the upper frequently simple, very narrow. Heads very small, scarcely more than a line broad, numerous, single, Tansy is a warm and deobstruent bitter, and its flavour not ungrateful. (It is frequently admitted into gardens for culinary purposes. E.) The tender leaves and juice are sometimes used to give a colour and flavour to puddings. If a dead animal substance be rubbed with this plant, the flesh fly will not attack it. The Finlanders obtain a green dye from it. Cows and sheep eat it. Horses, goats, and swine refuse it. It affords nourishment to Aphis Tanaceti, and Chrysomela Tanaceti. Linn. (also to Andrena albicans and tibialis. The seeds are an excellent vermifuge. (This herb flourishes luxuriantly on the banks on the Avon, near Hanham and Keynsham, where Mr. Frederick Russell observed boys gathering a boat-load of it to convey to Bristol for the purpose of making wine. Dr. Threlkeld relates the case of a soldier at Montpellier who was cured of an obstinate dropsy by the decoction of Tansy alone. Of the juice of the tender leaves, with eggs, are composed Tansy cakes, used at the Paschal season by Papists, to dissipate the flatulencies occasioned by what the above authority terms, "the idle conceit of eating fish and pulse for forty days in Lent; but," the Doctor adds, "I have seen several victims (to superstition, who have broken an hale constitution by that presumptuous fasting, so that neither Tansy nor steel could repair it." E.) +(From 'Apres, a name of Diana, who presided over women in child-bed; the plant originally so called being of more decided efficacy in promoting parturition. E.) . either sessile or in short branched spikes. Calyx scales few, bluntly eggshaped, approaching, green, slightly downy at the back, the edges membranous, whitish, shining. Florets not longer than the calyx. Woodw. (those of the disk about twelve, tipped with purple; of the circumference two or three, awl-shaped, entire, yellow. Sm. E.) Leaves thread-shaped, from a quarter to one inch or inore in length. Flowers axillary. (Herb neither aromatic nor bitter. E.) FIELD SOUTHERNWOOD. Balks of corn-fields and road sides at Elden, (E. Bot. 1706. E.)—Ger. 940. 1-Pet. 20. 2 and 3-Lob. Ic. i. 755. 1—Ger. Em. 1099. 1–H. O. vi. 2. 20–H. Or. vi. 2. 19. (Whole plant cottony, white, and aromatic. Flowering-branches bent. Flowers of the circumference only about three. E.) Leaves vary much in their division; the upper generally simple, strap-shaped, blunt. Woodw. Blossom brown. (Calyx downy on the outside, membranous at the edge. E.) (In page 1706 of E. Bot. are described what are considered by some Botanists as two distinct species, viz. A. maritima and A. gallica, which latter, A. maritima y of Fl. Brit. the author states to be more properly represented by plate 1001 of E. Bot. The sole distinction, originally suggested by Willdenow, seems to be the drooping or upright flower; or, according to Smith, in A. maritima, "Flowers drooping, sessile;" in A. gallica, "Flowers erect, partly stalked, of few florets." E.) (Rev. Hugh Davies describes a nearly similar var. with pendulous flowers, inclining to one side. On a rock below the mill in Bodowen Park, Anglesey. E.) Var. 2. Segments of the leaves very short. J. B. iii. a. 177—Barr. 460. SEA SOUTHERNWOOD or WORMWOOD. Sea-shores. Yarmouth, and elsewhere on the coast. Mr. Woodward. Sea coast between Rampside and Barrow. Mr. Gough. Isle of Walney. Mr. Atkinson. (Garston, near Liverpool. Mr. Shepherd. On the shores of Wear, near Hilton Castle, Durham. Winch Guide. Frequent about Teignmouth. E.) (A. maritima var. gallica, has been observed by Mr. Winch on Willington Ballast Hills, Durham; by Rev. H. Davies on rocks above the sea, south-west of Aberffraw, Anglesey; and by Mr. D. Don on the coast near Arbroath; also by Mr. Maughan at Peffer burn, and at St. Mary's Isle, with the preceding. In like circumstances, at Sandwich Haven, by Mr. Gerard E. Smith. E.) P. Aug. Sept. Its This in its wild state smells like maram or camphor, but in our gardens it is less grateful, though still much more so than the next species. It is used as an ingredient in distilled waters, and beat with thrice its weight of fine sugar is formed into a conserve. virtues are the same with those of the next species, but in a weaker degree. Horses eat it; cows, goats, and sheep eat it. (Threlkeld informs us that in Ireland the country people make it into sheaves, and bring it in cars out of the adjacent counties of Meath and Lowth to Dublin, "of which alehouse-keepers make their purl, great consumption of which is made in winter mornings." Syn. Stirp. Hibern. 1727. E.) (2) Stems upright, herbaceous: leaves compound. A. ABSINTHIUM. Leaves compound, many-cleft, (clothed with short silky down: E.) flowers somewhat globular, pendent; recep◄ tacle hairy. Kniph. 4-(E. Bot. 1230. E.)—Ludw. 76-Woodv. 120-Blackw. 17Matth. 685-Dod. 23-Lob. Obs. 433. 2, and Ic. i. 752. 1—Ger. Em. 1096, 1-Park. 98. 1-H. Ox. vi. 1, row 3. 1—Ger. 937. 2—Trag. 335—Ger. 937. 1-Pet. 20. 1-J. B. iii. a. 168-Gmel. ii. 63. Leaves cottony on both sides, green above, white and shining underneath, the upper with three clefts, or simple, sessile, bluntly spear-shaped. Calyx, scales bluntly egg-shaped, green, cottony at the back, the edges membranous. Receptacle, down as long as the florets. Woodw. Stems numerous, a foot or more in height, scored, whitish, with very short down. Spikes upright. Flowers turned downwards. Blossom brownish white. (Root rather ligneous, branched. E.) COMMON WORMWOOD. (Irish: Bofullan ban. Welsh: Chwerwlys; Wer mod lwyd. E.) Road sides, rocky places and on rubbish. P. Aug. A. VULGARIS. Leaves wing-cleft, flat, cut, cottony underneath: bunches simple: florets of the circumference five: (receptacle naked. E.) (E. Bot. 978-Fl. Dan. 1176. E.)-Ludw. 153-Blackw. 431-Woodv. 121 —H. Ox. vi. 1, row 2. 2, f. 3—Matth. 848—Dod. 33. 1—Lob. Obs. 441. The leaves and flowers are very bitter, (and employed in some parts of Wales as a substitute for hops; also laid in drawers and chests to drive away insects from clothes. E.) The roots are warm and aromatic. A considerable quantity of essential oil rises from this herb in distillation, which is used both externally and internally to destroy worms. The leaves, put into sour beer, soon remove the ascescency. They resist putrefaction, and are therefore a principal ingredient in antiseptic fomentations. An infusion of them is a good stomachic, and, with the addition of fixed alkaline salt, a powerful diuretic in some dropsical cases. The ashes afford a more pure alkali than most other vegetables, excepting Bean-stalks, Broom, and the larger trees, (and hence that called Salt of Wormwood usually obtained, but without manifesting any peculiar quality from the specific herb. E.) In the Amæn. Acad. vol. ii. p. 160, Linnæus mentions two cases, wherein an essence prepared from this plant, and taken for a considerable time, prevented the formation of calculous concretions in the kidneys or bladder; the patients forbearing the use of wine and acids. It might be suspected that, like other bitters, its long continued use must weaken the action of the nervous system, but in these instances no such effect took place. (It is said to have suppressed fits of the gout. E.) An infusion of it given to a woman that suckles, makes her milk bitter. It gives a bitterness to the flesh of sheep that eat it. Horses and goats dislike it; cows and swine refuse it. Linn. (Liviu Absinthii and the rare and singularly elegant Plume-motb, Pterophorus spilodactylus, Curt. pl. 161, are found upon it. E.) Turkeys are fond of it. Mr. Hollefear. The plant steeped in boiling water, and repeatedly applied to a bruise, will remove the pain in a short time, and prevent the swelling and discoloration of the part. Stokes. (This is one of those domestic plants, which, associated with mallow, mugwort, hemlock, docks, &c. would seem to follow the footsteps of man, thriving amidst dust and rubbish, and to be found wherever a few miserable hovels are erected. Ramond and De Candolle observed several of these species among the ruins of cottages where shepherds had once lived, high on the Pyrennees; and some years since I remarked, says Mr. Winch, the same circumstance in the Highlands of Scotland. "The constant appearance of these weeds about towns and villages is a curious and inexplicable phenomenon, for no one ever cultivated such plants for utility, much less for ornament." "Winch Geog. Dist. 1, and Ic. i. 764. 2—Ger. Em. 1103. 1-Park. 90 and 91. 2—Ger. 945. 1. 2 -Fuchs. 44-J. B. iii. a. 184. 3—Trag. 344—Lonic. i. 151. 1. Root woody. Stem three or four feet high, angular, scored, often reddish, downy above. Leaves above green and slightly cottony; underneath white with thick cotton; wings oval-spear-shaped, deeply serrated, almost lobed, the terminal one large, with three lobes. Calyx, scales extremely woolly; edges membranous. Florets longer than the calyx. Woodw. Fruit-stalks alternate, from the bosom of the leaves. Blossom purplish. (A variety more entirely green is not uncommon. E.) MUGWORT. (Irish: Bofullan Liagh. Welsh: Bydiawg lwyd; Canwraidd lwyd. Gaelic: An liath-lus. E.) Borders of fields, ditch banks, and on rubbish. P. Aug.* (3) Leaves mostly undivided. A. CERULES'CENS. Stem-leaves spear-shaped, entire: root-leaves many-cleft: (florets of the circumference three: receptacle naked. E.) (E. Bot. 2426. E.)-H. Or. vi. 1. 5-Dod. 26. 2-Lob. Obs. 441. 2, and Ic. i. 765. 2-Ger. Em. 1104. 3-Matth. 687—Ger. 946. (Plant rather shrubby, with slender, leafy branches, downy when young. Leaves of a blueish hoary hue, finely silky in an early state; Sm. downy on both sides. Flowers small, cylindrical, mostly erect, in leafy clusters or spikes. E.) In some countries it is used as a culinary aromatic. A decoction of it is a popular remedy for the ague. The Chinese make use of it as a vulnerary, applying the fresh plant bruised. Osbeck. i. 394. A dram of the leaves, powdered, was given four times a day, by Dr. Home, to a woman who had been affected with hysteric fits for many years. The fits ceased in a few days. In this patient asafoetida and ether had been given to no purpose. (The powdered roots have been recently prescribed with much success in epilepsy, on the Continent. Notwithstanding these favourable reports, Mugwort is rarely employed in England, and has been rejected by the London College. E.) Sheep and swine refuse it; neither horses, cows, nor goats are fond of it. Linn. Dr. Anderson informs us, that sheep are very fond of it, devouring it with great greediness, especially the roots, which seem to them a most delicate morsel. Aphis Absinthii and Phalæna Gamma live upon the several species. (The celebrated ancient caustic of the East, called Moxa, is prepared from the cotton of the leaves of this plant; Kæmpfer: or, according to Abbe Grosier, from a species of a softer and more silky natnre: but Miller, (judging from dried specimens), considers them the same. It was very generally applied by the ancient Chinese, and with great confidence. The downy pellets are still burnt upon the affected parts, and in apoplectic or lethargic cases, but not unaccompanied with punctures or scarification, to which any relief obtained may be more reasonably attributed. The lanugo of Mullein, and other plants, would probably prove equally serviceable. The ashes, when taken as snuff, are said immediately to stop bleedings at the nose. The eastern poets describe the manner in which this Artemisia must be gathered as a preservative against witchcraft, on the fifth day of the fifth moon, and suspended over the doors as a sure protection. Similar delusions appear to have been prevalent in Europe, as recorded by Gerard with a salutary caution. "Pliny saith, that the travailer or waifaring man, that hath the herbe tied abont bim, feeleth no wearisomnes at all, and that he who hath it about him can be hurt by no poisonsome medicines, or by any wilde beast, neither yet by the sunne it selfe. Many other fantasticall devises invented by poets are to be seene in the workes of the auncient writers, tending to witchcraft and sorcerie, and the great dishonor of God, wherefore I do of purpose omit them as things unwoorthie of my recording, or your reviewing." E.) |