The British herbal and family physician. : To which is added, a dispensatory for the use of private families / by Nicholas Culpepper.
- Culpeper, Nicholas, 1616-1654. English physitian
- Date:
- 1834
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The British herbal and family physician. : To which is added, a dispensatory for the use of private families / by Nicholas Culpepper. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![I suppose it needless to describe it, being already too well known to my countrymen. Place.] It groweth in woods amongst oaks and other trees, and in parks, forests, and chases, to feed deer; and in other places to fatten swine. Time.] It bloometh in the end of April, or beginning of May, for the most part, and the fruit is ripe in September. Government and Virtues.] It is a plant of Saturn, and there- fore performs his qualities and proportion in these operations. The leaves of the beech-tree are cooling and binding, and there- fore good to be applied to hot swellings to discuss them; the nuts do much nourish such beasts as feed thereon. The water that is found in the hollow places of decaying beeches will cure both man and beast of any scurf, scab, or running tetters, if they be washed therewith; you may boil the leaves into a poul- tice, or make an ointment of them when time of year serves. BILBERRIES, called by some WHORTS, and WHORTLE BERRIES. Descript.] Of these I shall only speak of two sorts which are common in England, viz. The black and red berries. And first of the black. The small bush creepeth along upon the ground, scarce rising half a yard high, with divers small dark green leaves set in the green branches, not always one against the other, and a little dented about the edges; At the foot of the leaves come forth small, hollow, pale, blueish coloured flowers, the brims ending in five points, with a reddish thread in the middle, which pass into small round berries of the bigness and colour of juniper berries, but of a purple, sweetish sharp taste; the juice of them giveth a purplish colour to the hands and lips that eat and handle them, especially if they break them. The root groweth aslope under ground, shooting forth in sundry places as it creepeth. This losetli its leaves in winter. The red bilberry, or whortle-bush, riseth up like the former.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24930775_0048.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
