Volume 2

The British herbal: an history of plants and trees, natives of Britain, cultivated for use, or raised for beauty ... / [John Hill].

  • Hill, John, 1714?-1775
Date:
1756
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The British herbal: an history of plants and trees, natives of Britain, cultivated for use, or raised for beauty ... / [John Hill]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The virtues are probably the fame with thole of the others: but it Hands particularly recom¬ mended as a vulnerary. Barrilier calls it Caryophylkta incam fiore luteo longius radical* C. Bauhine, Caryophylkta alpina apii folio. GENU Vi I. PAS <TU EFLOWER. PULSAR l L L A. 'HE flower confifts of fix petals, and the feeds are furnilhed with downy threads. There is a kind of leafy cup which Hands remote, but belongs to the flower. rhe Dfe- This is one of the polyandrk polygynia of Unnseus; but it is properly of the fame cUfi.mA^ h p cedent: nature has joined it to them by plain charadters, tho’ Lmn«.s grates .t tions. In this clafs it properly conneas the avens and anemone; its feeds betng urn,fired with hairy or thready matter, tho’ finer and more delicate than that o t o e ro u pa Weflrall only interpofe between this and the anemone, a genus nearly allyed to it, the clematis, which, tho’ very different in the fubftance of the ftalks and manner of gio a, y perfectly refembles it in the feathered feeds. . . .. UnnLs, in his Genera Plantarum, allows the pulfatilla to be a diftin^ genus | but m his Species Plantarum, fince publilhed, he makes it only a fpecies of anemone. e ee ere a econ in a what was before obferved, that the fondnefs for making new diHin ions gets tie et er o thor’s earlier knowledge. The particular remote cup, we have mentioned in the characters of this genus, diHinguiflies it fufficiently, as fuch, from the anemone; and this author himfelf once though fo. At prefent, he not only includes this, but among the hepatica al o, t e pecies o anemone . thus, taking away the ufe of thofe antient and univerfally received names, an ca ing t e p ants y that of the anemone, from which they are fufficiently diflinguifhed. Of the fpecies of pafqueflower there is but one a native of Britain. DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. Pafqueflower. Pulfatilla. The root is large, long, and thick ; it is fre¬ quently divided into feveral heads, and they are tufted with the remains of decayed footHalks of leaves. The colour is blackifh, and the taHe bitter and acrid. The leaves Hand on footHalks of four inches long, and are beautifully divided into a number of fmall parts. Thefe footHalks are redilh at the bottom, hairy, and moderately thick. The leaves alfo are hairy, and of a thick fubHance. The flalk is round, hairy, hollow, and weak. While it fupports the flower it is about fix inches . in height; but when that is fallen, it (hoots up to a foot. This feems a provifion of nature for fcattering of the feeds, the wind having more power upon them, as they Hand higher. There are no leaves on this Halk except one, which we have there called a fort of cup to the flower. This Hands always in one certain place, which is a little below the flower ♦, and is divided into ma¬ ny fmall parts, and is very hairy. This leaf furrounds the Halk at its bafe, and is there of one entire piece, its divifions beginning at a little dis¬ tance above. The flower Hands on the top of the Halk, and each Halk has only one. It is large, purple, hairy without, and fmooth within ; and is compofed of fix petals, which are pointed at the ends. It has little fmell, but that is very agreeable. In the centre Hands a tuft of threads with yellow heads, furrounding a button, which afterwards becomes the head of feeds, covered with lon°r filvery hairs. When the plant is in feed the leaf which ferved as a cup. Hand on the middle of the Halk ; for the Halk grows in length only in the upper part. It is found wild on Gogmagog hills in Catn- bridgefhire, and in fome parts of Lincolnfhire, and Yorkfhire ; and flowers in April. J. Bauhine calls it Pulfatilla purpurea cxrulea, * C. Bauhine, Pulfatilla folio crajfore et majore fiore. DIVISION II. FOREIGN SPECIES. i. Pinnate-leaved Pafqueflower. Pulfatilla foliis pinnatis. The root is long, black, large, and divided into many heads. The leaves Hand on footHalks of four inches long, and are compofed of feveral pairs of obtufe pinnae divided deeply at the edges. They are of a firm, hard fubHance, a pale green colour, and hairy. The Halk is five inches high, hollow, weak, and hairy. The flower is remarkably large, and Hands Angle at the top, each flalk bearing but one. It is compofed of fix long and broad pe¬ tals, and has a great tuft of threads in the centre. Under it there Hands fuch a Angular leaf, as in the common pafqueflower, forming a kind of cup. The flower Hands ered ; but is uncertain in colour. It is mofl ufually of a pale yellow : fometimes it is of a deeper yellow, and fome- times white. Thefe are lefs remarkable variati¬ ons; for we fee many flowers changing, according to the culture or natural accidents, from a very deep colour, through all the gradations of the fame colour into white ; but what is Angular in this, is that the flower is fometimes alfopurple, the whole plant remaining in other refpe&s e ' actly the fame. r 2