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Show Thea BR ETLS HiH ER BA L. The’ BIRGIT 1S Hr Common May-apple. Ill. sities a GENS MANDRAKE., MANDRAGORA Podophyllum vuleare. Li0.6 WHE flower is formed of a fingle petal ; which is hollow, and divided deeply intofive fegments, fhape, marked with five ridges, and di. Thecup is large, formed ofa fingle leaf, of a hollow vided alfo into five fegments at the edge. ‘The fruit is a berry, but a very large one, of a round or longifh form; and the feeds are numerous, and kidney-fhaped. five, and the ftyle from the Linnzus places this among the pentandria monogynia 5 the threads being rudiment ofthe fruit fingle. There is but one known fpecies of this fingular genus, The Mandrake. Mandragora. PCa000 3” The root is long, flender, and creeping: it runs jutt under the furface, and has numerous fibres annexed to it. The ftalk is round, upright, firm, of a yelJowifh colour, and about a foot high. It is naked to the top; where it divides ufually into two parts, and oneachof thefe is fupported a fingle leaf. This is very large, of a roundifh form, but divided down to the ftalk into about fix fegments. and arms to it. Good fculpture has in fome authors alfo greatly helped this refembl ce; but in natureit is really nothing. Gara two parts. This however is not its conftant or certain form: fometimes it is divided into three or four parts, and fometimes it is abfolutely fingle. The leaves are numerous, and very large: they are long, and confiderably broad, fmall at the bafe, wideft toward the middle, and thence gradually narrowerto an obtufe point: they are often waved, and fometimes indented at the edges. Their colour is a dark, dufky green ; and they have a very unpleafant {mell. The ftalks which fupport the fowersrife among thefe leaves ; and they are very flender, about four inches high, andof a pale green: each fupports a fingle ower. This is large, hollow, and of a whitifh colour, with a bluth of purple. The fruit is of the bignefs of a {mall apple, and is of a fpungy fubftance. Its colour is a greenifh yellow whenunripe; but asit ripensall the green goes off, and it becomes perfectly yellow. It is a native of Spain and Italy, and of the other warmer parts of the world, growing in damp woods. It flowers in June. C. Bauhine calls it Mandragora fruétu rotundo. Others, Maendragor No plant has been a fource of more error or impofition than this. The fruit is fometimes of an oblong fhape, inftead of round; and in that condition the plant is called the female mandrake; but it is only an accidental variety. It is pretendedthat the root perfeétly reprefents the human body; and cheats have carved a head GOED ON The fruit of the m ke has been accounted poifonous; but without anyjuft reafon. be eaten with fafety in the manner ofthe large fruits of fomeof the /olanums ; but it is unplea- Thofe people who fhew the root of» feldom get that ofthe right plant. Their c is, to cut a piece of white bryony into the in- tended fhape, and put it into the groundagainfor fome time, where it will often get a kind ofcoat, The interpreters of the Bible have been cenfured for rendering the Hebrew dudcim, mandrakes and muchlearned ignorance has been fent into the world upon the fubjeét. But there feems no reafon for farther conje¢ture than the plain fenfe of the words; nor any error in the Septuagint, though the miftakes of commentators havefancied fo, They have been ledto guels other fruits muft have been meant, becaufe they thought that of the mandrake poifonous, But that is a palpable error: many have eaten the fruits, and anyone may without hurt. This plant therefore is in cent: it grows abundantly in that part of the world where the feene of the feripture-ftory lies; and its virtue was fuppofed to be that of clean- fing the uterus, and affifting conception. This might naturally lead the female Ifraelite to eatit; andc the whole c account is pl ain, familiar, and evidently literal truth. Um She MPALY = ACPUPTE ER: POOP HY ELLUM, 1. Common Winter-Cherry. Alkekengi vulgare. #2 Sa 4 The root is flender, and creeps underthefur- face. The ftalk is round, upright, a foot and half high, and divided into feveral branches. The leaves are placed two at a joint, on long footftalks ; and they are large, andof a fine deep green : they are broadeft at the bafe, narrower to the point, and undivided at the edges. The flowers are placed on flenderfootftalks in the bofoms of the leaves: they are large and white. The fruit fucceeds ; and makes a fingular appearance: itis a red berry of the bignefs eherry, and is furrounded by a kind ofb bladder formed of the cup; which fwells for that purpofe, and acquires a red colour. It is a native of the warmer parts of Europe, and flowers in June. C. Bauhine calls it Solanum veficarium. Others, Alkekengi. 2. Sleepy Nightthade. HE flower is compofed of nine petals; which are of a roundith { T the edge. The cup is a kind of leafy fcabbard, fal ling with the flower: a it is compofedof three s large, hollow leaves, of an oval form. The fr uit is a berry, of an oval fhape, with a crown at its top. The feeds are numerous and roundifh . Linnzus places this among the polyandria olyandr: monogynia ia; the threads being i numerous, and fixedto the receptacle, and the ftyle from the rudiment of the fru it ingle. The name is by moft written anapodophyllum. Common U's HE flower is formed of a fingle petal; which is hollowed, large, folded, and dividedat the edge into five broad, pointed fegments. The cup is formed of afingleleaf ; andis of a bloated fhape, and divided alfo toward the edgeinto five pointed fegments : it is of a pentangular form, and remains with the fruit The berry is roundith, andis contained in the cup, which becomes verylarge, clofes about it, and acquires a colour. The feeds are numerous, kidney-fhaped, and comprefled. Linnzus places this among the pentandria monegynia , the threads in the flower being five, and the ftyle from the rudiment of the fruit fingle. He calls the genus p/y/alis. The berries are celebrated for many virtues ; but the prefent. practice neglects them: they operate by urine, and are good againft obftructions of the vifcera ; but as we have fo many more powerful medicines for the fame intentions, they are not worth much regard. 1V, nadenfe. ALKERENGE It may fant. The leaves are cooling, and are ufedin ointments for that purpofe. The outer bark ofthe root is dried for the fervice of medicine, but is at prefent little regarded : it has the c narcotick ; but it has no very powe: 4 335 WINTER+CHERRY. The rootis large, long, and thick ; and ufually from about the middle downwards is divided into N. HER B Aap. The colour is a yellowifh green, and the fubftance firm. The flower rifes in the midft between thefe two parts of the ftalk; and has a flender pedicle of an inch long. It is large and whi es The fruit is oblo large, and of ano colour whenripe. It is a native of North America, and flowers in May. 4, Authors in general call it 4 odophy Alkekengi floribus confertis. (CaM This, though called a nightfbade, is properly a fpecies of winter-cherry. The difference is not fo great, that we fhould wonder oldauthors, lefs accurate than we in the characters of the genera, did not perceiveit. The root is long and thick. The firft leaves are very large, broad, fhort, obtufely pointed, and fupported on fhort footftalks: their colouris a deep green. The ftalk is round, upright, and two feet high: toward the top it ufually divides into feveral branches. The leaves are placed on fhort footftalks, and refemble thofe from the root: they are alfo of a dufky green on the upper fide, but paler under- neath. The flowers growin clufters round the ftalk at the joints; and they are fmall, and of a yellowifh white. The berry is fmall and red: it remains in the cup, where it is defended by a woolly matter. It is a native of the warmer parts of Europe, and flowersin July. C. Bauhine calls it Solanum latim. ferum verticil- It is accounted poifonous ; but outwardly is in common ufe in Spain to promote fleep. The leaves are bruifed for this purpofe, and laid on the temples, 3. Woolly Winter-Cherry. Alkekengi foliis lanuginofis. 77% The root is long, thick, and furnithed with many fibres. The ftalk is firm, woody, and divided into branches. The leaves are placed on flender footftalks ; andthey are fhort, broad, obtufe, of a whitith colour, and of a woolly furface. The flowers ftand fingly on long footftalks rifing from the bofoms of the leaves; and they are {mall, andof a very pale redith colour, The berry is large, andofa coral red. |