HERBS.
Balm, Nettles, Cinque Foil, Eyebright, Sanicle, Plantain, Rattle Snake Plantain, Poor Robin’s Plantain, Toad Plantain, Maiden Hair, Wild Dock, Rock Liverwort, Noble Liverwort, Bloodwort, Wild Beans, Ground Ivy, Water Cresses, Yarrow, May Weed, Gargit, Skunk Cabbage or Poke, Wake Robin, Betony, Scabious, Mullen, Wild Pease, Mouse Ear, Wild Indigo, Tobacco, and Cat Mint.
SANICLE has a root which is thick towards the upper part, and full of small fibres below; the leaves of it are broad, roundish, hard, smooth, and of a fine shining green; a stalk rises from these to the height of a foot, which is quite smooth and free from knots, and on the top of it are several small flowers of a reddish white, shaped like a wild rose. A tea made of the root is vulnerary and balsamic.
RATTLE SNAKE PLANTAIN. This useful herb is of the plantain kind, and its leaves, which spread themselves on the ground, are about one inch and an half wide, and five inches long; from the centre of these arises a small stalk nearly six inches long, which bears a little white flower; the root is about the size of a goose quill, and much bent and divided into several branches. The leaves of this herb are more efficacious than any other part of it for the bite of the reptile from which it receives its name; and being chewed and applied immediately to the wound, and some of the juice swallowed, seldom fails of averting every dangerous symptom. So convinced are the Indians of the power of this infallible antidote, that for a trifling bribe of spirituous liquor, they will at any time permit a rattle snake to drive his fangs into their flesh. It is to be remarked that during those months in which the bite of these creatures is most venomous, that this remedy for it is in its greatest perfection, and most luxuriant in its growth.
POOR ROBIN’s PLANTAIN is of the same species as the last, but more diminutive in every respect; it receives its name from its size, and the poor land on which it grows. It is a good medicinal herb, and often administered with success in fevers and internal weaknesses.
TOAD PLANTAIN resembles the common plantain, only it grows much ranker, and is thus denominated because toads love to harbour under it.
ROCK LIVERWORT is a sort of liverwort that grows on rocks, and is of the nature of kelp or moss. It is esteemed as an excellent remedy against declines.
GARGIT or SKOKE is a large kind of weed, the leaves of which are about six inches long, and two inches and an half broad; they resemble those of spinage in their colour and texture, but not in shape. The root is very large, from which spring different stalks that run eight or ten feet high, and are full of red berries; these hang in clusters in the month of September, and are generally called pigeon berries, as those birds then feed on them. When the leaves first spring from the ground, after being boiled, they are a nutritious and wholesome vegetable, but when they are grown nearly to their full size, they acquire a poisonous quality. The roots applied to the hands or feet of a person afflicted with a fever, prove a very powerful absorbent.
SKUNK CABBAGE or POKE is an herb that grows in moist and swampy places. The leaves of it are about a foot long, and six inches broad, nearly oval, but rather pointed. The roots are composed of great numbers of fibres, a lotion of which is made use of by the people in the colonies for the cure of the itch. There issues a strong musky smell from this herb, something like the animal of the same name before described, and on that account it is so termed.
WAKE ROBIN is an herb that grows in swampy lands; its root resembles a small turnip, and if tasted will greatly inflame the tongue, and immediately convert it from its natural shape into a round hard substance; in which state it will continue for some time, and during this no other part of the mouth will be affected. But when dried, it loses its astringent quality, and becomes beneficial to mankind, for if grated into cold water, and taken internally, it is very good for all complaints of the bowels.