_Mountain-Lillies_, bearing many yellow Flowers, turning up their
Leaves like the _Martigon_, or _Turks_ Cap, spotted with small spots
as deep as Safforn, they Flower in _July_.[194]
_One Berry_, or Herb _True Love_. See the Figure.[195]
_Tobacco_, there is not much of it Planted in _New-England_. The
_Indians_ make use of a small kind with short round leaves called
_Pooke_.[196]
_For Burns and Scalds._
With a strong decoction of Tobacco they Cure Burns and Scalds,
boiling it in Water from a Quart to a Pint, then wash the Sore
therewith, and strew on the powder of dryed Tobacco.
[Illustration: _Hollow Leaved Lavender._]
_Hollow Leaved Lavender_, is a Plant that grows in salt Marshes
overgrown with Moss, with one straight stalk about the bigness of an
Oat straw, better than a Cubit high; upon the top standeth one {55}
fantastical Flower, the Leaves grow close from the root, in shape
like a Tankard, hollow, tough, and alwayes full of Water, the Root
is made up of many small strings, growing only in the Moss, and not
in the Earth, the whole Plant comes to its perfection in _August_,
and then it has Leaves, Stalks, and Flowers as red as blood,
excepting the Flower which hath some yellow admixt. I wonder where
the knowledge of this Plant hath slept all this while, _i.e._ above
Forty Years.[197]
_For all manner of Fluxes._
It is excellent for all manner of Fluxes.
_Live for ever_, a kind of _Cud-weed_.[198]
_Tree Primerose_, taken by the Ignorant for _Scabious_.[199]
_A Solar Plant, as some will have it._
_Maiden Hair_, or _Cappellus veneris verus_, which ordinarily is half
a Yard in height. The _Apothecaries_ for shame now will substitute
_Wall-Rue_ no more for _Maiden Hair_, since it grows in abundance in
_New-England_, from whence they may have good store.[200]
_Pirola_, Two kinds. See the Figures, both of them excellent Wound
Herbs.[201]
_Homer’s Molley._[202]
{56} _Lysimachus_ or _Loose Strife_, it grows in dry grounds in the
open Sun four foot high, Flowers from the middle of the Plant to the
top, the Flowers purple, standing upon a small sheath or cod, which
when it is ripe breaks and puts forth a white silken doun, the stalk
is red, and as big as ones Finger.[203]
_Marygold of Peru_, of which there are two kinds, one bearing black
seeds, the other black and white streak’d, this beareth the fairest
flowers, commonly but one upon the very top of the stalk.[204]
_Treacle-Berries._ See before _Salomons Seal_.
_Oak of Hierusalem._ See before.
_Oak of Cappadocea._ See before.
_Earth-Nuts_, differing much from those in _England_, one sort of
them bears a most beautiful Flower.[205]
_For the Scurvy and Dropsie._
_Sea-Tears_, they grow upon the Sea banks in abundance, they are good
for the Scurvy and Dropsie, boiled and eaten as a Sallade, and the
broth drunk with it.[206]
_Indian Beans, better for Physick use than other Beans._
_Indian Beans_, falsly called _French beans_, are better for Physick
and Chyrurgery {57} than our Garden Beans. _Probatum est_.[207]
_Squashes_, but more truly _Squontersquashes_, a kind of Mellon,
or rather Gourd, for they oftentimes degenerate into Gourds;
some of these are green, some yellow, some longish like a Gourd,
others round like an Apple, all of them pleasant food boyled and
buttered, and season’d with Spice; but the yellow _Squash_ called
an Apple _Squash_, because like an Apple, and about the bigness
of a Pome-water is the best kind;[208] they are much eaten by the
_Indians_ and the _English_, yet they breed the small white Worms
(which Physitians call _Ascarides_,) in the long Gut that vex the
Fundament with a perpetual itching, and a desire to go to stool.
_Water-Mellon_, it is a large Fruit, but nothing near so big as a
Pompion, colour, smoother, and of a sad Grass green rounder or more
rightly _Sap-green_; with some yellowness admixt when ripe; the seeds
are black, the flesh or pulpe exceeding juicy.[209]
_For heat and thirst in Feavers._
It is often given to those sick of Feavers, and other hot Diseases
with good success.
{58} _New-England Daysie_, or _Primrose_, is the second kind of
_Navel Wort_ in _Johnson_ upon _Gerard_; it flowers in _May_, and
grows amongst Moss upon hilly Grounds and Rocks that are shady.[210]
_For Burns and Scalds._
It is very good for Burns and Scalds.
_An Achariston, or Medicine deserving thanks._
An _Indian_ whose Thumb was swell’d, and very much inflamed, and full
of pain, increasing and creeping along to the wrist, with little
black spots under the Thumb against the Nail; I Cured it with this
_Umbellicus veneris_ Root and all, the Yolk of an Egg, and Wheat
flower, _f. Cataplasme_.
_Briony of Peru_, (we call it though it grown hear) or rather
_Scammony_; some take it for _Mechoacan_: The green Juice is
absolutely Poyson; yet the Root when dry may safely be given to
strong Bodies.[211]
_Red_ and _Black Currence_. See before.
_Wild Damask Roses_, single, but very large and sweet, but
stiptick.[212]
_Sweet Fern_,[213] the Roots run one within another like a Net,
being very long and spreading abroad under the upper crust of {59}
the Earth, sweet in taste, but withal astringent, much hunted after
by our Swine: The _Scotchmen_ that are in _New-England_ have told me
that it grows in _Scotland_.
_For Fluxes._
The People boyl the tender tops in _Molosses_ Beer, and in Possets
for Fluxes, for which it is excellent.
_Sarsaparilia_, a Plant not yet sufficiently known by the _English_:
Some say it is a kind of _Bind Weed_; we have, in _New-England_ two
Plants, that go under the name of _Sarsaparilia_: the one not above
a foot in height without Thorns, the other having the same Leaf, but
is a shrub as high as a _Goose Berry Bush_, and full of sharp Thorns;
this I esteem as the right, by the shape and savour of the Roots, but
rather by the effects answerable to that we have from other parts of
the World; It groweth upon dry Sandy banks by the Sea side, and upon
the banks of Rivers, so far as the Salt water flowes; and within Land
up in the Country, as some have reported.[214]
_Bill Berries_, two kinds, Black and Sky Coloured, which is more
frequent.[215]
{60} _To cool the heat of Feavers, and quench Thirst._
They are very good to allay the burning heat of Feavers, and hot
Agues, either in Syrup or Conserve.
_A most excellent Summer Dish._
They usually eat of them put into a Bason, with Milk, and sweetned a
little more with Sugar and Spice, or for cold Stomachs, in Sack. The
_Indians_ dry them in the Sun, and sell them to the _English_ by the
_Bushell_, who make use of them instead of Currence, putting of them
into Puddens, both boyled and baked, and into Water Gruel.
_Knot Berry_, or _Clowde Berry_, seldom ripe.[216]
_Sumach_, differing from all that I did ever see in the Herbalists;
our _English_ Cattle devour it most abominably, leaving neither Leaf
nor Branch, yet it sprouts again next Spring.[217]
_For Colds._
The _English_ use to boyl it in Beer, and drink it for Colds; and so
do the _Indians_, from whom the _English_ had the Medicine.
_Wild Cherry_, they grow in clusters like {61} Grapes, of the same
bigness, blackish, red when ripe, and of a harsh taste.[218]
_For Fluxes._
They are also good for Fluxes.
Transplanted and manured, they grow exceeding fair.
_Board Pine_, is a very large Tree two or three Fathom about.[219]
_For Wounds._
It yields a very soveraign Turpentine for the Curing of desperate
Wounds.
_For Stabbs._
The _Indians_ make use of the _Moss_ boiled in Spring Water, for
Stabbs, pouring in the Liquor, and applying the boiled Moss well
stamp’d or beaten betwixt two stones.
_For Burning and Scalding._
And for Burning and Scalding, they first take out the fire with a
strong decoction of Alder Bark, then they lay upon it a Playster of
the bark of _Board Pine_ first boyled tender, and beat to a Playster
betwixt two stones.
_To take Fire out of a Burn._
One _Christopher Luxe_, a Fisher-man, having burnt his Knee Pan, was
healed {62} again by an _Indian Webb_, or Wife, (for so they call
those Women that have Husbands;) She first made a strong decoction
of Alder bark, with which she took out the Fire by Imbrocation, or
letting of it drop upon the Sore, which would smoak notably with it;
then she Playstered it with the Bark of _Board Pine_, or _Hemlock
Tree_, boyled soft and stampt betwixt two stones, till it was as thin
as brown Paper, and of the same Colour, she annointed the Playster
with _Soyles Oyl_, and the Sore likewise, then she laid it on warm,
and sometimes she made use of the bark of the _Larch Tree_.
_To eat out proud Flesh in a Sore._
And to eat out the proud Flesh, they take a kind of _Earth Nut_
boyled and stamped, and last of all, they apply to the Sore the
Roots of _Water Lillies_ boiled and stamped betwixt two stones, to a
Playster.
_For Stitches._
The _Firr Tree_, or _Pitch Tree_,[220] the Tar that is made of all
sorts of _Pitch Wood_ is an excellent thing to take away those
desperate Stitches of the Sides, which perpetually afflicteth those
poor People that are {63} stricken with the _Plague of the Back_.
_Note_, You must make a large Toast, or Cake slit and dip it in the
Tar, and bind it warm to the Side.
_The most common Diseases in New England._
The _Black Pox_, the _Spotted Feaver_, the _Griping of the Guts_,
the _Dropsie_, and the _Sciatica_, are the killing Diseases in
_New-England_.
The _Larch Tree_, which is the only Tree of all the Pines, that sheds
his Leaves before Winter; The other remaining Green all the Year:
This is the Tree from which we gather that useful purging excrense,
_Agarick_.[221]
_For Wounds and Cuts._
The Leaves and Gum are both very good to heal Wounds and Cuts.
_For Wounds with Bruises._
I cured once a desperate Bruise with a Cut upon the Knee Pan, with an
Ungent made with the Leaves of the _Larch Tree_, and Hogs Grease, but
the Gum is best.
_Spruce_ is a goodly Tree, of which they make Masts for Ships, and
Sail Yards: It is generally conceived by those that have {64}
skill in Building of Ships, that here is absolutely the best Trees
in the World, many of them being three Fathom about, and of great
length.[222]
_An Achariston for the Scurvy._
The tops of Green _Spruce_ Boughs boiled in _Bear_, and drunk, is
assuredly one of the best Remedies for the Scurvy, restoring the
Infected party in a short time; they also make a Lotion of some of
the decoction, adding Hony and Allum.
_Hemlock Tree_, a kind of _Spruce_, the bark of this Tree serves to
dye Tawny; the Fishers Tan their Sails and Nets with it.[223]
_To break Sore or Swelling._
The _Indians_ break and heal their Swellings and Sores with it,
boyling the inner Bark of young _Hemlock_ very well, then knocking of
it betwixt two stones to a Playster, and annointing or soaking it in
Soyls Oyl, they apply it to the Sore: It will break a Sore Swelling
speedily.
_One Berry_, _Herba Paris_, or _True Love_.[224]
_Sassafras_, or _Ague Tree_.[225]
{65} _For heat in Feavers._
The Chips of the Root boyled in Beer is excellent to allay the hot
rage of Feavers, being drunk.
_For Bruises and dry Blowes._
The Leaves of the same Tree are very good made into an Oyntment,
for Bruises and dry Blows. The Bark of the Root we use instead of
Cinamon; and it is Sold at the _Barbadoes_ for two Shillings the
Pound.
And why may not this be the Bark the Jesuits Powder was made of, that
was so Famous not long since in _England_, for Agues?
_Cran Berry_, or _Bear Berry_, because Bears use much to feed upon
them, is a small trayling Plant that grows in Salt Marshes that are
over-grown with Moss; the tender Branches (which are reddish) run out
in great length, lying flat on the ground, where at distances, they
take Root, over-spreading sometimes half a score Acres, sometimes
in small patches of about a Rood or the like; the Leaves are like
Box, but greener, thick and glittering; the Blossoms are very like
the Flowers of {66} our _English Night Shade_, after which succeed
the Berries, hanging by long small foot stalks, no bigger than a
hair; at first they are of a pale yellow Colour, afterwards red, and
as big as a Cherry; some perfectly round, others Oval, all of them
hollow, of a sower astringent taste; they are ripe in _August_ and
_September_.[226]
_For the Scurvy._
They are excellent against the Scurvy.
_For the heat in Feavers._
They are also good to allay the fervour of hot Diseases.
The _Indians_ and _English_ use them much, boyling them with Sugar
for Sauce to eat with their Meat; and it is a delicate Sauce,
especially for roasted Mutton: Some make Tarts with them as with
Goose Berries.
_Vine_, much differing in the Fruit, all of them very fleshy, some
reasonably pleasant; others have a taste of Gun Powder, and these
grow in Swamps, and low wet Grounds.[227]
{67} 3. _Of such Plants as are proper to the Country, and have no
Name._
(1.)
_Pirola_, or _Winter Green_, that kind which grows with us in
_England_ is common in _New-England_,[228] but there is another
plant which I judge to be a kind of _Pirola_, and proper to this
Country, a very beautiful Plant; The shape of the Leaf and the just
bigness of it you may see in the Figure.
[Illustration: _The Leaf of the Plant judged to be a kind of Pirola._]
The Ground whereof is a Sap Green, embroydered (as it were) with
many pale yellow Ribs, the whole Plant in shape is {68} like _Semper
vivum_, but far less, being not above a handful high, with one
slender stalk, adorned with small pale yellow Flowers like the other
_Pirola_. It groweth not every where, but in some certain small spots
overgrown with Moss, close by swamps and shady; they are green both
Summer and Winter.[229]
_For Wounds._
They are excellent Wound Herbs, but this I judge to be the better by
far. _Probatum est._
[Illustration]
(2.)
This Plant was brought to me by a neighbour, who (wandering in the
Woods to find out his strayed Cattle,) lost himself {69} for two
Dayes, being as he ghessed eight or ten Miles from the Sea-side.
The Root was pretty thick and black, having a number of small black
strings growing from it, the stalks of the Leaves about a handful
long, the Leaves were round and as big as a Silver five Shilling
piece, of a sap or dark green Colour, with a line or ribb as black
as Jeat round the Circumference, from whence came black lines or
ribs at equal distance, all of them meeting in a black spot in the
Center.[230] If I had staid longer in the Country, I should have
purposely made a Journey into those Parts where it was gathered, to
discover if possible, the Stalk and Flower; but now I shall refer it
to those that are younger, and better able to undergo the pains and
trouble of finding it out; for I understood by the Natives, that it
is not common, that is, every where to be found, no more then the
embroydered _Pirola_, which also is a most elegant Plant, and which I
did endeavour to bring over, but it perished at Sea.
_For Wounds._
_Clownes all heal_, of _New-England_, is another Wound Herb not
Inferiour to {70} ours, but rather beyond it: Some of our _English_
practitioners take it for _Vervene_, and use it for the same, wherein
they are grosly mistaken.
The Leaf is like a Nettle Leaf, but narrower and longer; the stalk
about the bigness of a Nettle stalk, Champhered and hollow, and of
a dusky red Colour; the Flowers are blew, small, and many, growing
in spoky tufts at the top, and are not hooded, but having only four
round Leaves, after which followeth an infinite of small longish
light brown Seed; the Roots are knotty and matted together with an
infinite number of small white strings; the whole Plant is commonly
two Cubits high, bitter in taste, with a Rosenie favour.[231]
{71} [Illustration]
(3.)
This Plant is one of the first that springs up after White
_Hellibore_, in the like wet and black grounds, commonly by
_Hellibore_, with a sheath or Hood like Dragons, but the pestle is of
another shape, that is, having a round Purple Ball on the top of it,
beset (as it were) with Burs; the hood shoots forth immediately from
the Root, before any Leaf appears, having a Green {72} sprig growing
fast by it, like the smaller _Horse Tayl_, about the latter end of
_April_ the Hood and Sprig wither away, and there comes forth in the
room a Bud, like the Bud of the _Walnut Tree_, but bigger; the top of
it is of a pale Green Colour, covered with brown skins like an Onion,
white underneath the Leaves, which spread in time out of the Bud,
grow from the root with a stalk a Foot long, and are as big as the
great _Bur Dock_ Leaves, and of the colour; the Roots are many, and
of the bigness of the steel of a Tobacco Pipe, and very white; the
whole Plant sents as strong as a Fox; it continues till _August_.[232]
{73} [Illustration: _A Branch of the Humming Bird Tree._]
{74} (4.)
This Plant the _Humming Bird_ feedeth upon, it groweth likewise in
wet grounds, and is not at its full growth till _July_, and then it
is two Cubits high and better, the Leaves are thin, and of a pale
green Colour, some of them as big as a Nettle Leaf, it spreads into
many Branches, knotty at the setting on, and of a purple Colour, and
garnished on the top with many hollow dangling Flowers of a bright
yellow Colour, speckled with a deeper yellow as it were shadowed,
the Stalkes are as hollow as a Kix, and so are the Roots, which are
transparent, very tender, and full of a yellowish juice.[233]
_For Bruises and Aches upon stroaks._
The _Indians_ make use of it for Aches, being bruised between two
stones, and laid to cold, but made (after the _English_ manner) into
an unguent with Hogs Grease, there is not a more soveraign remedy for
bruises of what kind soever; and for Aches upon Stroaks.
In _August_, 1670. in a Swamp amongst _Alders_, I found a fort of
Tree _Sow Thistle_, the Stalks of some two or three Inches, {75}
about, as hollow as a Kix and very brittle, the Leaves were smooth,
and in shape like _Sonchus lævis_, i.e. _Hares Lettice_, but longer,
some about a Foot, these grow at a distance one from another, almost
to the top, where it begins to put forth Flowers between the Leaves
and the Stalk, the top of the stalk runs out into a spike, beset
about with Flowers like Sow Thistle, of a blew or azure colour: I
brought home one of the Plants which was between twelve and thirteen
Foot in length, I wondered at it the more for that so large and tall
a Plant should grow from so small a Root, consisting of slender white
strings little bigger than Bents, and not many of them, and none
above a Finger long, spreading under the upper crust of the Earth;
the whole Plant is full of Milk, and of a strong favour.[234]
{76} [Illustration: _The Plant when it springs up first._]
{77} [Illustration: _The Figure of the Plant when it is at full
growth._]
(5.)
This Plant I found in a gloomy dry Wood under an Oak, 1670. the
_18th_ of _August_, afterwards I found it in open Champain grounds,
but yet somewhat scarce: The Root is about the bigness of a _French_
Walnut, the Bark thereof is brown, and rugged, within of a yellowish
Colour, from whence ariseth a slender stalk, no bigger than an Oat
straw, about two Cubits in height, somewhat better than a handful
above the Root shooteth out one Leaf of a Grass Green colour, and
an Inch or two above that, another Leaf, and so four or five at a
greater distance one from another, till they come within a handful
of the top, where upon slender foot stalks grow the Flowers four or
five, more or fewer, clustering together in pale long green husks
milk white, consisting of ten small Leaves, snipt a little on the
edges with purple hair threads in the midst; the whole Plant is of a
brakish tast: When it is at its full growth the stalks are as red as
Blood.[235]
{78} [Illustration]
{79} (6.)
This Plant Flowers in _August_, and grows in wet Ground; it is
about three or four foot in height, having a square slender stalk,
chamfered, hollow and tuff, the Leaves grow at certain distances one
against another, of the colour of _Egrimony_ Leaves sharpe pointed,
broadest in the midst about an Inch and half, and three or four
Inches in length, snipt about the edges like a Nettle Leaf, at the
top of the Stalk for four or five Inches thick, set with pale green
husks, out of which the Flowers grow, consisting of one Leaf, shaped
like the head of a Serpent, opening at the top like a mouth, and
hollow throughout, containing four crooked pointels, and on the top
of every pointel a small, glistering, green button, covered with
a little white woolly matter, by which they are with the pointels
fastened close together and shore up the tip of the upper chap, the
crooked pointels are very stiff and hard, from the bottom of the
husks, wherein the Flower stands, from the top of the Seed Vessel
shoots out a white thread which runs in at the bottom of the Flower,
and so {80} out at the mouth; the whole Flower is milk white, the
inside of the chaps reddish, the Root I did not observe.[236]
[Illustration]
{81} (7.)
This Plant I take for a varigated Herb _Paris_, _True Love_ or _One
Berry_, or rather _One Flower_, which is milk white, and made up with
four Leaves, with many black threads in the middle, upon every thread
grows a Berry (when the Leaves of the Flower are fallen) as big as a
white pease, of a light red colour when they are ripe, and clustering
together in a round form as big as a Pullets Egg, which at distance
shews but as one Berry, very pleasant in taste, and not unwholsome;
the Root, Leaf, and Flower differ not from our _English_ kind, and
their time of blooming and ripening agree, and therefore doubtless a
kind of _Herba Paris_.[237]
{82} [Illustration: _The small Sun Flower, or Marygold of America._]
{83} [Illustration]
{84} (8.)
This Plant is taken by our Simplists to be a kind of _Golden Rod_,
by others for _Sarazens Consound_. I judge it to be a kind of small
_Sun Flower_, or _Marygold_ of the _West Indies_; the Root is brown
and slender, a foot and half in length, running a slope under the
upper face of the Earth, with some strings here and there, the
stalk as big as the steal of a Tobacco pipe, full of pith, commonly
brownish, sometimes purple, three or four foot high, the Leaves grow
at a distance one against another, rough, hard, green above, and gray
underneath, slightly snipt and the ribs appear most on the back side
of the Leaf, the Flower is of a bright yellow, with little yellow
cups in the midst, as in the _Marygold_ of _Peru_, with black threads
in them with yellow pointels, the Flower spreads it self abroad out
of a cup made up of many green beards, not unlike a Thistle; Within a
handful of the top of the stalk (when the Flower is fallen), growes
an excrense or knob as big as a Walnut, which being broken yieldeth a
kind of _Turpentine_ or rather _Rosen_.[238]
_What Cutchenele is._
The stalk beneath and above the knob, covered with a multitude of
small Bugs, about the bigness of a great flea, which I presume will
make good _Cutchenele_, ordered as they should be before they come
to have Wings: They make a perfect Scarlet Colour to Paint with, and
durable.
{85} 4. _Of such Plants as have sprung up since the_ English _Planted
and kept Cattle in_ New-England.[239]
_Couch Grass._[240]
_Shepherds Purse._[241]
_Dandelion._[242]
_Groundsel._[243]
_Sow Thistle._[244]
_Wild Arrach._[245]
_Night Shade_, with the white Flower.[246]
_Nettlestinging_, which was the first Plant taken notice of.[247]
_Mallowes._[248]
{86} _Plaintain_, which the Indians call _English-Mans Foot_, as
though produced by their treading.[249]
_Black Henbane._[250]
_Wormwood._[251]
_Sharp pointed Dock._[252]
_Patience._[253]
_Bloodwort._[254]