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L I N U M catharticum.
Purging Flax.
2 6 ^
P E N T A N D R I A Pentagynia.
G en. C har. Cal. 5 -leaved. Petals 5 . Cap/, with 10
valves and 10 cells. Seeds folitary.
Spec. C har. Leaves oppofite, obovato-lanceolate.
Stem forked. Petals pointed.
Syn . Linum catharticum. Linn. Sp. PI. 401. Hudf.
F l. An. 134. With. P ot. A rr. 330. Relh. Cant.
131. Sibth. Ox. 106. Curt. L ond.fafc. 3. t. ig.
Mart. F l. Ruß. t. 135. Dick/. H . Sicc. fa fc. 3. 7.
L. fylveftre catharticum. Rail Syn. 362.
V E R Y common in dry open hilly paftures, where it may
be found in flower from June to the end of Auguft.
The root is annual and very fmall. Stems feveral, round,
bowed at the bafe, then upright and Ample, till they branch off
into a forked, leafy, flender-ftalked panicle. Leaves oppofite,
feffile, upright, inclining to an obovate or elliptical form, obtufe
with a flight point, entire, glaucous beneath. The whole herb
is fmooth. When the panicle begins to branch off, its lower
branches, as well, as the leaves that accompany them, are
alternate. Flowers terminal, folitary, drooping in the bud,
then ere<S, white, not unlike thofe of an Arenaria. Calyx-
leaves ovato-lanceolate, pointed, ferrated, with a folitary nerve.
Petals obovate, pointed. Stamina monadelphous. Stigmas
capitate. Capfule with 10 valves, but before they are quite
ripe they cohere in pairs by means of the permanent ftyles.
Gerarde calls this Mill-mountaine, and celebrates it as a
purge on the authority of a Bilhop of Bath and Wells, who
ufed it commonly for that purpofe. His receipt is a handful
of the herb infufed in a pint of warm white wine all night, and
drunk in the morning. Dr. Withering recommends an infu-
fion of 2 drams or more of the dried herb, as an excellent
cathartic (and fometimes a diuretic) in many obftinate rheu-
matiftns.