CULPEPER'S COMPLETE HERBAL

ANEMONE

Name. Called also wind-flower, because they say the flowers never open but when the wind bloweth: Pliny is my author; if it be not so, blame him. The seed also, if it bears any at all, flies away with the wind.

Place and Time. They are sown usually in the gardens of the curious, and flower in the spring-time. As for the description I shall pass it, being well known to all those that sow them.

Government and virtues. It is under the dominion of Mars, being supposed to be a kind of crow-foot. The leaves provoke the terms mightily, being boiled and the decoction drunk. The body being bathed with the decoction of them cures the leprosy. The leaves being stamped, and the juice snuffed up the nose, purges the head greatly: so doth the root being chewed in the mouth, for it causeth much spitting; and brings away many watery and phlegmatic humours, and is therefore excellent for the lethargy. And when all is done, let physicians say what they please, all the pills in the dispensatory purge not the head like to hot things held in the mouth: being made into an ointment, and the eye-lids anointed therewith, it helps inflammations of the eyes, whereby it is palpable that every stronger draweth its weaker light; the same ointment is exceeding good to cleanse malignant and corroding ulcers.