CULPEPER'S COMPLETE HERBAL,

AND

ENGLISH PHYSICIAN;

Of gathering, drying, and keeping simples, and their juices.

CHAP. II.

Of Flowers.

    1. The flower, which is the beauty of the plant, and of none of the least use in physic, groweth yearly, and is to be gathered when it is in its prime.
    2. As for the time of gathering them, let the planetary hour and the plant they come of he observed, as we showed you in the foregoing chapter; as for the time of the day, let it be when the sun shines upon them, so that they may be dry; for if you gather either flowers or herbs when they are wet or dewy, they will not keep.
    3. Dry them well in the sun, and keep them in papers near the fire, as I showed you in the foregoing chapter..
    4. So long as they retain their colour and smell, they are good; either being gone, so is their virtue also.