CULPEPER'S COMPLETE HERBAL

ROUGH SHEPHERD'S NEEDLE

Description. This grows from a long, slender, white fibrous root, with finely divided leaves, which are deeply serrated, of a pale green, and very like those of the common parsley. The stalk is round, upright, green, and a yard high. The flowers grow at the tops of the branches in little umbels, surrounded with numerous long and slender leaves, forming a kind of general cup. The seeds are small, brown, and striated.

Place. It is common in hedges, on ditch-banks, and in gardens.

Time. It is annual, and flowers in May.

Government and virtues. It is uner Venus, and should be gathered when that plant is in exaltation. Some account it to be a poisonous plant, but there does not appear any thing cerain on that head. It has been tried and foudn to be innocent. It is accounted to be hot and dry, comforting the head and stomach, and helping vertiginous disorders. It is likewise a good deobstruent, opening obstructions of the womb, and procuring the catemina.