CULPEPER'S COMPLETE HERBAL

SER MOUNTAIN

Description. Ser mountain, or, as it is sometimes called, hartwort, has a large thick root, that strikes deep into the ground, with a great many stringy fibres at the bottom. The stalk rises to be as high as an ordinary man, full of branches, having many large winged leaves, as it were encompassing the stalks with a thin sheath, cut into several segments, each of which is usually divided into five, and at the end three oval smaller leaves, smooth, and pointed at the end. It has large umbels of small five leaved, white flowers, each of which is succeeded by two large long seeds, striated on the back, and having a leafy border on each side, of a brown colour, a pretty strong smell, and a hot bitterish taste.

Place. It grows upon the Alps, but with us is found only in some gardens.

Time. It flowers in June.

Government and virtues. It is a warm martial plant, both heating and drying; it provokes urine and the menses, expels the birth and after-birth; and is good in disorders of the head and womb. The seeds are put both into theriace and mithridate.