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CULPEPER'S COMPLETE HERBAL

 

THORN-APPLE

Description. It has a large divided and fibrous root; the stem is thick and firm, upright, branched. and two or three feet high; the leaves are large, broad, sharp-pointed, supported on short firm leaf-stalks, a little indented at the edges, of a firmish texture, and a darkish green colour. The flowers are produced at the divisions of the stem and branches: they are large and white; the seeds are numerous and kidney-shaped.

Place. It is a native of the southern parts of America, but flourishes very well in our gardens.

Time. It flowers in August.

Government and virtues. Jupiter governs this plant. The juice pressed out of the fresh plant, and inspissated to an extract, has been given in doses from half a grain to the amount of a drachm in twenty-four hours, in epileptic disorders, convulsions, and madness, and proved to be a medicine of singularly efficacy in those deplorable maladies, several persons being cured by it whose disorders were both violent and of long standing. An ointment made of the leaves is cooling and repelling.


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