Maudlin.
Botanical name:
Ageratum.
A common plant in our gardens, not without beauty, but kept more for its virtues. It is a foot high. The stalk is round, upright, firm, single, and of a pale green. The leaves are very numerous, and they are longish, narrow, and serrated about the edges. The flowers are small and naked, consisting only of a kind of thrums; but they stand in a large cluster together, at the top of the stalk, in the manner of an umbel. The whole plant has a pleasant smell.
The whole is used, fresh or dried; but it is best fresh gathered. An infusion of it taken for a continuance of time, is good against obstructions of the liver: it operates by urine.
