Moonwort.

Botanical name: 

Plate 35. Lunaria.

A very singular, and very pretty plant, frequent in some parts of the kingdom, but in most very scarce. It grows six inches high; and consists of the stalk, one leaf, and two flowers. The stalk is round, firm, and thick. It is naked to the middle, and there grows the leaf, which is composed as it were of several pairs of small ones, or rather is a whole and single leaf divided deeply, so as to resemble a number of smaller; these are rounded and hollowed, and thence, came its name of moonwort; from the base of this leaf, the stalk is continued up an inch or two, and then rise the clusters of flowers and seeds; these are very small, and like dust, and of a brown colour. The leaves of moon wort dried and given in powder, stop purgings, and the overflowing of the menses. The fresh plant bruised and laid to a cut, stops the bleeding, and heals it in a day or two.


The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill.