Chick-weed.
Botanical name:
Alsine media.
THE commonest of all weeds, but not without its virtue. The right sort to use in medicine (for there are several) is that which grows so common in our garden-beds: it is low and branched. The stalks are round, green, weak, and divided; they commonly lean on the ground. The leaves are short and broad, of a pleasant green, not dented at the edges, and pointed at the end: these grow two at every joint. The flowers are white and small.
The whole plant, cut to pieces and boiled in lard till it is crisp, converts the lard into a fine green cooling ointment. The juice taken inwardly, is good against the scurvy.
