Germander.
(Some Teucriums contain livertoxic neo-clerodane diterpenoids. Their use is discouraged. --Henriette.)
Germander
Chamaedrys.
A little plant, native of many parts of Europe, but with us kept in gardens. It grows a foot or more in height, but rarely stands quite up right. The stalks are square, green, and a little hairy. The leaves stand two at each joint. They are oblong, deeply indented at the edges, of a firm substance, green on the upper side, but hairy underneath. The flowers are small and purple, like the flowers of the little dead nettle. They stand in clusters about the upper joints of the stalks, and appear in July.
Germander is an herb celebrated for many virtues. 'Tis said to be excellent against the gout and rheumatism: however that be, it promotes urine and the menses, and is good in all obstructions of the viscera. The juice is the best way of giving it, but the infusion is more frequent.
Water Germander
Scordium.
A little mean looking plant, wild in some parts of England, but kept in gardens also for its virtues. The stalks are square, hairy, of a dusky green, and so weak, that they seldom stand much up. They are eight or ten inches long. The leaves are short, broad, and indented about the edges, but not sharply or deep as those of the other germander.html: they are of a sort of woolly soft appearance and touch, and of a dusky deep green colour. The flowers are very small and red, and they stand at the upper joints of the stalks, in little parcels together. The whole plant has a strong and disagreeable smell.
The whole plant is to be used fresh or dried. It has been celebrated greatly as a sudorific, and for its virtues against pestilential fevers, but it is now little used.
