Honeywort.
Cerinthe.
A juicy plant frequently wild in many parts of Europe, but with us kept in gardens. It has its name from the sweet taste of the flowers. Almost all flowers have a drop of honey juice in their bottom: this is indeed the real substance of honey, for the bees only pick it out and get it together: the hollow flowers in general have more of it, or it is better preserved in them than others, but scarce any in so great a degree as this plant named from it. It is two feet high, when kept erect, but if left to itself, is very apt to lean upon the ground. The stalk is round, thick, juicy, and tender; the leaves are large, oblong, broad, they surround and inclose the stalk at their base; they are of a bluish green colour, spotted or clouded irregularly with white, and they are fall of a sort of prickles. The flowers grow at the tops of the stalks, several together, among the clusters of leaves; they are hollow, oblong, and very wide open at the mouth; their colour is yellow, variegated with purple in the middle, and they have a very pretty appearance.
The fresh gathered tops of the plant are to be used; an infusion of them is cooling, and works by urine. It is good against scorbutic complaints, and in the jaundice.
