Meadow Sweet.
Ulmaria.
A wild plant, frequent about the sides of rivers, with divided leaves, and beautiful tufts of white flowers. It is four feet high. The stalk is round, striated, upright, firm, and of a pale green, or sometimes of a purple colour. The leaves are each composed of about three pair of smaller, set on a thick rib, with an odd leaf at the end: they are of a fine green on the upper side, and whitish underneath, and they are rough to the touch. The flowers are small and white, but they stand so close, that the whole cluster looks like one large flower. The seeds are set in a twisted order.
An infusion of the fresh tops of meadow sweet, is an excellent sweat, and it is a little astringent. It is a good medicine in fevers, attended with purgings. It is to be given in a bason once in two hours.
