Tormentil.
Tormentilla.
A very common wild plant, but very pretty, and of great virtue. The stalks are eight inches long, but they don't stand upright. They are very slender, round, and of a brownish colour. The leaves stand seven or thereabout together at a joint, ail rising from one base; they are narrow, longish, pointed at the ends, and serrated at the edges, and of a deep green. The flowers are small, but of a beautiful shining yellow: they grow on slender foot stalks, and are of the shape and colour of the crow-foot flowers, only more beautiful; and much less. The roots are large, thick, and crooked, brown on the outside, and reddish within, and of an austere taste.
The root is the part used, and it is best dried; it may be given in powder, or decoction. The powder is excellent against the bleeding of the piles, bloody stools, and the overflowings of the menses. Two ounces of the root added to a quart of hartshorn drink in the boiling, gives it a pretty colour, and adds to its virtue; the root is cordial as well as astringent, and operates a little by sweat: this decoction is therefore very serviceable in fevers, attended with purgings. It checks this moderately, and is good against the fever at the same time.
