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Pellitory of Spain

There are two sorts of pellitory; one cultivated, and one wild. Description. Common pellitory is a very common plant, and will not be kept in our gardens without diligent looking to. The root goes downright into the ground, bearing leaves, being long and finely cut upon the stalk, lying on the ground, much larger than the leaves of the camomile are. At the top it bears one single large flower at a place, having a border of many leaves, white on the upper side, and reddish underneath, with a yellow thrum in the middle, not standing so close as that of camomile does.

The other common pellitory which grows here, has a root of a sharp biting taste, scarce discernable by the taste from that before described, from whence arise divers brittle stalks, a yard high and more, with narrow long leaves finely dented about the edges, standing one above another up to the tops. The flowers are many and white, standing in tufts, like those of yarrow, with a small yellowish thrum in the middle. The seed is very small. Place. The last grows in fields by the hedge-sides and paths, almost every where.

Time. It flowers at the latter end of June and July. Government and virtues. It is under the government of Mercury, and I am persuaded it is one of the best purgers of the brain that grows. An ounce of the juice taken in a draught of muscadel an hour before the fit of the ague comes, will assuredly drive away the ague at the second or third time taking at the farthest. Either the herb or root dried or chewed in the mouth, purges the brain of phlegmatic humours; thereby not only eases pains in the head and teeth, but also hinders the distilling of the brain upon the lungs and eyes, preventing coughs, phthisic and consumption, the apoplexy and falling-sickness. It is an excellent approved remedy in the lethargy. The powder of the herb or root being snuffed up the nostrils, procures sneezing, and eases the head-ach. Being made into an ointment with hogs' grease, it takes away black and blue spots, occasioned by blows or falls, and helps both the gout and sciatica. The roots have a hot pungent taste when chewed in the mouth, which, by stimulating the salival glands, promotes a flow of viscid humours from the head and the adjacent parts, and by this means frequently relieves the tooth-ach, head-ach, lethargy, palsy of the tongue, &c. It is likewise given internally, with success, in small doses, in paralytic and rheumatic complaints.