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Plowman's Spikenard

Description. This is a biennial; a coarse, and but ill looking plant. The stalk rises two feet and a half high, and is of a ruddy brown, brittle, dry, and branchy towards the top. The leaves are broad lanced, rugged on the surface, of a coarse dead green, and a little dented about the edges. The flowers are of a dull yellow, and stand in a close tuft at the tops of the stalks; they grow out of a cup oblong and rugged; and the scales of it are sharp pointed, and they stand wide and bent out.

Place. It is found by road sides, and in waste places upon high and dry grounds, but no where in great plenty.

Time. The flowers blow in August.

Government and virtues. It is under the government of Venus. The leaves, when bruised, emit a quick and aromatic smell. To the taste they are bitterish, with some sharpness. A weak tea made of this herb is good to promote the menses, and much preferable to any mineral. Where there is great efficacy, as in steel medicines, there is great power of mischief: and we should have many different things to supercede their use. This is supposed to be the baccharis of Dioscorides.