Gerard's Herball

John Gerard's Elizabethan herbal in its glorious original prose — medow-grasse to the barnacle tree, with the vertues, the folk-lore, and the long s intact.

Table of Contents

Introduction

8 pages

Of Medow-Grasse

THere be sundry and infinite kindes of Grasses not mentioned by the Antients, either as unnecessarie to be set downe, or unknowne to them…

Of Couch-Grasse or Dogs-Grasse

The Description. (dagger)1 THe common or best known dogs grasse or Couch-grasse hath long leaves of a whitish greene colour: the stalke is…

Of Cotton-Grasse

The Description. 1 THis strange Cotton-Grasse doth rather resemble grasse than rushes, and may indifferently be taken for either, for that…

Of Reeds

The Kindes.

Of Sugar-Cane

The Description. 1 SUgar Cane is a pleasant and profitable Reed, having long stalkes seven or eight foot high, joynted or kneed like unto…

Of Paper Reed

PAper Reed hath many large flaggie leaves somewhat triangular and smooth, not much unlike those of Cats-taile, rising immediately from a…

Of Burre-Reed

The Description. 1 THe first of these plants hath long leaves, which are double edged, or sharpe on both sides, with a sharpe crest in the…

Of Cats-Taile

The Description.

Of Stitch-Wort

The Description.

Of the Floure De-Luce

The Kindes.

Of Ginger

The Description.

Of Corne

THus far have I discoursed upon Grasses, Rushes, Spartum, Flags, and Floure de-luces: my next labor is to set downe for your better…

Of Otes

The Description. 1 AVena Vesca, common Otes, is called Vesca, a Vescendo, because it is used in many countries to make sundry sorts of…

Of Turkie Corne

The Place.

Of the English Jacinth, or Hare - Bells

The Description. 1 THe blew Hare-bells or English Jacinth is very common throughout all England. It hath long narrow leaves leaning towards…

Of Two Feigned Plants

The Description. 1 Have thought it convenient to conclude the historie of the Hyacinths with these two bulbous Plants, received by…

Of Daffodils

The Description. 1 THe first of the Daffodils is that with the purple crowne or circle, having small narrow leaves, thicke, fat, and full…

Of Tulipa, or the Dalmatian Cap

The Kindes.

Of Turkie or Ginny - Hen Floure

The Description. 1 THe Checquered Daffodill, or Ginny-hen Floure, hath small narrow grassie leaves; among which there riseth up a stalke…

Of True Saffron, and the Wilde or Spring Saffron

The Description.

Of Medow Saffron

The Kindes.

Of Star of Bethlem

The Kindes.

Of Onions

The Kindes.

Of White Lillies

The Kindes.

Of Red Lillies

The Kindes.

Of Mountaine Lillies

The Description. 1 THe great mountain Lilly hath a cloved bulb or scaly root like those of the red Lilly, yellow of colour, very small in…

Of the Persian Lilly

The Description.

Of the Crowne Imperiall

The Description.

Of Fox Stones

The Kindes.

Of Birdsnest

The Description. 1 BIrds nest hath many tangling roots platted or crossed one over another very intricately, which resembleth a Crows nest…

Of Turneps

The Kindes.

Of Tarragon

The Description.

Of Indian Cresses

The Description.

Of Wilde Water-Cresses or Cuckow-Floures

The Description. 1 THe first of the Cuckow flours hath leaves at his springing up somwhat round, & those that spring afterward grow jagged…

Of Shepheards Purse

The Description. 1 The leaves of Shepheards purse grow up at the first long, gashed in the edges like those of Rocket, spred upon the…

Of Groundsell

The Description 1 THe stalke of Groundsell is round, chamfered and divided into many branches. The leaves be green, long, and cut in the…

Of Saint James His Wort

The Kindes.

Of Dandelion

The Description. 1 THe hearbe which is commonly called Dandelion doth send forth from the root long leaves deeply cut and gashed in the…

Of Lettuce

The Kindes.

Of Coleworts

The Description. 1 THe Garden Colewort hath many great broad leaves of a deepe blacke greene colour, mixed with ribs and lines of reddish…

Of Beets

The Description. 1 THe common white Beet hath great broad leaves, smooth, and plain: from which rise thicke crested or chamfered stalks…

Of Floure-Gentle

The Kindes.

Of Stinking Orach

The Description.

Of Scorpion Grasse

The Description. 1 SCorpion grasse hath many smooth, plaine, even leaves, of a darke greene colour; stalkes small, feeble and weake…

Of Sleepy Nightshade

The Description.

Of the Marvell of the World

The Description.

Of Madde Apples

The Description.

Of Apples of Love

The Description.

Of Thornie Apples

The Description. 1 THe stalkes of Thorny-apples are oftentimes above a cubit and a halfe high, seldome higher, an inch thicke, upright and…

Of Bitter-Sweet, or Wooddy Nightshade

The Description.

Of Mandrake

The Description.

Of Henbane

The Description. 1 THe common'blacke Henbane hath great and soft stalkes, leaves very broad, soft, and woolly, somewhat jagged, especially…

Of Yellow Henbane, or English Tabaco

The Description.

Of Tabaco, or Henbane of Peru

3 pages

Of Corne-Rose or Wilde Poppy

The Description.

Of Winde-Floures

The Kindes.

Of Water-Docke

2 pages

Of One-Berry, or Herbe True-Love, and Moone-Wort

The Description. 1 HErbe Paris riseth up with one smal tender stalke two hands high; at the very top whereof come forth foure leaves…

Of Lilly in the Valley, or May Lilly

The Description. 1 THe Convall Lilly, or Lilly of the Vally, hath many leaves like the smallest leaves of Water Plantaine; among which…

Of Sea Lavander

The Description. 1 THere hath beene among writers from time to time great contention about this plant Limonium, no one Author agreeing with…

Of Serapia's Turbith, or Sea Star-Wort

The Description. 1 TRipolium hath long and large leaves somewhat hollow or furrowed, of a shining green colour declining to blewnesse, like…

Of Land Plantaine

The Description. 1 AS the Greeks have called some kinds of herbs Serpents tongue, Dogs tongue, and Ox tongue; so have they termed a kinde…

Of Golden Rod

The Description. 1 GOlden Rod hath long broad leaves somewhat hoary and sharpe pointed; among which rise up browne stalkes two foot high…

Of Neesing Root or Neesewort

The Description. 1 THe first kinde of white Hellebor hath leaves like unto great Gentian, but much broader, and not unlike the leaves of…

Of Our Ladies Slipper

The Description. 1 OUr Ladies Shoo or Slipper hath a thicke knobbed root, with certain markes or notes upon the same, such as the roots of…

Of Bell-Floures

The Description. 1 COventry-Bells have broad leaves rough and hairy, not unlike to those of the Golden Buglosse, of a swart greene colour…

Of White Sattin Floure

The Description. 1 BOlbonac or the Sattin floure hath hard and round stalks, dividing themselves into many other small branches, beset with…

Of Willow-Herbe, or Loose-Strife

The Description. 1 THe first kinde of Willow-herbe hath long and narrow leaves of a grayish greene colour, in shape like the Willow or…

Of Barren-Woort

The Description.

Of Starre-Wort

The Description. 1 THe first kind of Aster or Inguinalis hath large broad leaves like Verbascum Salvifolium or the great Conyza; amongst…

Of Woad

The Description. 1 GLastum or garden Woad hath long leaves of a blewish green colour. The stalk growes two cubits high, set about with a…

Of Spurge

The Description. 1 THe first kinde of Sea Spurge riseth forth of the sands, or baich of the sea, with sundry reddish stems or stalkes…

Of Navelwoort, or Penniwoort of the Wall

The Description. 1 THe great Navelwoort hath round and thicke leaves, somewhat bluntly indented about the edges, and somewhat hollow in the…

Of Sampier

The Description. 1 ROcke Sampier hath many fat and thicke leaves somwhat like those of the lesser Purslane, of a spicie taste, with a…

Of Glasse Saltwort

The Description. 1 GLasseworth hath many grosse thicke and round stalks a foot high, full of fat and thicke sprigs, set with many knots or…

Of S. Johns Wort

The Description.

Of Calves Snout, or Snapdragon

The Description. 1 THe purple Snapdragon hath great and brittle stalks, which divideth it selfe into many fragile branches, whereupon do…

Of Garden Flaxe

The Description.

Of Milkewort

The Description. 1 THere have been many plants neerely resembling Polygala, and yet not the same indeed, which doth verifie the Latine…

Of Wilde Time

The Description. 1 BOth Dioscorides and Pliny make two kindes of Serpillum, that is, of creeping or wilde Time; whereof the first is our…

Of Hyssope

The Description. 1 DIoscorides that gave so many rules for the knowledge of simples, hath left Hyssope altogether without description, as…

Of Lavander Spike

The Description. 1 LAvander Spike hath many stiffe branches of a wooddy substance, growing up in the manner of a shrub, set with many long…

Of Fleawort

The Description. 1 PSyllium, or the common Fleawort, hath many round and tender branches, set full of long and narrow leaves somewhat…

Of Clove Gillofloures

The Kindes.

Of Pinks, or Wilde Gillofloures

The Description. 1 THe double purple Pinke hath manie grassie leaves set upon small joynted stalkes by couples, one opposite against…

Of Sweet Saint Johns and Sweet Williams

The Description. 1 SWeet Johns have round stalkes as have the Gillofloures, (whereof they are a kinde) a cubit high, whereupon doe grow…

Of Thrift, or Our Ladies Cushion

The Description. 1 THrift is also a kinde of Gillofloure, by Dodonaeus reckoned among grasses, which brings forth leaves in great tufts…

Of Sneesewoort

The Description. 1 THe small Sneese-woort hath many round and brittle branches, beset with long & narrow leaves, hackt about the edges like…

Of Pimpernell

The Description.

Of Herbe Two-Pence

The Description. 1 HErbe Two-pence hath a smal and tender root, spreding and dispersing it selfe far within the ground, from which rise up…

Of Bugle or Middle Comfrey

The Description. 1 BUgula spreadeth and creepeth along the ground like Monywort: the leaves be long, fat, and oleous, and of a browne…

Of Selfe-Heale

The Description. 1 PRunell or Brunell hath square hairie stalks of a foot high, beset with long hairy and sharp pointed leaves, and at the…

Of Little Daisies

The Description. 1 THe Daisie bringeth forth many leaves from a threddy root, smooth, fat, long, and somwhat round withall, very sleightly…

Of Mouse-Eare

The Description. 1 THe great Mouse-eare hath great and large leaves, thicke, and full of substance: the stalkes and leaves bee hoary and…

Of Cotton-Weed or Cud-Weed

The Description. 1 ENglish Cudweed hath sundry slender and upright stalks divided into many branches, and groweth as high as common…

Of Golden Moth-Wort, or Cudweed

The Description.

Of Fetherfew

The Description. 1 FEverfew bringeth forth many little round stalkes, divided into certaine branches. The leaves are tender, diversly torne…

Of Eye-Bright

The Description.

Of Wilde Marjerome

The Description. 1 BAstard Marjerome of Candy hath many threddy roots; from which rise up divers weake and feeble branches trailing upon…

Of Pennie Royall, or Pudding Grasse

The Description.

Of Nep or Cat-Mint

The Description. 1 CAt-Mint or Nep growes high, it brings forth stalks above a cubit long, covered, chamfered, and full of branches: the…

Of Horse-Mint or Water-Mint

The Description. 1 WAter Mint is a kinde of wilde Mint like to garden Mint: the leaves thereof are round, the stalkes cornered, both the…

Of Bawme

The Description.

Of Archangell or Dead Nettle

The Description.

Of Stinging Nettle

The Description.

Of Vervaine

The Description.

Of Scabious

The Description.

Of Divels Bit

The Description.

Of the Blew-Bottle or Corne-Floure

The Description.

Of Goats Beard, or Go to Bed at Noone

The Description.

Of Marigolds

The Description. 1 THe greatest double Marigold hath many large, fat, broad leaves, springing immediately from a fibrous or threddy root…

Of African Marigold

The Description. 1 THe common Africane, or as they vulgarly terme it French Marigold, hath small weake and tender branches trailing upon…

Of the Floure of the Sun, or the Marigold of Peru

The Description. 1 THe Indian Sun, or the golden floure of Peru, is a plant of such stature and talnesse, that in one summer, beeing sowne…

Of Jerusalem Artichoke

ONe may wel by the English name of this plant perceive, that those that vulgarly give names to plants, have little either judgement or…

Of Leopards Bane

The Description. 1 OF this plant Doronicum, there be sundry kindes. Dodonaeus unproperly calleth it Aconitum Pardalianches, which hath…

Of Mullein

The Description. 1 THe male Mullein or Higtaper hath broad leaves, very soft, whitish and downy; in the midst of which riseth up a stalk…

Of Cowslips

The Description. 1 THose herbs which at this day are called Primroses, Cowslips, and Oxlips, are reckoned among the kindes of Mulleins…

Of Beares Eares, or Mountaine Cowslips

The Kindes.

Of Fox-Gloves

The Description. 1 FOx-glove with the purple floure is most common; the leaves whereof are long, nicked in the edges, of a light greene, in…

Of Baccharis Out of Dioscorides

The Description. 1 ABout this plant Baccharis there hath beene great contention amongst the new Writers; Matthiolus and Dodonaeus have…

Of Dittany

The Description. 1 DIttanie of Crete now called Candie (as Dioscorides saith) is a hot and sharpe hearbe, much like unto Penni-Royall…

Of Borage

The Description. 1 BOrage hath broad leaves, rough, lying flat upon the ground, of a blacke or swart green colour: among which riseth up a…

Of Alkanet or Wilde Buglosse

The Description.

Of Colts-Foot, or Horse-Foot

The Description. 1 TUssilago or Fole-foot hath many white and long creeping roots, somewhat fat; from which rise up naked stalkes (in the…

Of Frogge-Bit

The Description.

Of Water Saligot, Water Caltrops, or Water Nuts

The Description. 1 WAter Caltrops have long slender stalks growing up and rising from the bottom of the water, and mounting above the same…

Of Ducks Meat

The Description.

Of Water Crow-Foot

The Description.

Of Cuckow Pint, or Wake-Robin

The Description.

Of Sow-Bread

The Description.

Of Birthwoorts

The Description.

Of Violets

The Kindes.

Of Ground-Ivy, or Ale-Hoofe

The Description.

Of Ivy

The Description.

Of Rough Binde-Weed

2 pages

Of Scammonie, or Purging Bindweed

The Description.

Of the Manured Vine

3 pages

Of Hops

The Description.

Of Travellers- Joy

The Description.

Of Wood-Binde, or Hony-Suckle

The Description.

Of Indian Swallow-Woort

The Description.

Of Solomons Seale

The Description.

Of Cucumbers

The Description. 1 THe Cucumber creepes alongst upon the ground all about, with long rough branches; whereupon doe grow broad rough leaves…

Of Potato's

The Description.

Of Potato's of Virginia

The Description.

Of the Garden Mallow Called Hollyhocke

The Description. 1 THe tame or garden Mallow bringeth forth broad round leaves of a whitish greene colour, rough, and greater than those of…

Of Cranes-Bill

The Description.

Of Crow-Feet

The Kindes.

Of Wolfes-Bane

The Kindes.

Of Yellow Wolfes-Bane

The Description.

Of Other Wolfes-Banes and Monkes Hoods

The Description. 1 HElmet-floure, or the great Monkes-hood, beareth very faire and goodly blew floures in shape like an Helmet; which are…

Of Blacke Hellebore

The Description. 1 THis plant hath thicke and fat leaves of a deep green colour, the upper part whereof is somewhat bluntly nicked or…

Of Peionie

The Description. 1 PEionie (being the male, called Poeonia mas: in English, Male Peiony) hath thicke red stalkes a cubit long: the leaves…

Of Straw-Berries

The Kindes.

Of Herbe Gerard

The Description.

Of Clownes Wound-Wort, or All-Heale

The Description.

Of Skirrets

The Description.

Of Fennell

The Description. 1 THe Fennell, called in Latine, Faeniculum, is so well knowne amongst us, that it were but lost labour to describe the…

Of Chervill

The Description.

Of Mede-Sweet, or Queene of the Medowes

The Description.

Of Earth-Nut, Earth Chestnut, or Kippernut

The Description.

Of the Great Celandine or Swallow-Wort

The Description.

Of Valerian, or Setwall

The Description.

Of Larks Heele or Larks Claw

The Description.

Of Gith, or Nigella

The Description.

Of Cockle

The Description.

Of Columbine

The Description.

Of Mugwort

The Description.

Of Sperage or Asparagus

The Description.

Of Madder

The Kindes.

Of Thistles

The Kindes.

Of Golden Thistle

The Description. 1 THe stalkes of Golden Thistle rise up forthwith from the root, being many, round, and branched. The leaves are long, of…

Of Sea Holly

The Description. 1 SEa Holly hath broad leaves almost like to Mallow leaves, but cornered in the edges, and set round about with hard…

Of Teasels

The Description. 1 GArden Teasell is also of the number of the Thistles; it bringeth forth a stalke that is straight, very long, jointed…

Of Three Leafed Grasse or Medow Trefoile

The Description. 1 MEdow Trefoile bringeth forth stalkes a cubit long, round and something hairy, the greater part of which creepeth upon…

Of Wood Sorrell, or Stubwort

The Description. 1 OXys Pliniana, or Trifolium acetosum, being a kinde of three leafed grasse, is a low and base herbe without stalke; the…

Of Some Pulses

The Description.

Of Rue, or Herbe Grace

The Description.

Of Roses

2 pages

Of the Wilde Roses

The Description. 1 THe sweet Brier doth oftentimes grow higher than all the kindes of Roses; the shoots of it are hard, thicke, and wooddy…

Of the Bramble or Blacke-Berry Bush

The Description. 1 THe common Bramble bringeth forth slender branches, long, tough, easily bowed, ramping among hedges and whatsoever…

Of Dwarfe Kindes of Cistus

The Description. 1 THe English dwarfe Cistus, called of Lobel, Panax Chironium (but there is another Panax of Chirons description which I…

Of Rosemary

The Description.

Of Worts or Wortle Berries

The Kindes.

Of the Mosse of Trees

The Description.

Of the Goose Tree, Barnacle Tree, or the Tree Bearing Geese

4 pages

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