Brooklime.
Anagallis aquatica, becabunga.
A COMMON wild herb frequent about shallow waters, with a thick stalk, roundish leaves, and spikes of little bright blue flowers. Brooklime grows to a foot high. The stalk is round, fleshy and large, yet it does not grow very upright: it strikes root at the lower joints. The leaves are broad, oblong, blunt at the end, and a little indented on the edges. The flowers stand singly on short foot-stalks one over another, so that they form a kind of loose spike; the roots are fibrous.
Brooklime has great virtues, but must be used fresh gathered, for they are all lost in drying. The juice in spring is very good against the scurvy; but it must be taken for some time. It works gently by urine, but its great virtue is in sweetening the blood.
