Cinquefoil.
Pentaphyllum.
A CREEPING wild plant common about way sides, and in pastures. The stalks are round and smooth, and usually of a reddish colour; they lie upon the ground, and take root at the joints; the leaves stand on long foot-stalks, five on each stalk; they are above an inch long, narrow, of a deep dusky green, and indented at the edges, the flowers also stand on long foot-stalks, they are yellow and of the breadth of a shilling, very bright, and beautiful. The root is large and long, and is covered with a brown rind.
The root is the part used; it should be dug up in April, and the outer bark taken off and dried, the rest is useless; this bark is to be given in powder for all sorts of fluxes; it stops purgings, and the overflowings of the menses; few drugs are of equal power.
