Lavender Cotton.
Abrotonum faemina.
A little shrubby plant, frequently wild in Italy, but with us kept in gardens. It grows two feet or more in height, the stem is whitish: the stalks growing from it, are tough and firm, of a whitish colour also, and very numerous; the leaves are oblong, slender, of a square shape, and indented; they are also whitish and of a strong smell. The stalks which support the flowers are long and naked; they are round, of a greenish colour, and each has at its top a single flower, which is yellow and naked, and of the bigness of an horse-bean.
The leaves are the part used, they are best fresh gathered. They are to be given infused in water against worms, they are a disagreeable medicine, but a very efficacious one. They also promote the menses, and open obstructions of the liver. They have been recommended greatly in the jaundice.
