Motherwort.
Cardiaca.
A tall, and not unhandsome wild plant. It grows wild about farm-yards and in dry places. It is a yard high; the stalk is square, thick, upright, and firm. The leaves stand on long foot stalks, two at each joint. They are divided into three parts, the middle one being the longest, and are deeply in dented at the edges; of a dark green colour, and bad smell. The flowers are of a pale red: they grow in a kind of prickly cups, from the bosoms of the leaves, surrounding the stalks. The root creeps, and is whitish.
The whole plant may be used dried, but the tops fresh cut are best; they are to be given in a strong infusion or decoction. It is good against hysteric complaints, and it promotes the menses. It is famous for curing the palpitation of the heart, when that arises from an hysteric cause: for there are palpitations, which nothing can cure.
