Staves-acre.
Staphis agria.
A very pretty plant, native of Italy, and kept in our gardens. It is two feet and a half high. The stalk is round, thick, firm, and upright, and a little hairy. The leaves are of a roundish figure but divided deeply into seven parts, and these serrated at the edges; they are large, and of a deep green, and stand on long foot-stalks. The flowers are of a deep blue, large and very like the flowers of lark-spur: they grow in a spike at the tops of the stalks; the seed-vessels are notched, and the seeds rough.
The seeds are used. Some venture to give them inwardly in small doses against the rheumatism, and the venereal disease. They operate by vomit and stool, and bring a great quantity of water from the mouth. The powder of them is most used to kill vermin, by sprinkling it on children's heads that have been kept uncleanly.
