Wart Cresses, or Swine's Cresses.
Coronopus ruellii.
A LITTLE wild plant very common about our fields and gardens. It spreads upon the ground. The stalks are five or six inches long; firm, and thick, but usually flat on the earth; very much branched, and full of leaves. The leaves that rise immediately from the root are long, and deeply divided: and those on the stalks resemble them, only they are smaller: they are of a deep glossy green colour, and not at all hairy. The flowers are small and white; they stand at the tops of the branches and among the leaves; the seed-vessels are small and rough.
This is an excellent diuretic, safe, and yet very powerful. It is an ingredient in Mrs. Stephens' medicine: the juice may be taken; and it is good for the jaundice, and against all inward obstructions, and against the scurvy; the leaves may also be eaten as salad, or dried and given in decoction.
