Chap. 141. Of Cocks-Head.
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Page 236I. The Names. It is called in Greek, ( by the X Ancient Herbarists ) Orhfyuyit _·, and is thought to be the Onobrychis of Dioscorides _·, in Latin, Onobrychis, and Caput Gallinaceum : In English, Cockshead, Medick Vetch, and Red Fctchling.
II. The Kinds. Authors make many varieties hereof _· Parkinson makes nine Kinds j but whereaj they are not all Natives of our Countrey, we fhaJl only describe those which are natural to the place, and to be had with us, which are chiefly three, viz. 1. Onobrychis vulgaris, Caput Gallinaceum _·, Onobrychis Dodonxi, Clufij, lhalij _· Glaux five Onobrychis Gesneri in hortis 5 Caput Gallindceum __>ei-garum Lobeli the lesser sort of which is called, y Bauhinus, in Prodromo, Caput Gallinaceum mIfius}' Cocks-head, the Common Kind, also Medick Mailing 1 and by the French, Saint loin : But this IS not the Saint loin so much talked of for the ^Ψ0^ ment of Land, that we have discoursed of betor in Chap. 135. where we have shewed the excellent uses thereof in Agriculture. 2. Onobrychis fPlCf
Page 237fiore purpurea, Onobrychis Pannonica prima Clufij 5 Cicer Afiragaloides Pon__ spiked Cocks-head with purple flowers. 3. Onobrychis fioribus Cjeruleis, Onobrychis Pannonica fecunda Clufij, Bew Fiowred Cocks-heal.
III. The Descriptions. The first or common kind has a Root which is tough, and somewhat Woody from -whence spring forth several weak but rough Stalks, leaning downwards, about a foot and half high, beset with Winged leaves, each being longer and more pointed, than those of Lentils, and whitish underneath ; from the tops of these Stalks rise up other slender Stalks, naked without Leaves, unto the tops, where there grow many small Flowers, in manner of a J"pike, of a pale reddish color, with some blewness among them : after which rise up in their places, rough, round, and somewhat fiat headsi Of this first. Species, Bauhinus has given us the Description of a lesser, differing in nothing from the former, but only in the magnitude, or rather smallness thereof.
IV. The second has a Root great and long, hard, and of a woody substance, spreading it self far abroad, and growing very deep into the ground _·, from whence rise up many Stalks, especially when it is grown to an old Plant, round, hard, and leaning to the ground like the other Pulses, and has Leaves very like Galega, or the Wild Vetch, of a bitter Taste, and loath-some Savor : among which come forth small round Stems at the ends of which do grow plowers spike fashion^ three Inches in length, and in shape like those of the great Lagopus, or Meadow Trefoil, but longer, of an excellent shining purple color, bUt without Smell: which Flowers being past away, small cods follow, containing little, hard and black Seed, in taste like to the Vetch or Tare.
V. The third has also a small, tough, and woody Root, from whence spring up- many twiggy Branches, about a foot and half high, full of Knots, ramping and creeping on the ground. The Leaves are like the former, but smaller and shorter : among which come forth small slender Stems, upon which do grow little Flowers, like those of the Tare, but of a blew color, tending to purple. The Flowers being fallen, small Cods come forth in their places, which contain little black Seed like a Kidney, and of a black color when it is full ripe.
VI. Note. It is supposed that the first of these is the Onobrychis of Dioscorides, also of Pliny: for Dioscorides describes it thus _·, Onobrychis has Leaves like a Lentil, but longer, a Stalk a Span high, a crimson Flower, and a little Root and grows in moist and unfilled places. Pliny writes thus Onobrychis has the Leaves of a Lentil, but somewhat longer, a red Flower, and a small and slender Root ; and that it grows about Springs, or Fountains of Waters.
VII. The Places. The first and second grow (says Gerard) upon Barton-hill, four Miles from Lewton in Bedfordshire, and likewise upon the Grassie Balks, between the Corn Lands two Miles from Cambridge, near to a Water Mill towards London >, and in divers other places in the way from Cambridge to London. The third grows not Wild here, but is only nourished up in Gardens.
VIII. The Times. They all Flower from the end oLJune to the end of August, and the Seed is ripened in the mean Season, and in some little time after.
IX. The Qualities. They seem to be temperate in respect of heat or coldness, dryness or moisture: and Galen lays in his Books of the Faculties of Simple Medicaments, That they rarifie, or make thin, and waste away. This is certain, by Experience from the seeding of Cattel with them, that they are Galactogenetick, or breeders of Milk.
X. The Specification. They have been found to be singular good for the discussing, consuming, or wasting away of hard Tumors or Swellings.
XI. The Preparations. You may have therefrom, r. A liquid Juice. 2. An Essence. A Pouder of the Leaves. 4. An Oil. 5. A Cataplasm.
The Virtue:.
XII. The liquid Juice. Taken from two ounces to fix, either alone by it self or mixt with a Glass of White Port Wine, it prevails against the Strangury, and all Obstructions of Urine, caused by Stones, Gravel, Sand, or Tartarous Matter in Reins or Bladder : and taken by Nurses, it causes them to breed abundance of Milk.
XIII. The Essence. It has the former Virtues, but opens and cleanses more, being taken in like manner, Morning and Evening: Bathed upon any Tumor or Swelling, not malign nor maturated, it discusses or wastes it away. Dose from two, to three or four ounces.
XIV. The Pouder of the Leaves. Dioscorides says, that if it is drunk with Wine (I suppose from one dram to two drams, Morning and Evening ) it cures the Strangury. It has indeed a singular faculty to open Obstructions of the Urinary parts.
XV. The Oil, made by boiling the Green Herb in Oil Olive to Crispness, and repeating the Operation three or four times, and so straining it out. This, says Dioscorides, being anointed on the Body, it provokes Sweating. Anointed on hard Tumors, it softens. them, is discussive, and causes them to waste away.
XVI. The Cataplasm. Being bruited green, and laid on ( in the form of a Cataplasm,) upon hard Tumors or Swellings, or waxen Kernels in the Neck, or Throat, or in other Parts _·, it causes them to consume and waste away $ and this more especially if the Juice or Essence, afbrefaid, be taken daily, Morning and Evening, in a Glass of White Port Wine, as is directed ; and the Patients withal, purge once or twice a Week ( according as their Bodies will bear it) with my Family Pills.
Botanologia, or The English Herbal, was written by William Salmon, M.D., in 1710.
