{ 8 ) plants, by the outer calyces being bent downwards, and by the flower llalk, which is limple, coloured, fliining, and imifloral : the leaves are all radical and cut in a peculiar way, forming a good example of what botanifts call runcinata. The feeds, in approaching to ma- turity, become crowned with a fine downy feather, difpofed in a fpherical fhape. The root is perennial and fpindle-fhaped, which with the whole plant abounds with a milky juice. The young leaves of this plant in a blanched ftate have the tafte of endive, and make an excellent addition to thofe plants eaten early in the fpring as fallads“. At Gottingen the roots are roafted and fubftituted for coffee by the poorer inhabitants ; who find that an infufion prepared in this way can hardly be diflin- guifhed from that of the coffee berry. Dandelion is generally confidered by medical writers as the mofl aftive and efficacious of the ladlefcent plants ; the expreffed juice is bitter and fomewhat acrid, the root however is ftill bitterer and poffeffes more medicinal power than any other part of the plant. Taraxacum has been long in repute as a mild detergent and ape- rient, and its diuretic effects may be inferred from the vulgar name it bears in mofl: of the European languages, quafi ledtiminga et uri- naria herba dicitur**. Murray fays, Vifcidos nimirum tenacefque humores ftirps folvit, et obftrudta vafa referat, eruptionem variam fanat ' : and Bergius recommends its ufe in obftruclions of the liver, hypochondriafis, and jaundice. Its fuccefsful ufe in the firfl; of thefe difeafes is confirmed by his own experienced De Haen alfo gives us another inftance of the fame complaint cured by the fame means j
- Withering’s Bot. Arrang. p. 839.
Murray’s Apparat. p. 107. ^ Haller’s Strip. Hel. n. 58. plus lotii derivat in veficam quam pueruli retinendo funt, praefertim Inter dor- miendum, eoque tunc imprudentes et inviti ftragula penningunt. Ray’s Hift. PI. p. 244. ® Murray, I. c. ^ In hepatis morbis, praeftantiflima eft radix haec recens, fero laftis, jufculis et apoze- matibus incodla. Praeclara identidern inde vidi, ubi alia fefellerunt. Ssepe mihi fuc- ccffit refolvere duritiem hepatis cum jufculo parato e radice rec. Taraxaci et fol. rec. acetofae, in fero la6lis co£tis, vel in aqua, addito vitello ovi, quod jufculum quotidie per plures feptimanas, immo menfes, fumpferunt aegroti, propinato fimul cremoro tar- tari. Hoc regimen exoptata praeftitit etiam in calculo felleo et in afcitide. Mat. Med. tom. 2. p. 649. and
