Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/404

m ] BUC tions. It has of late gained great reputation in scorbutic and scro- phulous disorders. Inveterate af- fections of the skin, have been cured by an infusion of the leaves taken at proper intervals, to the quantity of a pint in twenty-four hours, and continued for several weeks. — Boerhaave cured him- self of the gout, by drinking the juice of this plant mixed with whey. Stubborn facts, like this, require great authorities. 2. The nymphteoid.es, or fringed buck-bean, or lesser yellow water- lily, growing in large ditches and slow streams. Lord Lewisham found it in the Thames, near Vv'al- ton-bridge ; and it has also been discovered in a lake, at Castle- Howard, Yorkshire. The leaves of this species are heart-shaped at the base, rounded at the end, some- times spotted, about two inches long, and swim on the water. Its fine yellow blossoms appear in July and August. Bechstein relates, that the in- habitants of Japan, where the fringed buck-bean is also indige- nous, eat it as a pickle, simply prepared with salt ; or, after sim- mering it in water, and removing the impurities from the top, they use it in broths. BUCK-THORN, or Rhamnus, L. a numerous genus of plants, consisting of 48 species, of which only two are indigenous, namely, 1 . The catharticus, or purging buckthorn, a shrub growing in woods and hedges, very common in Shropshire. It attains, it culti- "vated, the height of 1(5 feet., flow- ers in May and June, and its fruit ripens about Michaelmas. Goats, sheep, and horses, eat the leaves, but cows refuse them. In our jc.irkets, the fruit of die btock- BU C berry bearing alder, and the dog- berry tree, have lately been substi- tuted for those of the buck-thorn. But this species of fraud may be easily discovered by opening the berries ; for the genuine kind have generally four seeds, those of the alder two, and those of the dog- berry only one. Besides, buck- thorn berries alone, when bruised on white paper, give it a green tint. The wood of this shrub is one of the finest tor turnery, pro- duced in this climate, as it some- times grows to a size of six or eight inches in diameter. From the juice of the unripe berries, with alum, a yellow ; and from the ripe ones, a fine green dye is obtained : the bark also strikes a yellow and brown-red colour. The juice of the unripe berries is of the colour of saffron, and is used for staining maps or paper : that of the ripe berries is the sap-green of minia- ture painters, and is mueh esteem- ed 3 but if they are gathered late in autumn, the juice is purple. Bechstein remarks, that the book-binders in Germany extract, this colour by mixing the fresh juice with deep-red, or violet li- quids, with wi.ich they dye the most beautiful sorts of paper and leather. In medicine, buck-thorn berries have long been esteemed, and a syrup prepared from them is still kept in the apothecaries' shops, though seldom prescribed; as it oc- casions much sickness and giiping; In a late Latin treatise, published by Dr. J. G. Ivolb, of Erlang, 1794, the bark of the buck- thorn is much recommended as a mild, cheap, and clfieacious remedy, in ever}- respect preferable to the ber- ries. After being exposed to the air, or soaked in water, this bark soou