Of little Housleeke or Stonecrop.
The kindes.
There be two kindes of little Housleeke described by the ancient; the new writers haue found many moe. | 1 Sedum minus hæmatoides. | 2 Sedum minus officinarum. | | :--- | :--- | | Stonecrop. | Small Stonecrop. |
The description.
The first of these is a very little herbe, creeping vpon the ground with many slender stalkes, which are compassed about with a great number of leaues, that are thicke, full of iointes, little, long, sharpe pointed, inclining to a greene blew. There rise vp among these, little stalkes, a handfull high, bringing foorth at the top, as it were a shadowie tuft; and in these, fine yellow flowers: the roote is full of strings. The other little Sengreene is also a small herbe, bringing foorth many slender stalkes, seldome aboue a span high; on the tops whereof stand little flowers like those of the other, in small loose tuftes: tuftes; but they are white and something lesser: the leaues about the stalkes are few and little, but long, blunt, and round, bigger than wheaten cornes, something lesser than the kernels of the Pine apples, otherwise not vnlike; which oftentimes are something red, stalkes and all: the roote creepeth vpon the superficiall or vppermost part of the earth, sending downe slender theeds. There is a small kinde of Stonecrop, which hath little narrow leaues, thicke, sharpe pointed, and tender stalkes, full of fattie iuice; on the top whereof do growe small yellow flowers, star fashion. The roote is small and running by the ground. There is likewise another Stonecrop called Frog Stonecrop, which hath little tuftes of leaues rising from small and threddie rootes, creeping vpon the ground like vnto Kali, or Frog grasse; from the which tuftes of leaues riseth a slender stalke, set with a fewe such like leaues, hauing at the top small yellow flowers. Many ignorant Apothecaries haue beene deceiued in gathering this great Stonecrop, called Vermicularis, sine Illecebra maior, for the true Prickmadam, and the rather, bicause it doth growe where the other doth, and somewhat resembleth the same, and yet of a contrarie facultie, namely, of heating & vlcerating; neuerthelesse the difference is discerned by the smal round leaues, which are smooth, long, and more oleous, and crookedly turned aboue, & are sharpe pointed, like wormes comming foorth of the stalkes, and hanging downe. The flowers are of a pale yellow colour: all the plant doth resemble the small kinde of Stonecrop. There is another Stonecrop, or Perrillus Prickmadam called Aizoon Scorpioides, which is altogether like the great kinde of Stonecrop, and differeth in that, that this kinde of Stonecrop or Prickmadam, hath his tuft of flowers turning againe, not much vnlike the taile of a scorpion, resembling Myositis Scorpioides, and the leaues somewhat thicker, and closer thrust togither. The roote is small and tender. There is a plant called Sedum Portlandicum, or Portland Stonecrop, of the English Iland called Portland, lying in the south coast, which hath goodly branches & a rough rinde. The leaues imitate Laureola, growing among the Tithymales, but thicker, shorter, more fat & tender. The stalk is of a wooddy substance like Laureola, participating of the kindes of Crassula, Semperviuum, and the Tithymales, whereof we thinke it to be a kinde, yet not daring to deliuer any vncertaine sentence, it shall be lesse preiudiciall to the truth, to account it as a shrub, degenerating from both kindes. There is a plant which hath receiued his name Sedum Petreum, bicause it doth for the most part growe vpon the rockes, mountaines, and such like stonie places, hauing very small leaues, comming foorth of the ground in tuftes like Pseudo Moly, that is, our common herbe called Thrift: amongst the leaues come foorth slender stalks an handfull high, loden with small yellow flowers, like vnto the common Prickmadam; after which come little flat cods like Thlaspi, or Treacle mustard, which conteine the seede.
The place.
The former of these groweth in gardens in the Lowe countries: in other places vpon stone wals and tops of houses, in England almost euery where. The other groweth about rubbish, in the borders of fields, and in places that lie open to the sun.
The time.
They flower in the sommer monethes.
The names.
The lesser kinde is called in Greeke ἀείζωον μικρὸν : in Latine Sedum and Semperviuum minus: of diuers βούπυον θεόφραστον , Ceraunia, Vitalis: of the Germans Kleyn Donderbaer, and Kleyn Hauszwurtz: of the Italians Semperviuo minore: of the French men Tricque Madame: of the English men Prickmadam. The second kind is named in shops Crassula minor, and they surname it Minor for difference betweene it and the other Crassula, which is a kinde of Orpin. It is also called Vermicularis: in Italian Pignola, Granellosa, and Grasella: in Lowe Dutch Blader loopen: in English Wilde Prickmadam, great Stonecrop, or Wormegrasse.
The vertues.
The Orpines are of a cooling nature like vnto the great ones, and are good for those things that the others be. The former of these is vsed in many places in sallads, in which it hath a fine relish, and a pleasant taste: it is good for the hart-burne.
Text in Gerard's own spelling (the long s is printed as s), transcribed by the Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0). A chapter may run onto pages not yet transcribed. Gerard wrote within Galenic medicine; nothing here is advice.