Of Houseleeke, or Sengreene.
The kindes.
Sengreene, as Dioscorides writeth, is of three sorts, the one is great, the other smal, and the thirde is that which is called Illecebra, biting stone Crop, or Wall pepper.
The description.
1 The great Sengreene which in Latine is commonly called Iouis barba, Iupiters bearde, bringeth foorth leaues harde adioyning to the grounde and roote, thicke, fat, full of tough iuice, sharpe pointed, growing close and harde together, set in a circle in fashion of an eie; & bringing foorth very many such circles, spreading it selfe out abroade: it oftentimes also sendeth foorth small strings, by which it spreadeth farther, and maketh newe circles; there riseth vppe oftentimes in the middle of these an vpright stalke about a foote high, couered with leaues growing lesse and lesse towarde the points, parted at the top into certaine winges or braunches, about which are flowers orderly placed of a darke purplish colour: the roote is all of strings. 2 There is also another great Houseleek or sengreen (surnamed tree Houseleeke) that bringeth foorth a stalke a cubite high, somtimes higher, & often two; which is thicke, harde, woody, tough, and that can hardly be broke, parted into diuers branches, & couered with a thicke grosse barke, which in the lower part reserueth certaine prints or impressed markes of the leaues that are fallen awaie. The leaues are fat, well bodied, full of iuice, an inch long and somewhat more like little toongs, very curiously minced in the edges, standing vpon the toppes of the braunches, hauing in them the shape of an eie. The flowers grow out of the braunches, which are diuided into many sprigs, which flowers are slender, yellowe, & spred like a star; in their places commeth vp very fine seede, the sprigs withering away: the roote is parted into many ofsprings. This plant is alwaies greene, neither is it hurt by the colde in winter, growing in his natiue foile; whereupon it is named ἀείζωον, and Semperuiuum, or Sengreene. 3 There is also another of this kinde, the circles whereof are answerable in bignesse to those of the former, but with lesser leaues, mo in number and closer set, hauing standing on the edges very fine haires haires as it were like soft prickles. This is somewhat of a deeper green: the stalke is shorter, and the flowers are of a pale yellow. There is likewise a third to be referred hereunto, the flowers whereof be of a whitish greene, and are very curiously nicked round about. There is also a fourth, the circles whereof are lesser, the leaues sharpe pointed, very closely set, of a darke red colour on the top, and hairie in the edges: the flowers on the sprigs are of a gallant purple colour. $\because$ The place. 1 The great Sengreene is well knowen not onely in Italie, but also in Fraunce, Germanie, Bohemia, and the Lowe countries. It groweth on stones in mountaines, vpon olde wals, and ancient buildings, especially vpon the tops of houses. The forme hereof doth differ according to the nature of the soile: for in some places the leaues are narrower and lesser, but mo in number; and haue one onely circle: in other some they are fewer, thicker, and broader; they are greene and of a deeper greene in some places; and in others of a lighter greene: for those, which we haue described, grow not in one place, but in diuers and sundrie. 2 Great Sengreen is found growing of it selfe on the tops of houses, old wals, & such like places in very many prouinces of the East, & of Greece, and also in the Ilands of the Mediterranean sea, as in Crete, which now is called Candie, Rhodes, Zant, and others; neither is Spaine without it: for (as C. Clusius witnesseth) it groweth in many places in the kingdome of Portingale; otherwise it is cherished in earthen pots. In colde countries, and such as lie northward, as in both the Germanies, it neither groweth of it selfe, nor yet lasteth long, though it be carefully planted, and diligently looked vnto, but through the extremitie of the weather, and the ouermuch cold of winter it perisheth. $\because$ The time. The stalke of the first doth at length flower after the Sommer Solstice, which is in Iune about Saint Barnabies day, and now and then in the moneth of August; but in Aprill, that is to say, after the æquinoctiall in the spring, which is about a moneth after the spring is begun. There growe out of this among the leaues small strings, which are the groundworke of the circles, by which being at length full growne, it spreadeth it selfe into very many circles. 2 Houseleeke that groweth like a tree, doth flower in Portingale at the beginning of the yeere presently after the winter Solstice, which is in December about S. Lucies day. $\because$ The names. The first is commonly called Iouis barba, or Iupiters beard, and so it is named of the Apothecaries: the Germans call it Hauszwurtz, Grosz Donnerbaer: they of the Lowe countries Donderbaert: the Hollanders Huysloock: the French men Ioubarbe: the Italians Sempreuiuo maggiore: the Spaniards Siempreuiua, yerua puntera: the English men Houseleeke, and Sengreene, and Aygreene: of some Iupiters eie, Bullocks eie, and Iupiters beard: of the Bohemians Netreske. Many take it to be Cotyledon altera Dioscoridis; but we had rather haue it one of the Sengreenes: for it is continually greene and alwaies flourisheth, and is hardly hurt by the extremitie of winter. The other without doubt is Dioscorides his ἀείζωον μέγα, that is, Semperuiuum magnum, or Sedum maius, great Houseleeke, or great Sengreene: Apuleius calleth it Vitalis, and Semperflorum: it is also named ζωόφθαλμον, στεργάνη, αἰθαλές. $\because$ The temperature. The great Houseleekes are cold in the third degree: they are also drie, but not much, by reason of the waterie essence that is in them. $\because$ The vertues. They are good against Saint Anthonies fire, the shingles, and other creeping vlcers and inflammations, as Galen saith, that proceede of rheumes and fluxes: and as Dioscorides teacheth, against the inflammations or firie heate in the eies: the leaues faith Plinie, being applied, or the iuice laide on, are a remedie for rheumatike and watering eies. They take away the fire in burnings and scaldings, and being applied with Barly meale dried, do take away the paine of the gowte. Dioscorides teacheth, that they are giuen to them that are troubled with a hot laske: that they likewise driue foorth woormes of the belly if they be drunke with wine. The iuice put vp in a pessarie do stay the fluxes in women, proceeding of a hot cause: the leaues held in the mouth do quench thirst in hot burning feuers. The iuice mixed with Barly meale and vineger preuaileth against S. Anthonies fire, all hot burning and fretting vlcers, and against scaldings, burnings, and all inflammations, and also the gowte comming of an hot cause. The iuice of Housleeke, Garden Nightshade, and the buds of Poplar boiled in Oxungia porci, or Hoggs grease, maketh the most singular Populeon that euer was vsed in Chirurgerie. The iuice hereof taketh away cornes from the toes and feete, if they be washed and bathed therewith, and euery day and night as it were implaistered with the skin of the same Housleeke, which certainly taketh them away without incision, or such like, as hath beene experimented by my very good friend M. Nicholas Belson, a man painfull and curious in searching forth the secrets of nature. The decoction of Housleeke, or the iuice thereof drunke, is good against the bloodie flixe, and cooleth the inflammation of the eies being dropped thereinto, and the brused herbe laid vpon.
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.