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CHAP. 101.—THE COTYLEDON: TWO VARIETIES OF IT: SIXTY-ON, REMEDIES.

The cotyledon1 is a small herbaceous plant, with a diminu- tive, tender stem, and an unctuous leaf, with a concave surface like that of the cotyloïd cavity of the thigh. It grows in maritime and rocky localities, is of a green colour, and has a rounded root like an olive: the juice of it is remedial for diseases of the eyes.

There is another2 kind also of the same plant, the leaves of which are of a dirty green3 colour, larger than those of the other, and growing in greater numbers about the root, which is surrounded with them just as the eye is with the socket. These leaves have a remarkably astringent taste, and the stem is of considerable length, but extremely slender. This plant is employed for the same purposes as the iris and aizoüm.

1 Identified with the Cotyledon umbilicus of Smith, Flor. .Brit., Navelwort, Kidney-wort, or Wall penny-wort.

2 Identified by Littré with the Saxifraga media of Gonan; and by Feé with the Cotyledon serrata of Linnæus, Saw toothed navel-wort.

3 "sordidis."

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