MERCURY,—DOG.

Description:

This is also of two kinds, male and female, having many stalks, slender and lower than French Mercury, without any branches, the root is set with two leaves at every joint, larger than the female, but more pointed and full of veins, and harder in handling; of a dark green colour, and less dented at the edges. At the joints come forth longer stalks than the former, with two hairy round seeds upon them, twice as large as those of the former Mercury; the smell is strong and virulent. The female has harder leaves upon longer foot-stalks, and the stalks are longer; from the joints come forth spikes of flowers like the French Female Mercury. The roots are full of small fibres, which run under ground, and mat very much, abiding the Winter, and shooting forth new branches every year.

This is a highly poisonous plant, and must be guarded against. There is not a more fatal plant than this, and it has been described more to prevent mischief. Its medical proper­ties have not been accurately made known. The qualities attributed to it by Culpeper are absurd in the extreme, quoted from some of the old astrological botanical writers. The virtues given to it by Culpeper must apply to some other plant; for those of Dog Mercury have not yet been discovered, except the poisonous.

See also: English Mercury, French Mercury