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HERNIARIA

Volume 2 · 73 words · 1771 Edition

rupture-wort, in botany, a genus of the pentandria digynia clas. The calyx consists of five segments; it has no corolla; and the capsule contains one seed. There are four species, three of them natives of Britain, viz. the glabra, or smooth rupture-wort; the hirsuta, or rough rupture-wort; and the lenticulata, or sea rupture-wort. The leaves may be used as a mild restringent; but have no title to their former reputation of curing ruptures.