Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

¶De Radice. cha. 137.

A Roote is called Radex, and hath that name of Radius, a beame, for it stick∣eth fast to y^e ground as it wer by certein beames, or else it hath y^t name of Rado, dis, to shane, for if it be shauen, it gro∣weth no more: then the root is the begin∣ning both of an hearbe, and of a tree, & is soft in substance with poores, & is rough & crooked, & is soft & fat in substaunce for to take the better incorporation of moi∣sture, & hath many pores to take the soo∣ner, & the more humour to send to féeding & nourishing of leaues & branches, & it is rough for great drawing of nourishing & of feeding, & hath the same office in bo∣dies of hearbs & of trées, that the mouth hath in bodies of beasts, & cleaueth to the earth by roughnesse, & draweth to it selfe that y^t is according of humour, and sen∣deth it by pores as it were by veines to nourish the plant: and is crooked, for to cleane the faster to the earth: and the root is diuers in shape & in disposition by di∣uers working of heat y^t worketh in the substantiall matter of y^e root. The which matter is somtime thin & somtime thick, & somtime mene, as Al. saith in Cōmen∣to super li. de Plantis. For if the matter be watry & thin, & strong heat: then the roote is euenlong, & sharpe in shape. And if y^e moisture of nourishing bée thicke & earthie, then the root is hard & drye. For such humour is strongly fastned & runne by vertue of might and heate.

And if the matter bée meane, & the heate strong:then the heat draweth like swift from all the parts. And because of equall moouing of the partes, the roote is round in figure and shape. If the heat be feeble and the matter gleamie: then the heate may not send vp much matter, nor make it spread nor reare, but the most lyghtest partes thereof, and the most heauyest partes breaketh hether and thether by theyr owne heauynesse and weight. And so therein abideth an euen shape with knots and roughnesse. And the roote is gendered of humour of the earth by the working of heate, and the heate of hea∣uen entereth and commeth therein: and by vertue therof agréeable féeding & nou∣rishing is drawen and incorporate there∣to.

Also of place and disposition of the ground, the root taketh disposition & com∣plection. For that that groweth in swéet ground, and meanly drye, and bée nouri∣shed with raine water, be better then other, and those that be nourished in soft land and in marreys, where standing & rotten water is, whereof they draw nou∣rishing: and by reason of the malignitye and corruption of water, they be worse then other, and least wholsome in meate and in medicine, as Isaac saith. The root is hid vnder the ground out of sight, and sheweth the vertue thereof and working in flowres, fruit, and boughs. The roote lyeth hid vnder the ground, liueth, & pro∣fiteth, and is better and better, & fayleth if it be drawen out of the grounde, and dryeth, and fordryeth. For of all the tree or hearbe the root is a part counted lesse of price, neuerthelesse as the root is mo∣ther and well of hearbe and trée: so it is of either the nourisher and most néedfull susteiner, and the more déepe the roote is put in the grounde, the more steadfast foundation it is of hearbs and trées: and though the root be soft in substance ther∣of, yet by vertue and subtiltie of kinde heat, it pearceth betwéene hard stones, & commeth into the innermost part therof. In winter time kinde heate slieth colde aire, & gathereth it selfe to the innermost of the root, and there it is multiplyed to temperatnesse and nourishing of it selfe. And then in winter time the root concei∣ueth and taketh water out of the hu∣mour, that is drawen, & sendeth it forth to nourish and to bréede the braunches and flowres in springing time, y^e spring that time, and so trees and hearbs that be dry, & as it were dead in winter time, when the humoure commeth vp to the ouer partes, they quicken in springing time.

Also the qualitie good and euill of the root commeth vp to boughs and twigs. And oft it is shewed in fruit and in flo∣wers, what vertue or vice is in y^e roots. But oft sowrenesse and bitternesse of hu∣mour of the roote is defied by benefice of aire and heate of heauen, that purifi∣eth the matter. And so oft it falleth, that of a bitter roote commeth swéete fruite and flowers, as it fareth of the roote of the vine, of the Nut trée, and of the O∣liue. Huc vsque Isaac in Dietis vniuer∣salibus.

Also Aristotle saith, that Trées when they be at a stay & beare no fruites are wont to be remedied in the roote. For the roote is slit, and a stone is put in the slit, & so the thicke humour and the corrupt, passeth out as it were séething, and so cleane humour & pure & new aire is drawen & commeth into the root. And so the trées be renued & healed. Also Isaac & Galen saye, that Muscus Atheniense sayd: that each hearb with a root of much nourishing, hath séed that is not nourish∣ing: as it fareth in Pasnepis, & in Rapis,* 1.1 and in other such. And againward, if the séed of an hearb nourisheth, then y^e roote nourisheth not. And there is a certaine hearbe that approprieth the name of a root, & is hot and dry, & is like Raphane in vertue, and hath vertue to temper, de∣part, and dissolue, to consume and wast, and to open poores, and so it helpeth a∣gainst scauers, which come of colde, and openeth stopping of the splene, and tem∣pereth hardnesse thereof, and succoureth against the dropsie, and hath harde sa∣uour and sowre, and accordeth more to medicine then to meate, as raye againe∣ward accordeth more to meate then to medicine, and is hot & moist, & nourish∣eth more then the other hearbs or roots,

as Isaac sayth in Dietis, and maketh soft flesh and sweete, for the ventositie and bolning thereof. Therfore it nourisheth the better if it be well sodde, and is hard to defie, if it bee rawe and euill sod, and stoppeth the pores and y^e veine. And also it is good by way of medicine: for y^e iuyce of it is good for Podagre feete, and the goutie places bée aswaged of sorenesse & ache. Of the séede of the rape, and also of y^e séede of Raphane is Oile made, that is náedfull in manye vses, and namelye in Lamps, but yet it was not lawful to put such oyle in lamps of candlesticks in the house of God, as sayth the Glose super Exodo. 27. there it is sayd, with distincti∣on it is bidden to offer Oyle, not Ra∣phon nor Myrtum, or Mirtinum, but most pure oile of Oliue trees, for it was not lawfull to offer other oile, as it was not lawfull to light fire other then came downe from heauen, &c.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Cole∣vvortes. Carreis.