Description. The common pennyroyal is so well known, that it needeth no description.
There is another kind of pennyroyal, superior to the above, which differeth only in the largeness of the leaves and stalks; in rising higher, and not drooping upon the ground so much. The flowers of which are purple, growing in rundles about the stalk, like the other.
Place. The first, which is common in gardens, groweth also in many moist and watery places in this kingdom. The second is found wild in Essex, and divers places on the road to London, to Colchester, and parts adjacent.
Time. They flower in the latter end of summer.
Government and virtues. This herb is under Venus. Dioscorides saith, that pennyroyal maketh tough phlegm thin, warmeth the coldness of any part that it is applied to, and digesteth raw and corrupt matter: being boiled and drunk, it moveth the courses, and expelleth the dead child and afterbirth; being mixed with honey and salt, it voideth phlegm out of the lungs. Drunk with wine, it is of singular service to those who are stung or bit by any venomous beast; applied to the nostrils, with vinegar, it is very reviving to persons fainting and swooning; being dried and burnt, it strengtheneth the gums, and is helpful for those that are troubled with the gout; being applied as a plaister, it taketh away carbuncles and blotches from the face; applied with salt, it helpeth those that are splenetic, or liver-grown. The decoction doth help the itch, if washed therewith; being put into baths for women to sit therein, it helpeth the swelling and hardness of the mother. The green herb bruised and put into vinegar, cleanseth foul ulcers, and taketh away the marks of bruises and blows about the eyes, and all discolouring of the face by fire, and the leprosy, being drunk and outwardly applied: boiled in wine, with honey and salt, it helpeth the tooth-ach. It helpeth the cold griefs of the joints, taking away the pains, and warming the cold parts, being fast bound to the place after bathing or sweating. Pliny addeth, that pennyroyal and mint together help faintings or swoonings, infused in vinegar, and put to the nostrils, or a little thereof put into the mouth. It easeth the headach, and the pains of the breast and belly, stayeth the gnawing of the stomach, and inward pains of the bowels; being drunk with wine, it provoketh the courses, and expelleth the dead child and after-birth; it helpeth the falling sickness: put into unwholesome or stinking water that men must drink, as at sea, and where other cannot be had, it maketh it less hurtful. It helpeth cramps or convulsions of the sinews, being applied with honey, salt, and vinegar. It is very effectual for a cough, being boiled in milk and drank, and for ulcers and sores in the mouth. Matthiolus saith, the decoction thereof, being drank, helpeth the jaundice, and all pains of the head and sinews that come of a cold cause; and that it helpeth to clear and quicken the eye-sight. Applied to the nostrils of those that have the falling-sickness, or the lethargy, or put into the mouth, it helpeth them much, being bruised in vinegar, and applied. Mixed with barley meal, it helpeth burnings, and put into the ears, easeth the pains of them.