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FAMILY  FLOEA. 
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THE
FAMILY  FLOEA
AND
MATEEIA  MEDICA  BOTAMCA,
CONTAINING THE
BOTANICAL ANALYSIS, NATURAL HISTORY,
€bemual an& iWcMial Jpropertu© mrtr fasts
PLANTS:
ILLUSTRATED BY COLORED ENGRAVINGS
     OF ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, COPIED FROM NATURE.
              PETER V. GOOD,
  EDITOR OF AN IMPROVED EDITION OF THE "MEMOIRS OF THE LATE JOHN M.
    GOOD, M. D., F. R. S., F. R. S. L., MEM. AM. PHIL. SOC, AND F. L. S.
              OF PHILADELPHIA, &C, &C.

 Karavofjoare ra xpiva r<Dj ai£&vtt, oh kottiu, oiSi vffitt Xeyu Si vpXv, ovds SoAojuoji' Ir
naatj rt) Sa\r\ avrov ircpiefiaXero u{ cv rovriav.—Jesus the Christ* ,. .,, > ■
         VOLUME II.      '.'.;-. ,:.: . c:


A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED.
        ELIZABETHTOWN, N. J.:
PUBLISHED  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 
   Entered according to Aot of Congress, in tne Year of our Lord,  1845, by
                          PETER P. GOOD,
In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the District of
                             Connecticut. 
COMMENDATIONS
                             OF
GOOD'S   FAMILY   FLORA.
  It is by no means the intention  of the Author, in this advertisement,
merely to puff or extol his Work—but simply to call public attention to
it.  He only asks that persons examine  the several numbers  of the
Family  Flora  as they come from the press; and then  if they do not
acknowledge,  and are not convinced, that it contains the choicest and
most valuable matter  as  a " Text Book"—notwithstanding it is also a
most  acceptable  and  appropriate " Parlor, or Lady's Book"—and
withal the  cheapest Periodical extant, not  being affected by Age or
Fashion, but always new, popular and interesting—he does  not ask sub-
scription or patronage ; for he maintains that all claims to public favor
or support must rest solely upon the real merits of the "Work, and  unless
the Work  in this respect maintains itself,  and commands success, he
would prefer  abandoning it altogether.  As evidence, however,  of the
opinions of some of our eminent Professors, who are best able to judge
on the subject,  he submits the following communications  (in addition to
those already presented in the first volume,) taken at random from several
correspondents, who have favored him with their kind commendations.
  He avails himself also of this opportunity,  to tender his  most hearty
welcome to the  new subscribers who  are continually coming in, and
whose letters  contain such  flattering notices of the  Family Flora.
There is room for them and their  friends, and no effort shall be spared
to make the Family Flora more and more worthy of their  high
encomiums.
         From the Eclectic Medical Journal, Cincinnati, Ohio.
  Good's Family Flora and  Materia Medica  Botanica.—We  have
carefully perused the Family Flora, which the author, P. P. Good, A. M.
of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, has had the kindness to forward  to our
address.  This periodical is printed semi-monthly, but distributed to sub-
scribers quarterly; twelve numbers being bound together in pamphlet
form.
  It is devoted to the  botanical analysis, and medical properties of both
indigenous and foreign medical plants.
  Each number is embellished with one very superior drawing of some
medical plant, which tends greatly to beautify the work.
  For neatness and elegance of style, we know of no  pamphlet  which
exceeds this.
  The drawings are colored, and true to the living plant, while the natural
history, botanical analysis, and chemical and medical properties, together 
VI
COMMENDATIONS.
with the adaptation of the agent to the cure of many diseases, are very
accurately, and very systematically presented.  No similar production
with which we are acquainted, surpasses, if indeed it equals this in the
accuracy of its botanical descriptions ; the description of the therapeutic
virtues of many of the articles noticed, possesses equal merit.
  The author appears to be familiar with many of the plants not in use
as remedial agents in the allopathic school of medicine, but which are in
very  common use amongst  the Eclectic  class  of physicians.    This
speaks well for his liberality, and clearly manifests a disposition to keep
up with the improvements of the science.
  The work is interesting and instructive, and recommends itself to the
notice of every reformer in medicine.                      L. E. J.

      From the New Jersey Medical Reporter, Burlington, N. J.

  Good's Family  Flora and Materia Medica Botanica, fye,. 8p.—This
work is now in its fourth year, and  though we have never had an op-
portunity before  of presenting it to our readers, we do so now with
pleasure.  It is a new Jersey work, published at Elizabethtown, Essex
Co.,  and offers to  the profession, in  a  cheap and convenient form, an
account of the botanical, chemical, and medical properties, as well as the
natural history of indigenous and other plants, that may at all times be
made available to the medical practitioner, and particularly to the country
physician, in the  treatment of disease.  Each part  contains  twelve
colored plates, and amass of valuable information is condensed in a com-
pact form, which  ought to be within the reach ef every physician.  The
proprietor is his own engraver, printer, agent, and editor, and we- cheer-
fully urge upon our readers the claims of his valuable production, and
hope that the " Family  Flora" may increase its circulation at  least
tenfold.
  Address (post paid,) Peter P, Good, Elizabethtown, Essex County,
New Jersey.
  We submit also the following notices, taken at random from several
hundred of the most popular newspapers and other publications :—
  Good's Family  Flora has been received.  It is, as usual, a neat and
well-executed work, and is replete with interest,  and cannot be too ex-
tensively patronized.  We would recommend it especially to Physicians.
—Mercersburg Visitor.
  Good's Family Flora.  This  periodical continues  to  maintain  its
character for research and ability, and has strong claims on the patronage
of a  liberal  and  enlightened public.   We think every Family should
possess it.—Bennington State Banner.
  Good's Family Flora.   This interesting, valuable, and scientific work
has been received.   We recommend it to all heads of Families as well
worth their patronage.  No book more effectually combines pleasure
with improvement.—Ohio Democrat.
  Good's Family Flora.   We consider this, decidedly, one of the best,
most valuable, and cheapest publications of the day.—Scion, Clarksburg.
  Good's Family Flora.  The  March  number  has arrived.  It fully
sustains its former reputation, scientific, and well-adapted to the general
reader.  Its price places  it within the reach of all.—St.  Clairsville
Gazette. 
COITEITS.
 Title and Frontispiece,    ......
 Recommendations,    .......
 Table op Contents,.......
 Introduction to the Study of Botany,

 Podophyllum Peltatum.   May-apple, Wild mandrake.
 Daphne Mezereum.  Mezereon, Spurge Olive,  .
 Eupatorium Perfoliatum.  Boneset, Thorough-wort,  .
 Asarum Canadense.  Canada Snake root, Coltsfoot,  .
 Arum Triphyllum.  Dragon-root,  Wild turnip,
 Mentha Piperita.  Peppermint,     ....
 Convolvulus Scammonia.   Scammony, Syrian Bindweed,
 Datura Stramonium.  Thorn-apple, Jamestown-weed,  .
 Coptis Trifolia.  Goldthread, Mint-root,  .
 Lilium Candidum.   White lily,      ....
 Afocynum Androsjemifolium.  Dogsbane, Bitter-root,
 Gentiana Lutea.  Yellow gentian,   ....
 Spigelia Marylandica.  Pink-root, Worm-grass,
 Vitis Vinifera.  Common Vine grape,
 Friosteum Perfoliatum.  Fever-wort, Wild coffee,
 Papaver Somniferum. Poppy, White poppy,
 Eugenia Pimenta.  Pimenta, Allspice,
 Punica Granatum.   Pomegranate,    ....
 Aristolochia Serpentaria.  Virginia Snake root, Birthwort,
 Ipom^ia Jalapa.  Jalap,   .   .    .    .    .
 Hydrastis Canadensis.   Turmeric-root, Golden seal,  .
 Humulus Lupulus.   Common hop,    ....
 Conium Maculatum.  Hemlock,.....
Euonymus Atropurpureus.  Spindle-tree,  Wa-hoo,  (Ind)
Hyoscyamus Niger.   Henbane,  Poison tobacco, fyc,
Hedeoma Pulegioides.  Pennyroyal, Tick-weed,  Squawmint,
Aconitum Napellus.  Wolfsbane, Monkshood, ifc.,
  Page.
   .  I
   .  V
   VII
    IX
Number.
  .  49
  .  50
  .  51
  .  52
  .  53
  .  54
  .  55
  .  56
  .  57
  .  58
  .  59
  .  60
  .  61
  .  62
  .  63
  .  64
  ,  65
  ,  66
  .  67
  .  68
  .  69
  .  70
  .  71
  .  72
  .  73
    74
    75
Sfc. 
CONTENT ^-Continued.
Helonias Dioica.   Unicorn, Blazing-star, Ague-root, tfc,   .
Cassia Fistula.  Cassia, Purging-cassia, Pudding-pipe-tree, tyc,
Panax Quinquefolium.  Ginseng, Red-berry, Five fingers, fyc.,
Cimicifuga Racemosa.  Blacksnake-root, Black cohosh, Squaw-root
Chelone Glabra.   Balmony, Snake-head, Shell-flower, Sfc.,
Hypericum Perforatum.  Common St. John's-wort,
Guaiacum Officinale.   Lignum vilce, Guaiacum,
Tanacetum Vulgare.   Tansy,  Common tansy,   .
Nicotiana Tabacum.  Tobacco, Virginia tobacco,
Rheum Palmatum.  Rhubarb,   ....
Thea Chinensis..  Tea, The tea-plant,
Frasera Walteri.  American columbo, Indian lettuce,
Ceanothus Americanus.  New-Jersey tea, .
Drymi , Winteri.   Winter's Bark-tree,
Solanum Tuberosum.  Common potato,
Chelidonium Majus.  Co nmov celandine,  Pile-wort,  Tetter-wort,
Colchicum Autumnale.   Meadow saffron, Naked lady,
Cissampelos Pareira.   Velvet leaf, Ice vine,
Capparis Spinosa.   The Capershrub, Capers
Coriandrum Sativum.   Coriander,    ....
Cocculus Palmatus.  The  Columba-plant, Columbo,  .
          B^* Subscription,
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
                              00 per annum, in advance.
  The Work is printed  in large octavo form ;  and  each number con-
tains a beautiful colored Plant, with four pages of Letter-press  and is
perfect and independent.
  Twelve numbers form a PART, published Quarterly in March, June,
September and December of each year, and four of these parts make
a year.
  The Title, Preface, Table of Contents, Glossary,  &c, form an extra
part to the first volume; (or the Title, Table of Contents and Introduc-
tion to the study of Botany form an extra  part to the second volume.)
These extra parts are each delivered at the close of  the respective vol-
umes without additional charge, that the  whole may  be  perfect for
binding.
  The several PARTS  are put up for the convenience of subscribers
only, and may be forwarded per mail or otherwise wherever desired.
  All communications should be addressed {postage free) to
             PETER P. GOOD, Elizabethtown, Essex County, N. J.
   The FAMILY FLORA can only be obtained by application as above,
(post paid,) with remittance ; and which will secure immediate and punc-
tual attention. 
 
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INTRODUCTION  TO THE STUDY OF  BOTANY.
                   GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
   1. The term Botany  is properly applicable to the whole  of the
science,  which includes  the study and investigation of the vegetable
kingdom.  Hence the examination of the internal structure of Plants, and
of the various processes concerned in their growth and reproduction,—
the description of which strictly constitutes but  a branch of the science
of Botany, and may be designated structural and physiological Botany.
But by those who  have made the  study of the  vegetable kingdom a
means of interesting recreation, rather than a professed object of pursuit,
and even by some who have considered themselves scientific  botanists,
this branch has been entirely overlooked:  and the whole attention has
been devoted to the other department of the science, which concerns the
arrangement or  classification of the  many thousand species of Plants
existing on the surface of the globe, into groups or divisions; each of
which includes a number of species, that have certain characters in com-
mon, and that differ from those of other groups.  The advantages of such
a plan in the saving of time and  labor are obvious.  If all the peculiarities
of every  species of plant had  to be studied and recollected  by them-
selves, it would  require a long acquaintance and a retentive memory,
to become master of the characters of the numerous species of flowering
plants, which  our own country produces; and when this number is
multiplied by a hundred, which it probably  must be to  represent the
amount of species existing on the entire globe,  it  is obvious that no single
mind could be capacious enough to grasp the vast amount of detail thus
accumulated.

    COLLECTION AND  ARRANGEMENT  OF  PLANTS.
  2. It is the business of the Botanist, therefore,  in the first place, to
collect plants from all sources open to him; and  he then arranges them
according to their species. Thus, we will suppose that he has collected
all the plants of the Northern United States, and that he has obtained a 
10                        INTRODUCTION.
corresponding series of plants of the Southern United States.  Upon
bringing them together, he would find that many species are common to
the two places ; but -that some are peculiar to the Northern United
States, others to the Southern United States. If he obtained, in addition
a collection of South American plants, he  would find that some of the
specie^ common to the Northern and Southern United States, are  con-
tained in it also; and  that some  species not known in  the  Northern
United States  are  common to the Southern United States and South
America; but he will find many peculiar to South America.  Proceeding
thus over the  whole world,  he would  gradually  increase his number
of new species;  at the same time adding considerably to the number of
specimens of some which he would find very extensively diffused.  He
would find a few similar species  almost every where,—these  being the
kinds most capable of adapting  themselves to varieties in soil, climate,
&c; whilst on  the other hand, he would  find  many of a very limited
distribution,—being restricted to some small extent of country, in which
alone they can find the conditions necessary for their growth.

  DISTINCTION BETWEEN SPECIES  AND VARIETIES.
   3. The greatest  difficulty  in this part of the investigation consists in
the discrimination of species really distinct,—that is to say, of races which
have maintained their  distinctive  peculiarities,  so constantly,  that they
must  be considered as having had originally  different  stocks,—from
those  varieties,  which may often present  differences really greater  in
amount than those which exist  between   many undoubtedly distinct
species, but  which all sprung from the same original stock.   Thus, for
example, a  collection  of plants from  different parts of India,  would
contain many specimens presenting such marked differences that the in-
experienced Botanist would not  hesitate  to set them down as distinct
species;  yet to one who has carefully examined the subject, and has made
himself acquainted with the variations produced by the differences in soil
and climate, so striking in this extensive tract, it becomes apparent  that
they are all members  of the same.  There is, too, in many  species a
remarkable tendency to  run into spontaneous  variations, for  which no
external influences will account.  Thus the seeds of the same individual
of the beautiful  Fuchsia, now naturalized in our  green-houses,  and in
the open air of  the milder parts  of the Northern United States, have
been  known to produce plants, whose flowers differ so much in shape
and in the proportional length of the calyx  and  corolla, that if  these had
been collected and compared without the knowledge that they  had been
produced from one plant, they would  have been regarded as distinct
species, perhaps even (so striking is the difference) as distinct genera.
Nearly  the same is the case  with another  South American Plant, now 
                           INTRODUCTION.                        J2

 much cultivated in the Northern United States,—the Calceolaria, or
 slipper-shaped flower ;  of which an immense number of varieties, differ-
 ing widely  in  the  shape,  as  well as the  color of the flower, are now
 known, almost every horticultural exhibition having a new one;  and the
 beautiful South American Amaryllis has a  like tendency, of which
 the gardener has taken similar advantage.
   4.  Hence in discriminating what are real species from what are*simply
 varieties, the Botanist is treading on very insecure ground, until he has
 ascertained, for every species, its tendency to run into varieties of form,
 whether spontaneous or induced by change of external conditions.  His
 greatest difficulty arises from those cases, in which have arisen what are
 termed permanent varieties, which reproduce themselves with the same
 regularity as do real species.  An instance of this in the animal kingdom
 is that of the different races of men, which are respectively distinguished
 by marked  peculiarities, that are regularly repeated through each gener-
 ation ; so that  many naturalists have been inclined  to  regard  them as
 really distinct species.   There is, however, good evidence (independently
 of the Mosaic  History,) to prove that they have all  descended from a
 common stock.  Precisely the same is the case in regard to Plants, many
 races of which even in the Northern United States, are still under discus-
 sion amongst Botanists ;  some maintaining that they are distinct species,
 and others  that they are but varieties.  Thus  of the Willow, seventy-
 one species have been  stated by one authority to exist, whilst another
 reduces them to twenty-nine.   The genus Rubus or common Bramble,
 has been thought to contain twenty-one species, which are probably re-
 ducible to  six  or  eight.   These details  are here introduced for the
 purpose of putting the young Botanist on his guard against the tendency
 to multiply species, which is now sadly prevalent among many superficial
 writers, and which  is still  further encouraged  by gardeners, who give
 new specific names to such varieties as those just alluded to,  and even to
 hybrids between these.

       COMBINATION OF  SPECIES INTO GENERA.
   5. When the Botanist has satisfied himself regarding the species which
 he has collected, his next step is to combine those amongst which he finds
 the greatest resemblance, into  genera.  Now in this process he must not
 be altogether influenced by similarity in their general external aspect,
 for this will often conceal great differences in their most important organs.
 There are  certain parts  which furnish essential characters,  without
 similarity in which it would be wrong to associate species, however alike
 in other respects, in the same genus ;  and, on the other hand, there are
parts so susceptible of variation, that the differences between them must
be very striking indeed, to warrant  the plants being arranged under 
12
INTRODUCTION.
different genera, when they agree in what have been termed the essential
characters.  Thus, for instance, the general outline of the leaf has been
stated to be often subject to great variety, in accordance with the degree
in which the space between the veins is  filled up with fleshy paren-
chyma; and in most cases, a difference in  the outline  of the leaves of
two plants, the distribution of the veins remaining the same, would not
alone serve to cause two  plants exhibiting it to  rank even as distinct
species.  But any considerable alteration of the veining would be held
sufficient for such a separation; though the two plants, if agreeing in
the structure of their organs of fructification, would still be  placed in
the same genus.  On the other hand, a marked and constant difference
in the organs of fructification would be rightly held sufficient to place the
two species  in different genera, even though the form  and  veining of
the leaves might be precisely  the same.  On the relative value of the
characters furnished by the different organs, more  will hereafter be
stated.

         FORMATION  OF  ORDERS AND CLASSES.
   6.  Even when thus grouped together into genera, however, the num-
ber of objects, which the Botanist has to study, remains by far too great
for convenience; and he next forms his genera into orders, and combines
these orders into classes, according to their respective correspondence
and difference in certain characters of a still more general nature.  Now
in this process he may follow two very different plans;  and upon these are
founded the two systems of classification which are now in vogue.  One of
these is termed the Linnaean system,  after its  founder;  or the Artificial
system, from its character; the other is termed the Natural system.   In the
Linnaean system, a small number  of characters—chiefly the number of
stamens and pistils—is taken as the standard ; and the whole  vegetable
kingdom is distributed under classes  and orders, according to the corres-
pondences and differences  among the several genera in these respects,__
no regard whatever being had to any other  characters.   In the Natural
system, all the characters of the genera are studied; and those are united
into orders, which present the  greatest correspondence in the characters
that are regarded as of the most importance :  on the same principle, the
orders are united into classes.  If the former plan be followed, genera
most widely differing in their structure and  physiological characters are
often brought together, and others which are nearly allied are frequently
separated to a great extent, so that  in fact, it is very common  to find,
that nothing can be stated as true of all the plants included in a Linnaean
order, except that they  have a similar number of stamens and  pistils.
On the other hand,  in the Natural system,  the number of characters in
which there is a general  agreement among all the plants of a particular 
                          INTRODUCTION.                       13

order, is so great that, to say that the plant belongs to a certain order, is
at once  to give the greater part of its description.  This is the case also
in the highest or most general groups.  For instance, to  say  that a
particular species is an Exogen, is at once to make known the structure
of its stem, and the mode of its increase,—to express the important fact
that it has two cotyledons or  seed-leaves,—to render it most probable
that the  arrangement of the veins in its leaves is reticulated rather than
parallel,—and to intimate that the parts of its flowers are likely to be
arranged in fives or fours, rather than in threes.

    CONNEXION OF STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES.
   7.  There is a point of agreement among the plants brought together
in Natural orders, which is of the greatest practical importance.  This is
that those which agree in  structure almost invariably  correspond in
properties also.  For instance, the whole of the Papaveraceae or Poppy
tribe possesses narcotic properties; all the Rannuculaceae or Crowfoot
tribe are acrid;  whilst all the Malvaceae  or Mallow tribe are destitute
of unwholesome properties.  Thus,  when  a plant  is recognized as a
member of a particular Natural order, an almost certain account may be
given of its properties,—whether it is likely to be injurious or whole-
some, to furnish valuable medicines or important articles of food.   It
must be remembered, however, that the peculiar properties of the plant
do not pervade every portion of it;  and that it may hence be possible to
obtain wholesome nutriment, even from members of orders most distin-
guished for their deleterious properties.  Thus the  Potato  belongs to
the order Solaneae, which contains the Deadly nightshades, Henbane,
and other poisonous plants, but the  edible part of it, which is a deposi-
tion of  starch for an  express purpose,  is free or nearly so, from the
narcotic properties which exist in the stems and leaves.  Indeed as a
general rule, such depositions of starch may supply  wholesome food in
any order, more especially if care be taken to free them from any juices
they may contain: thus the Cassava  which furnishes one of the most
important articles of food to the inhabitants of many tropical countries,
is obtained from a plant of the  order Euphorbiacece or spurge tribe,
which is distinguished for its very acrid qualities :  and these are restricted
to the juice expressed from the meal after it has been ground.

              USE OF  THE LINNJEAN SYSTEM.
   8.  The Linnaean system, however, is not without  its  advantages, for
particular purposes.   To a person commencing by himself the study of
Systematic Botany, desirous of making himself acquainted with the names
and characters of the plants he may meet with  in his  walks,  and not
ambitious of extending his studies to the higher parts of the science, the 
14                       INTRODUCTION.
Linnaean system, when applied with the aid of books, possesses facilities
which are (at present at least)  greatly superior to those afforded by the
other, and which are well calculated to encourage a learner.   To count
the number of stamens and pistils is  generally a very easy process ;  this
at  once  establishes  the  class and  order;  and  nothing  then remains
but to determine the  genus  and species, which (among the number
found in the Northern United States) a little practice in the examination
of characters will enable any intelligent person to do with the aid of books
in which these are laid down.   The  habit thus gained of discriminating
characters, and of applying terms, is a most valuable preparation for the
study of the Natural system, when opportunity presents itself.  It must
be constantly borne in mind, however, that the utmost use which can be
made of the Linnaean  system, consists in the assistance it affords in the
discovery of the name of an unknown plant, and until this has been made
out, the previous determination of its class and order gives no indication
of its general  structure and properties,  (not even making it apparent
whether it is an Endogen or an Exogen, a Dicotyledon or a Monocoty-
ledon,) since under the same head are  grouped genera of the most
opposite character.   It may be said that it serves a sort of alphabetical
index to a book, enabling the reader to turn to any part of it  he wishes,
by looking out the subject in the order of its first letters,  but giving no
idea whatever of the general scope of the book, nor of the mode in which
its subjects are arranged.

      IMPERFECTIONS OF THE LINNiEAN SYSTEM.
   9. The Linnaean system is liable to many imperfections and difficulties
in its application,  even in the limited circle of the plants of the United
States;  for example, the number of pistils is liable to be altered in any
species by the more or  less complete adhesion  of the carpels;  and
that of the stamens may also vary in the different species of the same
genus, and even among the individuals of the  same species,  or even
(in some  instances) among the different flowers of the same  stem.
The adoption of characters thus liable to vary  cannot, therefore, but
sometimes lead to confusion.  For instance, of the genus Polygonum,
of which several species are known by the name of Bistort, Buckwheat,
Persicaria, &c, one has always, and two others have occasionally eight
stamens, whilst in the rest the number varies from five to ten.   As eight
seems to be the most regular number, the genus is placed in the  class
Octandria : and although its styles are sometimes only two in  number,
it is placed in  the  order Trigynia,  because they are  more  commonly
triple.   Now if a student meet with a specimen  which has five, six, or
ten stamens, he will vainly search for its character among the genera of
the Linnaean class  to which it would seem to  belong:  and unless he 
                          INTRODUCTION.                        15

happen to  consult a book which makes special mention of the  genus
in these several classes, he will be altogether at fault.  Suppose that some
more knowing Botanist tells him that his plant is a Polygonum, he will
again turn  to his book, wondering  how he  could  have overlooked it:
but he will find the genus in the class Octandria, in spite of the different
number of stamens in the specimen before him, and he will then learn
that it is placed in the genus Polygonum on account of its strong gene-
ral  resemblance  to other Polygonums, although differing from them in
characters  which  are ordinarily considered as sufficient to establish
classes and orders.   Again, the greater  part of the species of the genus
Rhamnus (buckthorn) possesses both stamens  and pistils in the same
flower; but the  species most generally known in this country on account
of its purgative  properties is Dioecious,  the staminiferous flowers being
on one plant, and the pistiliferous on another.   The student who meets
with it therefore would seek for it in the class Dioecia, where he would
be disappointed  as before ;  since, as in most species of flowers are com-
plete, it is placed in the class and order to which the number of its sta-
mens and pistils would refer it.
  10.  Such exceptional cases occur much more frequently than is com-
monly supposed.  It has been proved that in fourteen divisions  of the
Linnaean system,, there are no less than forty three exceptions,—one quar-
ter of the whole;  and that out of two hundred and seventy four genera
of the Northern United States, belonging to  eighteen Linnaean sections,
there are seventy eight exceptions,—rather more than a quarter.   These
facts are important, both as preparing the student to meet with such diffi-
culties, even in the study of the Linnaean system, which is generally con-
sidered so easy of application ;  and also as showing the imperfection of
the system  itself, which is of no importance whatever beyond  the tem-
porary purpose of facilitating the early studies of the Botanical student.
In well arranged descriptions of American plants (such as Wood's Class
book of Botany, which may be strongly recommended for this purpose)
the most perplexing of these cases are  noticed, in  such a manner as to
prevent the loss  of time and labor, in vain attempts at discovering gen-
era in wrong classes or  species in wrong genera.

        PRINCIPLES OF THE  LINNJEAN SYSTEM.
  11. In consequence of the advantages of the Linnaean system for a
beginner,  it is  desirable  to  give an outline  of  the principles  upon
which its divisions are founded, which may serve as an introduction to
the  regular systematic treatises upon the subject.  The  Phanerogamia
or flowering plants are distributed under twenty-three  classes, all  of
which are  characterised either by the  number, or particular  arrange-
ment of the stamens.  In the first twelve of these, number alone is re- 
16
INTRODUCTION.
garded.  Their names  are formed by the combination of the Greek
numeral expressing the required number, with the termination andria,
which  has reference to the supposed male office of the stamens  in the
process of fertilization.

       CHARACTERS OF  THE  LINN^AN CLASSES.
  12. These classes, therefore, stand simply as shown in the figures repre-
sented in the two plates prefixed to these volumes, and to which reference
is here particularly made.
  Class  1.  Monandria.   One  stamen.   Orders  Monogynia  and
Digynia.
  Class II. Diandria.  Two  stamens.  Orders  Monogynia,  Digynia
and  Trigynia.
  Class III. Triandria.  Three stamens.   Orders  Monogynia,  Digy-
nia and Trigynia.
  Class IV. Tetrandria.  Four stamens.  Orders Monogynia,  Digy-
nia and Tetragynia.
  Class V. Pentandria.  Five  stamens.  Orders Monogynia,  Digy-
nia,  Trigynia, Tetragynia, Pentagynia and Polygynia.
  Class VI. Hexandria.  Six stamens.   Orders Monogynia, Digynia,
Trigynia and Polygynia.
  Class VII.  Heptandria.   Seven stamens.  Orders Monogynia, Dig-
ynia, Tetragynia and Heptagynia.
  Class VIII.  Octandria.  Eight stamens.  Orders Monogynia, Dig-
ynia, Trigynia and Tetragynia.
  Class IX.  Enneandria.   Nine stamens.  Orders Monogynia, Tri-
gynia and Hexagynia.
  Class X.  Decandria.  Ten stamens.   Orders Monogynia, Digynia,
Trigynia, Pentagynia and Decagynia.
  Class XI. Dodecandria.   Twelve to nineteen stamens.  Orders Mon-
ogynia, Digynia, Trigynia, Tetragynia,  Pentagynia,  Hexagynia  and
Dodecagynia.
  Class XII.   Icosandria.   Twenty or more stamens inserted into the
calyx.  Orders Monogynia, Di-Pentagynia and Polygynia.
  13.  To the last mentioned Class, however, another character belongs;
for in the next Class, Polyandria, the number of stamens is also twenty
or more.  They are  distinguished by the  mode of insertion of the sta-
mens, these appearing to arise from the calyx  in the former, and from
the disk or receptacle in the  latter.  This distinction which will here-
after be shown to be important in the Natural system, will be at once
understood by comparing a true Rose, Plum, Cherry, or Pear blossom,
with a Christmas rose,  an Anemone, or a  Paeony; when the calyx and
carolla of the former are pulled off, they carry the stamens with  them; 
                          INTRODUCTION.                        17

but they may be entirely removed from the latter, leaving the stamens at-
tached to the disk.  These two classes will therefore, appear as in the plate
   Class  XIII. Polyandria.   Twenty stamens or more inserted into the
receptacle.  Orders Monogynia, Digynia,  Trigynia, Tetragynia, Penta-
gynia, and Polygynia.
   14.  The next two  classes are characterized by peculiarities  in the
proportional length of the stamens,  as well as in their number.   Those
which are longer than the rest are said to be in power; and the termina-
tion dynamia is applied to the number of these, in order to  designate
their peculiarity.
   Class  XIV. Didynamia.   Four stamens, two longer than the others.
Orders Gymnospermia and Angiospermia.
   Class  XV.  Tetradynamia.   Six  stamens, four longer  than  the
others.  Orders Siliquosa, Siliculosa.
   15.  The three following classes are characterized by the more or less
complete Union of the filaments of the stamens into bundles or brother-
hoods ; on account of which the termination adelphia is applied to the
number of such bundles.
   Class  XVI. Monadelphia.  Stamens  united  into a  single bundle
forming a tube which surrounds the style.  Orders Triandria, Pentandria,
Hexandria,  Heptandria,  Octandria,   Decandria,  Dodecandria,  and
Polyandria.
   Class XVII. Diadelphia.  Stamens united into two bundles.  Orders
Pentandria, Hexandria, Octandria, and Decandria.
   Class  XVIII. Polyadelphia.   Stamens united into several bundles.
Orders Decandria and Polyandria.
   16.  In the next class, it is the anthers which form the tube; and the
name applied to it, signifies a growth together.   In the succeeding class,
the stamens and pistil grow together; and the name gynandria refers to
this union of the male organs with the female, the latter being designated
by the first syllable, which will presently be seen to be much  employed
in the description of the orders.
   Class XIX. Syngenesia.  Stamens  united by  their anthers  into a
tube.   Orders iEqualis, Superflua, Frustranea, and Necessaria.
   Class XX.  Gynandria.  Stamens and pistils grown together.  Orders
Monandria, Diandria, and Hexandria.
   17.  The three remaining classes  are characterized by  the separation
of the staminiferous and pistilliferous flowers.   The import of the name
Moncecia is single-housed,  and of Dicecia double  housed.
   Class XXI. Moncscia.   Stamens and pistils on separate flowers, but
both growing on the same plant.  Orders Monandria, Diandria, Triandria,
Tetrandria, Pentandria, Hexandria, Octandria, Icosandria, Polyandria,
and Monadelphia.
              3 
18
INTRODUCTION.
   Class XXII. Dicecia.   Stamens and pistils not only on two flowers,
but these floioers on two different plants.   Orders Monandria,  Diandria,
Triandria,  Tetrandia, Pentandria, Hexandria, Octandria, Enneandria,
Decandria, Dodecandria, Icosandria, Polyandria, and Monadelphia.
   Class XXIII.  Polygamia.   Stamens  and pistils separated in some
flowers, united in others, either on  the same plant or on twd or three
different ones.  Orders Monoecia and Dicecia.

           CHARACTERS OF LINN.EAN  ORDERS.
   18. The Orders or sub-divisions of the classes are generally founded
upon the number of the styles or (if these be not present) of the stigmas;
or upon certain peculiarities of the seed-vessel. In the first thirteen
classes the number alone is regarded; and the  orders are designated as
before, by the Greek numerals, with the termination gynia which refers
to the supposed female character of the pistil.

            Order 1. Monogynia,       One style.
                  2. Digynia,          Two  styles.
                  3. Trigynia,         Three styles.
                  4. Tetragynia,       Four styles.
                 5. Pentagynia,       Five  styles.
                  6. Hexagynia,       Six styles.
                  7. Heptagynia,       Seven styles.
                  8. Octogynia,        Eight styles.
                  9. Enneagynia,       Nine  styles.
                 10. Decagynia,        Ten styles.
                 11. Dodecagynia,     Twelve styles.
                 12. Polygynia,        More than twelve styles.

   19. It will be evident from the description  of the structure  of the
pistil, that the number of styles affords no indication of the character of
the ovarium.  Thus, the ovarium may be formed of many carpels, the
divisions between which remain as distinct partitions, whilst  the styles
and stigmata of all these may have coalesced into one pillar; so that we
may have a single style with a many-celled seed-vessel.  On the other
hand, the walls of the carpels  may  form but  incomplete partitions, so
that the cavity of the  ovarium is undivided; whilst the styles and stigmata
may be numerous.   The structure of the ovarium itself is however a
much less variable character than the number  of styles, which is liable
to alteration in many species  (like that  of the  stamens) through the
adhesion or the non-development of some of them.   In the class Didy-
namia, the characters of the orders are drawn  from the structure of the
seed-vessel.   The first Gymnospermia, or naked-seeded,  includes those 
                          INTRODUCTION.                        19

 in which the ovary has four  carpels, each enclosing a single seed;  and
 this, when mature fills up the cavity in such a manner, that the wall of
 the seed-vessel appears like an outer coat to the seeds, which thus do not
 seem to have any  other envelope.   The only true naked-seeded plants
 are the Conifers or Pine tribe and its  allies, in which the seeds never
 are enclosed in a seed-vessel.   The second Order Angiospermia, includes
 those Didynamia which have a distinct seed-capsule, usually two celled,
 each cavity containing many seeds.  In the next class, Tetradynamia,
 there are also two orders, distinguished by the form of their pod-like seed-
 vessel ; the first Siliquosce, having  a long pod; the second Siliculosce a
 short one.   The Orders of the  classes  Monadelpi ia, Diadelphia,
 Polyadelphia,  depend upon the number of their stamens,  and they
 have the same names as the first thirteen classes ; the number of stamens,
 however,  being never less  than five.   The  sub-division of  the class
 Syngenesia (as  now understood) is rather complex; and it is nearly the
 same in the Natural system. The Orders of the classes Gynandria,
 Mono3CIA, and Dkecia, are distinguished by the number of stamens and
 are  consequently  Monandria, Pentandria, fyc.   Those of  the class
 Polygamia are the Monoecia, in which the same plant bears staminiferous,
 pistilline, and  complete flowers, and the Dicecia in which these occur
 on different individuals.

     NATURAL  GROUPS IN THE LINNiEAN SYSTEM.
  20. There are many of these orders which form groups truly natural;
 that is, which consist of genera having a  large  number of points of
 agreement with  each other, independently of the characters in which
 the sub-division  is founded.   For example, one portion of the class
 Pentandria, order Digynia corresponds with the Natural order Um-
 belliferce, (including the parsley, carrot, hemlock, parsnip, &c.;) the class
 Triandria, order  Digynia, very nearly corresponds with the natural
 group of grasses, all these having three stamens and two styles, which
 combination is not found  in any other plants.   The Didynamia, Gym-
 nospermia, again are the same  with the Natural order Labiatce,  to
 which belong  the  various kinds of mint, thyme, dead-nettle, &c; and
 the class Tetradynamia corresponds with the Natural order Cruciferce,
 to which belong the mustard, cress,  cabbage, turnip, stock, wall-flower,
 &c.   From the  predominance of the number three and its multiples in
 the parts of the flower of Endogens, we find most of this group  in-
 cluded in  the  classes Triandria, Hexandria,  and Enneandria; whilst
the prevalence of the numbers four and five among Exogens causes
the  classes Tetrandria and Pentandria,  Octandria and Decandria, with
Icosandria  and  Polyandria, to contain a very large proportion of that
division.   But the Linnaean  system often brings together Exogens and 
20                       INTRODUCTION.
Endogens into close contact; besides breaking up the natural alliances
of each, so as to scatter widely apart the members of groups nearly united-

           IDEA OF NATURAL ARRANGEMENT.
  21. The Natural system, on the other hand aims to present an
harmonious and consistent view of the vegetable kingdom, by associating
into orders those genera which agree in the most numerous and impor-
tant characters, and which differ from others  in  the same.  A table of
the characters of these orders would therefore  resemble the table of
contents of a well-arranged book: giving at one glance to a person at
all acquainted with the subject,  an idea of the mode in which  it is
treated  by the author, and of the relations which the several  divisions
of it had in his mind; and enabling a person who is entering upon the
study of it,  to do  so  with the  knowledge that he is not gleaning at
random, as if he were reading through a Dictionary, but that every acqui-
sition he makes of an individual part, is something toward an acquaint-
ance with the plan of the whole. One more illustration may set this matter
in a still clearer light.  The reader may be requested to consider this
series of treatises as completed according to the original plan; and as
consisting of a number of volumes,  each devoted  to some particular
science, but all having a certain degree of connexion with each other.
Each volume consists of a series of chapters, in which the sub-divisions
of these sciences are respectively treated of, and among which there is
a still closer degree of  connexion.  Every  chapter again, is mafQe up
of a number of paragraphs, each  intended to contain one or more im-
portant  facts, the knowledge of which is in itself useful, but which can
only be fully understood  when read continuously  with  the preceding
and following paragraphs.  We  shall further suppose that the subject
of every paragraph could  be concisely expressed by  a single word.
Now we will imagine these paragraphs all printed  on separate slips of
paper, with their  appropriate titles to be given to a  man of  science,
with a  request that he would arrange them for publication.  His  first
idea might perhaps be,  to  place  them in alphabetical order,  so  as to
form a kind of Dictionary;  this being the most easy method of fulfilling
his  task, and also  having  the  advantage when complete, of admitting
very easy  reference to any required subject.   But what idea would the
reader of such a volume gain of the plan which the original author had
in his mind 1  Or what connected and harmonious scheme of knowledge
could he frame from them, unless he digested and arranged them in his
own mind, in the manner in which we shall suppose our man of science
to proceed  to do ?  He  might  commence in two ways:—either by
separating the whole into heaps, according to the subjects to which
they respectively  refer, e.g.  Mechanics,  Chemistry, Geology, Botany, 
                          INTRODUCTION.                       21

Zoology, &c, and then arranging these singly; or by  endeavoring to
join the separate paragraphs together, according to their obvious con-
nection.  He will probably find a combination of these  two methods
the most advantageous;  and by a careful  examination  of each single
paragraph in its relations to  the whole, he may at last succeed in pro-
ducing a series of connected treatises, methodically arranged according
to their respective subjects, and regularly divided into chapters very
nearly or even exactly upon the plan of the original author.  Now the
alphabetical arrangement would bear a close parallel with the Linnaean
system  of Botanical classification;  whilst  the latter distribution,—the
one evidently  most calculated  to convey  to  the learner a connected
rather than a desultory knowledge of the several  objects of his pursuit
may not unaptly represent the Natural system.

              VALUE  OF A  NATURAL SYSTEM.
   22. It is by seeking for the latter  only, that any of those general
principles can ever be attained, which give their chief value to the facts
of science, and which lead us higher and higher in the contemplation of
that almighty Power and boundless Wisdom by which the Universe was
framed; for the Natural system would be but a table of contents of the
vegetable Kingdom, arranged on the plan of its divine Author.  In or-
der to attain it, the Botanist requires  to become  acquainted, not only
with all the tribes of vegetables at present existing on the surface of the
globe, but with the forms and  characters of those which have once ex-
isted, since—it cannot be doubted—all these constituted parts of the one
general scheme, without the knowledge of which it would be impossible
to reconstruct it.   Now  it is well known  to the  Botanist, that a very
large number  of the species of plants with which he is somewhat ac-
quainted, have been so imperfectly examined  and described, that their
true place in the system cannot be determined; and there is  good rea-
son to believe that there are many more of which he is totally ignorant.
Here therefore are abundant causes for the imperfection of any natural
system which can be at present framed ; and should these ever be re-
moved by long continued labor and research, there will  yet remain the
other causes resulting from the impossibility of becoming fully acquaint-
ed with the characters of the races which have existed in former periods
of the earth's history, and  which have been swept completely from its
face.  Of these, some remains are occasionally discovered, sufficiently
perfect to excite the liveliest interest and curiosity, by showing that races
once  flourished which fill up many of the  wide gaps existing between
those  with whose characters we are now familiar, and which if we  knew
more  of them, would explain many things that are at present most per-
plexing. 
22
INTRODUCTION.
               LINN^AN NATURAL SYSTEM.
  23. Some of the strongest upholders of the Linnaean system are influ-
enced by their veneration for its Author; whose fame, however will rest
on a foundation much more durable than this.  It is not generally known
that the advantages of the Natural method have never been more highly
appreciated than they were by Linnaeus himself.  When he framed an
artificial system for the convenient arrangement of plants, it was  with
the very purpose for which the temporary employment of it has been now
recommended,—namely to facilitate that acquaintance with the vegetable
Kingdom, which must be gained before a Natural method can be framed.
Linnaeus himself gave  a sketch of the Natural system, explaining the
principles upon which it might be expected to rest, and he pronounced
the investigation of the natural affinities to be the  great object of his
studies, and the most important part of the science.  He considered the
artificial system as a temporary expedient which however necessary at
that  day, would inevitably give place to the system of nature, so soon as
its fundamental principles should be discovered.  The elucidation of the
latter, he said is the first and ultimate aim  of Botanists; to this end the
labor of the  greatest Botanists should be  diligently directed; and the
merest  fragments of this system should be carefully studied. Though
not then fully discovered, he spoke of the  pursuit of it as held in  high
estimation by the wisest Botanists, and as being little encouraged by the
less learned.  " For a long time," he adds, " I have labored to establish it;
I have made many discoveries, but have not been able to perfect it; yet
while I live I shall continue to labor for  its completion.  In the mean
time I have published what I have been able to discover;  and whosoever
shall resolve the few  plants which still remain shall be  my Magnus
Apollo.   Those are the greatest Botanists  who are able to correct, aug-
ment, and perfect this method: which those who are unqualified should
not attempt."  Those therefore who priding themselves upon their being
disciples of Linnaeus continue to employ his temporary and artificial sys-
tem of  classification, to the  exclusion of one founded upon Natural prin-
ciples, imagining that they are upheld by his authority, quite mistake the
views of their great master, and sadly misrepresent his opinions.
   24.  The knowledge of the vegetable kingdom obtained by Linnaeus,
however, was far too small in amount, to enable him to frame a Natural
system upon sound principles.   The number of species  known to him
was probably not an eighth part of those with which Botanists are now
acquainted;  and no arrangement, therefore, could be  formed, which
was not marked by many wide and unsightly gaps.   Further, so little
was at that time known of the internal arrangement of the organs of
plants,  that even the distinction between the two principal forms of struc-
ture in the  stem,—evident and well marked as it now appears,—was 
                          INTRODUCTION.                        23

not then understood.   Nevertheless, with that sagacity which so remark.
ably characterized him, Linnaeus succeeded in grouping together genera
into orders, which are even now regarded as, for the most part, very
natural assemblages; that is, as containing plants really  allied  to each
other in their most important characters, and  differing from those of other
orders in the same.  But of the best mode of arranging these orders he
was necessarily ignorant, since the most important characters were not
then understood.   The  great progress which  has been made since his
time, in the structural and physiological departments of Botanical science,
has done much to place classification on a more certain basis; yet there is
still much wanting before Botanists shall be generally agreed on the prin-
ciples which shall regulate the division and subdivision of the vegetable
kingdom.   In the following  outline, it has  been deemed advisable to
adopt the classification of De Candolle, being  the one which is most in
use at the present time; and the principles upon which it is founded
will therefore now be explained.

      PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL ARRANGEMENT.
   25. It may be remarked, however, in  the first place, as a principle
common to all systems of classification which profess to be natural, that
the  different values  which  are attached  to  the  various characters
furnished by the  several  organs of  plants should be estimated by the
degree  in which they  respectively indicate important similarities or
differences of general conformation.   It often  happens that attention  to
one or two characters may afford a  considerable amount  of knowledge
of  the whole; because those characters are  found to be inseparably
connected with others.  An instance of this has been  already given  in
regard to the primary division between Exogens and Endogens (§ 6 ;)
and it may be useful to illustrate it further by reference to the animal
kingdom.  If, for example, we meet with  an  animal covered with
feathers, we at once know a great  deal  of its internal structure and
economy.  It is a vertebrated animal, possessing a jointed back bone and
complete  internal skeleton:  it has all five  senses,  its blood is red, it
breathes air, its temperature is high, its young are produced from eggs,
it walks upon two legs, &c.   Here  we are at once informed that this
unknown animal  possesses  all the  characters  peculiar to the  class  of
birds ; since no other animals than birds possess a covering of feathers,
which is inseparably connected with the whole plan of their structure
and economy.  In the same manner  the classification of the Mammalia,
(Quadrupeds) according to their teeth,  proposed by Linnaeus, proves
to  be  a  very natural one,  although founded upon a single set  of
characters;  because the form and number of  the teeth vary  with the
nature of the food on which the animal is intended to live; and to make 
24                        INTRODUCTION.
use of this, a certain form of digestive apparatus is adapted;  as well as
a certain kind of general structure, furnishing the instruments by which
the food is obtained:  so that these may  be  known to  a great extent
from the inspection of the  teeth alone..  In  like manner, the Botanist,
whilst founding his arrangement upon the whole group of characters
which each plant exhibits,  endeavors to  select those, as marks for  dis-
tinguishing the several  divisions, which are at once easily recognized,
and which serve as the best  key (so to speak) to those which  are seated
within.   Such characters are natural, then, in proportion as they indicate
general  conformity or difference of structure;  thus the  distribution of
the veins of the leaves,—a character easily recognized,—will  in general
serve to distinguish  Exogens  and Dicotyledons from  Endogens  and
Monocotyledons ; and it is therefore  a very natural character, serving
as a key to all those which are indicated by these terms.   On the other
hand, the number of stamens and pistils in a flower is a purely artificial
character, since it gives no  further certain information  of the  general
structure of the plant.
   26. Another general principle of Natural classification must next be
pointed out.  When a number of Plants or Animals are associated, on
account of their general resemblance to each other, into a Natural group,
it will be found that the characters in which they agree, are presented by
some members of the group much more prominently than by others;  and
that in  some they are occasionally so much wanting,  that  these  can
scarcely be regarded  as connected with the rest;  yet they would  not
seem to be more  easily included in any other  groups.   Now, those
members of a natural group which most strikingly present a union of all
the characters by which it is  distinguished, are spoken of as its types ;
and those in which these characters are less obvious are termed aberrant
members of the group.  It is by these, in fact, that natural groups are
connected  with one another ;  for it will generally be found that in the
aberrant members of one  group, its  characters become (as it were)
gradually shaded off, until they almost blend with those of the next.  To
revert to an illustration; where the countries occupied by  two  nations
are not  separated by any  marked natural boundary,  (as a broad river
or high chain of mountains,) the peculiar characters of these nations,
which may be regarded as  most strongly exhibited in their  respective
chief towns become gradually blended towards the border where they
meet, so that the transition from one to the  other is by no means so
abrupt,  as if the traveller were conveyed at once from the metropolis of
each to  that of the other.  Every natural group then, may be regarded
as a sphere, surrounded by other spheres—each  representing another
group,—which touch it at certain points, the type of each will occupy
its centre, and the aberrant  members will be disposed  in various posi- 
                           INTRODUCTION.                       g5

 tions around it, in proportion as they lose its peculiar characters and
 approach other groups.  For example, the group of Lizards is  inter-
 mediate between that  of Serpents and that of Tortoises.  There are
 some Lizards in which the body and tail are greatly lengthened, whilst
 the legs are shortened, so that the form of the Snake is  approached;
 and in the common  Slow-worm or Blind-worm, the external form is
 completely  that of a snake, whilst beneath the skin two pairs of small
 though perfectly formed legs may be found on careful examination.
 This, then,  is  an aberrant form, situated just on the border of both
 groups, and scarcely having a certain claim to  a place in either.  On
 the other side, the Lizards are connected with the Tortoises by a species
 commonly known under the name of the Allegator-Tortoise, or Snap-
 ping-Turtle, which may be considered as a  Tortoise with a long Lizard-
 like neck, legs, and tail, or, as a Lizard with a Turtle-shell on its back.
 The Lizards are connected, again, with Birds (to which  they would not
 seem to have the slightest possible relation,) by means of a very curious
 animal not now existing, which had the general structure of the Lizards;
 but which had the fore-legs converted into wings like those of a bird;
 and which seems  to have been covered with  something intermediate
 between scales and feathers.  Many similar instances will present them-
 selves in the study of the vegetable kingdom.
   27. Hence when it is stated that a Plant or Animal belongs to a par-
 ticular group, it is by no means necessarily  implied that it  possesses all
 the characters which are considered as marking that group.  Thus,—to
 revert to an instance just now employed in illustration,—the structure of
 the feathers, which are generally so characteristic of the class of Birds,
 is greatly modified in some of the species  which approach nearest to
 other groups; in £he Emu, for example ( one of the Ostrich tribe) the
 feathers are little else than stiff branching hairs; and in the  Penguin,
 those covering the fin-like wings resemble scales.  So, again, in the first
 natural group of plants,—the Ranunculus or Crow-foot tribe,—there are
 some species which have the parts of lue flower arranged in threes as in
 Eudogens; yet they are aot really such, tor :heir .-tfe/o are Exogenous,
 the veining of their leaves is netted, and thsir embryo )*■• dicotyledonous.
Again the common ArummacuJatum (Oucko ,v-prnt) hs& reticulated leaves;
but it is not an Exogen, because its stem is Endogenous, and its embryo
monocotyledonous.   And the pond-weed (Potamogeton) has the parts of
its flowers arranged in fours; yet it does not belong to Exogens, since
its leaves are parallel-veined and its embryo is monocotyledonous.
  28. In considering the several characters afforded by the varieties in
the structure of Plants, it will be convenient to follow the same order as
that which has been adopted in describing that structure.   The elemen-
tary tissues do not afford any means of distinction, except in regard  to 
26
INTRODUCTION.
the primary divisions,—the presence of spiral vessels being on the whole
characteristic of flowering Plants (which have been hence termed Vas-
culares); and their absence being nearly constant in Cryptogamia (which
have  been hence termed Cellulares.)  There are some of the inferior
Phanerogamia, however, in which no spiral vessels can be detected; and
in the Ferns which stand at the head of the Cryptogamia, modifications
of them  may be found.  However, if on examining any  portion  of
the fabric of an unknown plant, spiral vessels were  distinctly seen this
might be regarded as sufficiently indicating that the specimen belonged
to the higher of these two groups.  The peculiarity of the woody fibre
in the Coniferce and allied orders, together with the absence of the dot-
ted-ducts or special sap  vessels, is characteristic of that portion  of the
Phanerogamic division;  but excepting in this instance, no use can be
made of the varieties of the elementary tissues, in defining the subdivis-
ions of the classes of Plants.
   29.  The structure and mode of increase of the stem afford as already
stated, the means of establishing the soundest division of the Phaneroga-
mia : and the two groups of Exogens and Endogens are universally recog-
nized as natural classes. Between  these, however, there are several
connecting links,—some Exogens exhibiting in their stem no separation
into annual layers,—and some Eudogens, presenting an approach to the
Exogenous division of the kingdom.  One small order (Calycantheoz) is
known by the presence of four incomplete centres of vegetation surround-
ing the principal one; and the Passion-flower tribe is remarkable for hav-
ing the stem almost cut into four quarters; whilst a square stem is uni-
versal in the  Dead-nettle tribe..  In some orders, such as the Cactece
 (Prickly-pear-tribe i «nd Euphorliacece (Spurge tribe), the quantity of cel-
 lular tissue usually sc  much predominates that the stems are soft and
 succulent;  but this is not always the case, some genera having stems of
 the ordinary character.  No very positive  characters can in general
 therefore, be drawn from the structure of the stem, in dividing the clas-
 ses into sub-classes and orders.   Nor do the roots afford any better guide •
 since the modifications of form of which they are susceptible are very
 few, and they are by no means constant in particular groups.  As a
 general rule, however, it may be observed that neither bulb nor rhizoma
 are found in Exogens, and that they are confined to a few orders among
 Eudogens.
    30. The leaves are subject to considerable modifications, both in posi-
 tion, form  and structure, which are very useful in classification.  The
 general differences among the leaves of Exogens, Endogens and Acro-
 gens have already been adverted to.  The relative position of the leaves,
 as whether alternate, opposite, or verticillate, is often  a very important
 character,  but in regard to  this, as well  as to other characters, it often 
                           INTRODUCTION.                       27

 Happens that it is of much greater value in some orders than it is in others.
 Thus in Lamiacece (Dead-nettles) they are uniformly opposite: so that
 no plant can  belong to the order, in which they are alternate or verti-
 cillate.   In Urticacece  (the  Nettle  tribe,) on  the  other hand, they are
 constantly  alternate ;  so that no opposite leaved plant can belong to the
 order.  In this manner the  common Dead-Netties and Stinging-Nettles
 may be  at once known from each other. But in many others, one
 arrangement is prevalent, and yet the other sometimes occurs.  The
 degree of division of the leaves, again is subject to considerable uncer-
 tainty in many orders, from causes already mentioned;  yet, in others
 notwithstanding  a constant form is  maintained;  thus,  leaves  with
 teeth or jagged edges  are never found in the  order Cinchonacece (from
 which the Peruvian bark is supplied) and they are very rare in Endogens.
 The particular characters afforded  by  the veining of leaves  are much
 more constant, than those derived from their  form;  and it is probable
 that, as they have only been recently attended to, much assistance will
 be  obtained in classification  from an increased  knowledge of them.
 A character which would not  at first sight appear of much importance,
 is afforded  by  the presence or absence of those little dots in the leaves,
 which are reservoirs of oily secretions; yet these being connected  as it
 would seem with some important differences  in tho general economy,
 are extremely characteristic of certain Natural osiers, such as  Myrtacece
 (the Myrtle tribe,) and Aurantiacea (the Orange tribe,) serving to dis-
 tinguish  all their members from those of other orders nearly allied to
 them.  In  other  orders, however, there  are  some genera with,  and
 others without these  pellucid dots. The clear or milky character of
 the juices of the leaves and stalks, indicating as it does, the absence or
 presence of certain secretions which are  characteristic  of particular
 orders, will often prove o£ much use in distinguish^ their members.
 At the base of the leaf-stalks are often found little leafy appendages
 (which are  in fact leaves, in an imperfect state  of development) termed
 stipules;  the  presence or  absence of these frequently enables  the
 Botanist to distinguish the plants of two allied orders, of which one pos-
 sesses them, whilst the other does not, and certain peculiarities in them,
 are occasionally very characteristic ©f particular groups.
   31.  Passing  on to the  flowers, we first have to notice the characters
 afforded by  the bracts; these are seldom  of any use in distinguishing
 orders, on account of their constant variation within the limits of each;
 but  they  are often  valuable in separating genera and species.  The
 calyx is used in a variety of ways to distinguish orders, but the charac-
 ters it affords  are  far  from being of equal  or uniform  importance
 throughout.   The number of sepals is sometimes a very useful  and
constant  mark  of a particular  order; thus, in Crucifer<Bx the Cabbage 
28
INTBODUCTION.
and Turnip tribe they are always four, and in Papaveracecs, the Poppy
tribe always two; but in many orders it is extremely variable.   The
equal or differing size of the sepals is another character  of- great  im-
portance in  some cases, but not to be regarded in others.  Again, the
union of the sepals by the adhesion of their edges is a character to which
great value may usually be attached; when this adhesion unites all the
sepals, the calyx is commonly said to be monosepalous (single-sepalled;)
but the term gamoscpalous, expressing the union or adhesion of the
sepals is to be preferred. A still more important character is the degree
of adhesion  of the calyx to the organs  it  includes.  Where it arises
immediately from the disk or expanded top of the flower stalk, and
where the corolla, stamens and pistil are quite distinct from  it, arising
by themselves from the disk, the calyx is said to be inferior to  the ovary,
or non-adherent to it.   But where the calyx seems to spring from the
top of the ovary or seed-vessel, instead of beneath it, it is called superior;
this conformation is due to the adhesion of the calyx to  the wall of the
ovarium, so that it forms a tube completely  enclosing it, as in the Rose,
Apple, &c.  In some plants the calyx is altogether absent;  and then the
general rule is  that the corolla is  likewise  deficient.  Such  plants  are
said to be Achlumydeous,  the essential  parts of their flowers being
destitute  of  envelope.  In the Composite,  however, which possesses
a  corolla, the calyx is present in an undeveloped form, constituting the
down ox pappus,  which surrounds the  bottom of the corolla, and is
attached to the top of the seed-vessel, as in the Dandelion.
   32. In regard to the number and regularity of the parts of the corolla,
nearly the  iame may be said  as  of the  calyx.  These characters, are
valuable in  jome instances and  not in others.   The  separation  or
adhesion of the petals, constituting what is commonly known as the
polypetalojus or monopetalous  corolla is oftcm a character of first-rate
importance.   J'till, from the cause formerly mentioned, it is liable to
some ur  ■tfabtv, and ought not on that account therefore to  be trusted
too impiicld,.  Sc letimes  no  corolla is  to be found, the  calyx  still
being present,  rac.  he plant i<? then said to be Apetalous (destitute of
petals,) cr KL- ?';.":..  v^  ...;«  (having but  one envelope).  This  is a
character, however, on vhich great reliance cannot be  placed, since
apetalous genera frequently present themselves, in orders  which usually
possess complete flowers,—an occurrence which is less common amongst
monopetalous Exogens, than among those  which have separate petals,
so that the character is of mure value in the former than in the latter.

           CHARACTERS  OF NATURAL SYSTEM.
   33. When our attention  is directed to the more essential parts of the
flowering system,—the stamens and pistil,—we meet with some char- 
INTRODUCTION.
29
acterson which more constant reliance can be  placed; but  these are
not among the most obvious, such as the inexperienced Botanist would
first attend  to.   For example, the  number of stamens is a  character
to which little  importance  can be attached; since this is  liable  to
vary extremely among the genera of almost every  order,—in many
cases  among the species of the same genus,—not unfrequently also
among individuals of the same species,—and even in  different  flowers
on the  same plant.  Yet there are particular orders, in which the num-
ber of stamens is very constant throughout, and is very characteristic of
them.  The most important characters afforded by the stamens are drawn
from their mode of origin from the lower part of the flower.  They may
arise, like the sepals and petals, from  the disk,  beneath the ovary; in
this case they are said to be Jiypogynous (designating  their origin from
beneath the j'mala part of the flower.)  But it may happen that the
sepals  and  stamens  arise together, (these  parts being opposite in a
regular flower, whilst the petals alternate with them so as not to prevent
their adhesion,)  and that they adhere for a part of their length, so that
the stamens appear to arise from the calyx, and come away with  it when
it is detached;  in this case  or when they adhere in  a similar manner to
the petals,  they are said to be perigynous, having their origin  around
the female  organ.  Lastly, when the calyx embraces the ovarium, it also
closely envelopes the stamens which are not freed from it except at the
top of the seed-vessel; in this case, the stamens, appearing to arise from
the top of the ovarium are said to be epigynous,  being seated upon the
female organ.   Peculiarities • in the  mode  in which the anthers  open to
disperse the pollen are sometimes  characteristic of particular  orders;
thus the Berberry and Laurel tribes have  anthers bursting by  valves;
and the Heaths have anthers opening by pores.  But  such peculiarities
are found in other genera, amongst orders which do not possess them,
and they must not therefore be implicitly relied on.
   34.  Of all natural characters, those furnished by the structure of the
central parts of the flower are perhaps subject to  the fewest exceptions;
yet these are not such as are the most evident to  the ordinary observer.
On the number of styles, as already stated, little reliance can be placed
for the establishment of important distinctions, but as it is less liable to
vary than is that of the  stamens, it may often be useful in the separation
of genera,   A much more  decisive  character is afforded by the degree
of adhesion among the carpels; when they remain distinct from each
other,  the ovary is said to be apocarpous (carpels apart;) and when they
are compactly united, it is termed syncarpous (carpels together.)  There
are few Natural orders in which one or other of these conditions does
not prevail, to  the  entire exclusion of the other; so that plants which
bear a strong resemblance  in  general aspect, but differ in this,  may be 
30
INTEODUCTION.
at once referred to  their proper groups.   The position of the ovary in
respect to the calyx has been  already adverted  to;  this character is
generally expressed by the terms inferior or  superior ovary.   The
presence or absence of partitions in the ovaries is a very important dis-
tinction.  An ovary may be one-celled, because it consists of but a single
carpel; or being syncarpous, if may contain an  undivided cavity, from
the obliteration of the partitions,  or dissepiments,  originally formed by
the walls of the several adhering carpels.   In this  case the attachment
of the ovules, or placenta, is either central, the ovules being clustered
around a central column, or parietal,  where they are attached to the
outer wall.  Varieties  of structure of this  nature are very important in
distinguishing orders.  A peculiar enlargement of the receptacle which
sometimes expands  between the bases  of  the carpels so  as to separate
them more or less completely as m the Strawberry, is often very char-
acteristic  of particular orders.  The ripened ovary  or fruit exhibits
numerous and remarkable differences in its form, substance, and mode
of dehiscence (or its manner of bursting when ripe;) but these do not
usually receive much attention from Botanists; since although there are
a few orders which  are charicterized by a  particular kind of fruit, most
others present numerous varieties among their different genera.
   35. Many valuable characters are drawn from the  seed, both in its
early and mature conditions.   The  number of ovules—that is  to say,
whether they  are  definite or  indefinite,—is frequently an important
difference; still in some orders, there are  genera nearly alKed, in one
of which  the number is definite, whilst  it is indefinite in the  other.
The position of the  ovules is more essential  than their number;—the chief
distinctions  are between those which, rising  upright  from the base
of the cavity, are termed erect; and those, which hanging from its top,
are called pendulous.  Between these two conditions, however, there are
other intermediate ones.  Such a difference in the position of the ovules
often serves to  mark a distinct line of separation between the plants  of
two groups  that are otherwise nearly allied.   In the perfect seed, the
number of cotyledons is a character of primary importance,  for distin-
guishing the two great classes of Phanerogamia, as already several times
stated.  Even this,  however, is subject to occasional exceptions, for
there are  Endogenous plants with two cotyledons  and some  Exogens
with only one or even none, whilst again,  some Exogens have several.
As a means of distinguishing  orders  the presence or  absence of a
separate albumen is a character of great value, especially when the
embryo bears a very small proportion to  it in amount.  Where, how-
ever the embryo and albumen are nearly equal in size, the character is
of less importance;  so that it is  not  uncommon  to meet, in the same
genera, of which the embryo alone fills the seed,  and with others  in 
                          INTRODUCTION.                        31

which  a part is occupied by albumen;  whilst in the orders especially
characterized by it, there is probably not a single  genus in  which
it  is  absent.   It  must  be  remembered that albumen exists  in  all
seeds at an  early period of their formation; and that the subsequent
difference will depend upon the degree  in which it is absorbed  by the
embryo.
   36. The student who has given attention to the preceding statements,
is  not unlikely  to feel some perplexity, on account of the constant un-
certainty which has  been  stated to attend the  value of  the  several
characters that have been enumerated.  But as he proceeds further, he
will find that this uncertainty is greater in  appearance  than in reality;
and that it necessarily results from the properties of  a Natural  group,
as already described.   In dividing the vegetable kingdom in an artificial
method, it seems very easy to lay down a small number of characters as
the standard; and to bring together, or to separate plants, according to
their conformity or variety in these.  But, as has been already shown,
when we come to apply this plan, numerous difficulties are met with,
in consequence of the differences  which are of constant  occurrence,
among plants belonging  to the same genus or even to the same species
(§ 9;) so that even here  the Botanist must be guided by general resem-
blance.  Now, although  it is quite true that no single characters, when
traced throughout the vegetable scale, can be relied on, as indicating the
natural affinities of plants, yet experienced Botanists have little difficulty
in defining each order, by a certain  combination of characters, which are
peculiar to it, and not unfrequently, the plants belonging to one order
may be separated from those of all other groups,  by some evident and
well-marked peculiarity,

             DE CANDOLLE'S CLASSIFICATION.
   37. On the foregoing principles, the class of Exogens is divided by
De Candolle in the following manner:—
   The first group consists  of those, of which the flowers possess both
calyx and corolla, and in which the petals of the  latter are distinct, and
which are therefore Polypetalous.   This group is divided into two sub-
classes, according to  the mode of insertion of the stamens.
   Sub-class I. Thalamijlorce.  Polypetalous Exogens, in  which  the
 stamens arise from the disk,—that is, are hypogynous.  Sometimes the
 stamens adhere slightly to  the sides of the ovary, but they are never
 epigynous, nor perigynous. (§ 32.)
   Sub-class II.  Calyciflorce.   Polypetalous Exogens  in  which  the
 stamens arise from the calyx or corolla,—that is, are perigynous.
   In  the next sub-class, the  flowers still  possessing both calyx and
 corolla, have the latter formed of united petals,  or are Monopetalous. 
32
INTRODUCTION.
In this division the position of the stamens is not regarded as a primary
character.
  Sub-class III. CoroUifloroz.   Monopetalous Exogens.
  In the lowest group, the corolla is always absent, making the flower
Apetalous; and  the calyx is not uniformly present.  This character
is  regarded as sufficiently marking the group.
  Sub-class IV. Monochlamydeoz.  Apetalous Exogens.
  The  object of this classification is  to  proceed from what are con-
sidered the most perfectly organized Exogens, to those which are least
so.  Thus all  the  parts  are present  and distinct from  each other in
Thalamifloros; other things remaining the  same, the stamens  adhere
to the perianth in Calyciflorce; the petals join together in CoroUifloroz;
and in Monochlamydeoz first the  corolla disappears, and then, among the
most imperfect orders the calyx ceases to be developed,
  38.  The class of Endogens  is not divided by De Candolle into any
Sub-classes.  It will, however, be convenient to consider their orders as
characterized  by  the completeness or incompleteness of their flowers.
The  Complete Endogens may be again sub-divided into those with a
superior, and those with an inferior ovarium.  The orders having Incom-
plete flowers,  are  separated  into those in which a cluster of flowers is
inclosed in a single large bract, termed a Spathe, which is frequently
colored (as in the Arum tribe;)  and those in which the perianth of each
flower is replaced by scale-like bracts,  as in the Grasses. 
 
» 
f 
   "H? 49-







M":-.iy.Apj>l'' 
 
,M
■■x

if ^jy^Lf *-*- —-
MuyA]q>1f' 
       i   FAMILY   FLORA.


            BERBEEIDACE-Jl;

      The  Mer berry   Tribe.

                        N°- 49.

           PODOPHYLLUM:  PELTATUM.

 May apple.  Wild mandrake, Wild lemon,  Duck's-foot,  Sec.

     P/ace—United States.
     Quality—Insipid.
     Power—Cathartic, narcotic.
     Use—Biiious and intermittent fevers.

                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

    Natural Order.  Rhceadese—L.   Papaveraceae-^J.
                  Podophyllese—Lind.
      Class XIII. Polyandria.  Order Monogynia.
  Lin. Sp. PL 722. Willd. Sp. PL ii. 1141.  Bige'ow, Med Bot. i. 35. Barton,
'Veg. Mat. Med. ii. 9. Kaf. Med. Flor. ii. 59.  T. & G. Flur. i. 54.  Griff Med.
 Bot. 115.

               Genus. PODOPHYLLUM.
  From the Greek pous, foot, and- pmullon, leaf, in allusion  to the long firm peti.
. oles on which the leaves  are placed, resembling the  webbed feet of aquatic birds.
  Synonymes.—Entenfuss (Ger.), Endenpoot, (Dutch).

               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Sepals three—four—six, imbricate in two rows, often
     reinforced by petaloid scales.
Coralla.  Hypogynous.  Petals one to three times as many as
    the sepals,  and opposite to them. 
PODOPHYLLUM PELTATUM.
Stamens.  As many or twice as many as the petals, and opposite! g
     them.  Anthers generally opening by recurved valves, extrorse.
Ovary.   One-celled, solitary, simple.  Style often lateral.  Stig-
     ma often lateral or peltate.
Fruit.   Berried or capsular.
Seeds.   One or few, attached to the bottom of the cell, or many,
     attached to lateral placentae.

                THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.
   Podophyllum.   Calyx of  three sepals,  caducous.   Corolla
six—nine-petalled.  Stamens  numerous, with linear anthers. Ber-
ry one-celled, crowned with the single stigma.
   Calyx three.leaved, minute.  Corol five-to-nine-petalled.  Stigma large, crenate,
sessile.  Berry one-celled, crowned  with the stigma, large, many.seeded.  Colu-
mella, one-sided.
                 THE  SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.
   Podophyllum Peltatum.   Leaves  peltate, lobed.  Flowers
one.  Stem round, sheathed at base, erect, dividing into two round
leaf stalks,  between which grows the flower.
   Stem terminated with two peltate  polinate leaves.  Flowers single,  inserted in
 the fork formed by the petioles of the leaves. Sometimes the plant is three.leaved
 and sometimes the flower is inserted on the side  of one of the petioles.

                THE ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

   Class  Polyandria.   Stamens twenty or more arising from the
receptacle (hypogynous).   Order  Monogynia.  Ovary  simple.
 Calyx three-sepalled.  Leaves often peltate.  Flower solitary.

                    NATURAL HISTORY.

   The May apple is  among our more curious  and interesting
 plants.  It is indigenous,  herbaceous, and the only species belonging
 to the genus.   The plant is extensively diffused  throughout the
 United States, and  especially common  in western  New York.  It
 is however «very where  found  in  abundance,  on  congenial  soils,
 from the  state of Maine to the Mexican gulf, and from the Atlantic
 seacoast to  the Oregon mountains.   It  grows luxuriantly in moist
 shady woods, and in low marshy grounds.  It is propagated by its
 creeping  root and is often found in large patches.  The flowers ap-
 pear about the end of May and beginning of June,  and the fruit
 lipens in the  latter  part of September,  at which  time the leaves
 wither and fall off   The fruit is edible, and though very agreeable 
PODOPHYLLUM PELTATUM
 fto some persons, it is to others extremely unpleasant.   The leaves
  are  poisonous, and  its medical  virtues are wholly confined to  the
  root, which is said to be most efficient when collected after the fall-
  ing  of the leaves.  It  resembles  in taste and  even appearance the
  fruit of the Passiflora edulht of the West Indies.
    The root (rhizoma)  of the Podophyllum  Peltatum is peren-
  nial, creeping, usually several feet in  length,  about one quarter of
  an inch thick, of a brown color externally, smooth jointed and fur-
  nished with radicles at the joints.  The stem is about a  foot high,
  round,  sheathed at base,  erect, dividing into two round leaf-stalks,
  between which grows the flower.   Each petiole bears a large smooth
  peltate  palmate leaf, deeply divided into five—seven  lobes,  which
  are each two-parted and dentate at the end.  They are often peltate
  but generally separate at base quite to  the  petiole.  The  flower is
  stalked,  drooping or nodding, while with a three-leaved,  caducous
  calyx, which is oval, obtuse,  concave  and  deciduous.  The corolla
  is of about six petals, often more, which are obovate, concave, white,
  fragrant and curiously reticulated with veins.  The  stamens are
 -from thirteen to twenty, shorter than the petals, with oblong yellow
  anthers of twice the length of the  filaments.  The stigma is sessile,
 and  rendered  irregular on its surface by numerous folds or convolu-
  tions.  The fruit is about the size of a plum, crowned with the per-
 sistent stigma, and containing a  sweetish fleshy pulp, in which
  about twelve ovate seeds are imbedded.  It  ripens early, and when
 •ripe  it is of a yellowish color, diversified by round brownish spots.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

   Podophyllum has been examined by several eminent Chemists,
 with a view to determine its constituents,  and it has been  found to
 contain resin, starch, and a  peculiar vegetable substance crystalli-
 zable in  white silky tufts.  There has also  been obtained  from it a
 peculiar principle to which the name of Podopkyllin has been giv-
 en.   It is in pale brown shining scales,  unalterable in the air, very
 sparingly soluble in cold water, much more soluble  in boiling water,
 soluble also in ether, and freely so in boiling alcohol.  It has neither
 acid  nor alkaline  properties.   Nitric acid  dissolves it with efferves-
 cence, producing a rich, deep red color.  Its  taste at first is not very
 decided in consequence of its sparing solubility, but becomes at length
 very  bitter and  permanent,  and  its alcoholic solution is intensely
-bitter.  It may be obtained  by boiling  the root with quick-lime  in
iwater, straining  the decoction, precipitating the lime with  sulphate 
PODOPHYLLUM PELTATUM.
rtff zinc, evaporating;the clear solution to the consistence of an ex-
 tract,  treating this with cold  alcohol of 0.817, filtering and evapo-
 rating the-alcoholic solution and  treating the residue with  boiling
 distilled water which deposits  the bitter principle on cooling.
   The dried root is in pieces about two lines in thickness, with swell-
 ing, broad, flattened joints at  short intervals.  It is much wrinkled
 lengthwise, is yellowish or reddish brown externally and furnished
 with fibres of a similar but somewhat paler color.   The  fracture  is
 short and irregular and the internal -color is whitish.  The  powder
 is light yellowish-grey, resembling that of jalap.   The  root in its
 aggregate state is nearly inodorous, but in powder has a sweetish and
 not unpleasant smell.  The taste is at first sweetish, afterwards bitter,
 muceons and slightly acrid.   The decoction and tincture are bitter.
   The Podophyllum Peltatum is  always considered an active
 and certain cathartic,  producing  copious  liquid discharges without
 much griping or other unpleasant effects.  It has a peculiar effect
 upon all the secretions and excretions, stimulating them to a healthy
 action, and often answers the purpose of removing obstructions with-
 out any bad effects whatever.  In  some cases it has given rise to
 nausea and even vomiting, but the same result is occasionally ex-
 perienced from every active cathartic.  In its action upon  the bowels
 its operation resembles that of jalap,  but it is rather slower and by
 some  it is  supposed to be more drastic.  It extends its influence
 through every part of the system, touching every gland when given
 in small doses and repeated every two  or three hours, while large
 doses evacuate and exhaust the system.
   The cases to  which May apple is particularly adapted are of an
 inflammatory character,  especially at  the  commencement where
 brisk  purging is required,  it is very highly spoken of by many
 eminent writers, who have tested its efficacy, and  they recommend
 its employment in bilious fever and hepatic congestions.  For these
 purposes it has been much used in various parts of the country and
 with the most happy effects.  In  dropsical affections, and in rheu-
 matic and scrofulous  complaints the supertartrate of potassa is  a
 useful addition, by which the  action of both is reciprocally improved.
 It is employed as a vermifuge in  tea spoonful doses, and repeated.
   Some Physicians and Practitioners recommend the powdered  root
 as an escharotic to cleanse foul and ill-conditioned ulcers and  dispose
 them to heal and  to promote  the exfoliation or removal of carious
 or rotten bones.  The  powder should be sprinkled on the affected
 part once in from  two to five days.  It is also said to destroy proud
 flesh without any injury to the sound parte. 
I 
          N° f> 0
UlAJPUQOl  ■■MLBQSnHTHrJBTTTTMI
       Mezereon. 
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i
 
              THYIELACEJ.

                 Jfaphmai&s.

                         N°- 50.

               DAPHNE  MSZE1E5JM.

                 Mezereon.  Spurge olive.

     Place—Europe.
     Quality—Acrid.
     Power—Stimulant, diaphoretic.
     Use—Chronic cutaneous diseases, rheumatism.

                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

     Natural  Order.  Vepreculee—L.   Thymeleae—J.
       Class  VIII.  Octandria,   Order Monogynia.

  Linn. Sp: PL 509.  Willd. Sp. PL ii. 415.  Griff. Flor. Med. 560.  Lind. Flor.
 Med. 324.

                     Genus.  DAPHNE.

  The Greek name  of the Laurel, for the nymph  Daphne, who it is said was
 changed into a laurel, which some species of this genus resembles.
  Synonymes.—Laureole gentille (F .), Kellerkals (Ger.), Laureola femina (/.),
 Pepperbompje (Dutch), Tibast (Swed.), Kielderhals (Dan.), Wyleze lyko  (Pol.),
 Mezeraon (Span.), Mezerao (Port.)

                THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

 Calyx.   Free, tubular, colored, limb four (rarely five)-cleft, im-
     bricated in aestivation.
Stamens.   Definite, inserted  into the calyx and opposite  to its
     lobes  when equal to them in number, often twice as many.
Ovary.   Solitary, with one  ovule.  Style one.  Stigma  undi-
     vided.
Fruit.  Hard, dry, drupaceous.  Albumen wanting or thin. 
DAPHNE MEZEREUM.
                THE SECONDARY  CHARACTERS.

  Daphne.   Calyx four-cleft, marescent.  Limb spreading.  Sta-
mens eight, included in calyx tube.   Style one.  Drupe one-seeded.
  Calyx wanting.  Qorol four-cleft,  withering, including the stamens.  Drupe
one.seeded.                                    »
                 'SHE  SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Daphne Mezereum.  Leaves  deciduous, lanceolate,  in termi-
nal tufts,  entire,  sessile.  Flowers  sessile, about three from  each
lateral bud.  Calyx hypOcrateriform.  Segments ovate, spreading.
Stamens inserted in two rows near  the top of the tube. Filament
very short.   Stigma sessile.
  Flowers sessile, cauline, in .-threes. Leaves lanceolate.

                THE ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

  Class  Octandria.  Stamens   eight.   Order  Monogynia.
Apetalous.   Ovary superior.  Fruit a one-seeded drupe.   Shrubs
With a very tenacious bark,  alternate or opposite.  Leaves entire,
Flowers perfect.
                    NATURAL HISTORY.

  Mezereon grows wild  in England and  in  many parts of the
North  of Europe, but for medical use and as an ornamental shrub
it is cultivated in  gardens.   It is mentioned by Linnaeus as a cha*
racteristic of the genus, to which the plant under consideration be-
longs,  that the terminating buds of  the shoots produce leaves, and
the lateral  ones flowers.  This affords a hint  to the cultivator to be
sparing of his- knife.  It flowers very early in the season, before the
appearance of the leaves.  It is an old inhabitant of the shrubbery,
and deservedly much admired for its precocity  and fragrance.  It
thrives well in loamy soil and will grow in the shade and even un-
der the drip of other trees.  It is a native of all parts of Europe  from
Lapland to Sicily, but was first received from  Elbing  before it was
observed to be a  native.  The roots  of Mezereon are large in pro-
portion'to the branches,  and  have more the character of the fusiform
or ramose roots of a herbaceous than of a ligneous veo-etable.
  The plant is hardy, seldom exceeding four feet in height, with a
strong, woody, branching stem covered with a smooth grey cuticle
and  a tough fibrous inner bark.  The root is of a  fibrous  texture
pale colored, with a smooth olive colored bark.  The leaves whicb 
DAPHNE MEZEREUM,
 are protruded from the extremities of the branches are tender, pak
 green, deciduous, lanceolate, sessile, entire and smooth.  The flow-
 ers are of a pale rose-color, odorous,  surrounding the twigs in clus-
 ters, below where the leaves are sent off, they are sessile, two, three
 and  four clustered, with deciduous bracts at the base of each cluster,
 monopetalous, tubular, and the lip divided into four ovate spreading
 segments.   The stamens are  alternately shorter, the  four  higher
 ones displaying their colored anthers  at the mouth of the tube. The
 germen is oval, supporting a flattish stigma on  a very short style.
 The fruit is a red p.ulpy drupe, containing one round seed.
   There  are several varieties of this genus with different colored
 flowers and fruit,  pink colored in one variety, red-in another, white
 in a  third clothing nearly the whole plant.

  CHEMICAL  AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES  AND  USES,

   The inner bark  of every part of this plant when fresh,  is very.  *
 acrid, capable of producing inflammation, vesication,  and  a dis-
 charge of serum when  applied to the skin, and  when  chewed ex-
 cites  a considerable heat of the mouth and fauces which continues
 for many  hours afterwards.  The fruit is equally acrid, acting as a
 corrosive poison, not only to man, but to many quadrupeds, if eaten
 in large quantities.
   For medical purposes,  the bark of  the root is directed to be used.
 The  roots are dug up in  the  autumn, after the leaves are  fallen.
 The  cuticle of the dried root is corrugated and of a brown color, the
 inner bark has a white cotton-like appearance.  As they are import-
 ed  from Germany and found in the stores, they are derived from the
 stein  and branches, and are long strips folded in bundles of a gray-
 ish or reddish brown  color externally,  under which on the removal
 of the epidermis it is greenish, and  internally white and fibrous.
 The  taste is at first somewhat sweetish, but soon becomes very acrid
 and unpleasant: in a fresh state the  smell  is nauseous, but when
 dried it is inodorous, although  it retains its  acrimony.   The topical
 action of  Mezereon bark is that of an irritant,  and when the bark
 has been applied to the skin vesicant.   It has been recommended as
 a popular application  for the tooth-ache.
  From the result of the chemical analysis of  the Daphne Meze-
 reum,  by several eminent chemists,  it appears to contain an acrid
resin  and  a peculiar crystalline  principle discovered by \ anquelin to
which he gave the name  of Daphnin.  By digesting the bark in
alcohol, then evaporating the  liquid to separate the resin and dUtfc- 
Daphne mezereum.
Eing the residual fluid  with water,  filtering and adding" acetate of
lead,  he obtained a copious yellow precipitate, which when freed
from the lead by means of sulphurated hydrogen gas he found this
vegetable principle,  sui generis.   It is  colorless and transparent,
crystallizes in aggregated  prisms, very soluble in  water, alcohol or
ether, is inodorous and of an acrid taste.  It is considered analogous
to asparagin, and that when pure it has very slight powers.  It is
not the active principle of  Mezereon.
   The acrid resin is obtained by boiling the bark in alcohol: when
the solution cools some wax is  deposited.  The supernatant liquor
is  to be  evaporated, and  the residual extract washed with water.
The resin then left behind is dark green, and soluble in both alcohol
and ether.  To this substance Mezereon owes its acridity.   There is
however, some reason to suspect that this resin is itself a compound
of two  principles, viz., an acrid vesicating  fixed oil  and  another
substance.  The resin is rendered soluble in  water by  means of the
other constituents of the bark.  There are in  addition to those al-
ready enumerated wax, a  trace of volatile oil, yellow coloring prin-
ciple,  uncryslallizable  but fermentable sugar,  nitrogenous gummy
matter,  reddish-brown extractive, woody fibre,  free  malic acid  and
malates of potash, lime and magnesia.
   Daphne Mezereum operates as a stimulating  diaphoretic,  in-
creasing the general arterial action  and determining powerfully to
the surface, but it is apt to occasion vomiting and purging.  It has
long been externally employed as a stimulus to ill-conditioned ulcers,
and the recent bark macerated in vinegar and applied  to the skin is
recommended in chronic cases of a local nature ;  under certain man-
agement it  produces a serous discharge  without blistering, and is
thus rendered useful by answering the purpose of what is called a
perpetual blister, while it occasions less pain and inconvenience.  To
form the issue, the bark must be renewed every night and morning,
and afterwards once in twenty-four hours, to keep open the drain.
It  has been employed successfully as a local stimulant in a case of
difficulty of swallowing occasioned by paralysis.   Though the case
was of  three  year's  standing, the patient recovered the  power of
swallowing in about a month,  by  very  frequently chewing thin
slices of the root.  For this purpose it should be sliced  longitudinal-
ly,  as the acrimony resides in the bark only, the woody fibre being
nearly inert.   Internally a decoction  of  this bark  has been used
against  chronic rheumatism, scrofulous swellings, lepra  and some
other cutaneous diseases.
   The branches make a good yellow dye. 
 
 
 
          N"0 .M.







TJioroue?iwr»rt .Boue.s et 
\
*
or luouiar. 
*U;Vv.
***
ThoroueTrw-ort .Bones et 
                  COMPOSITE.

           The  Ulster   Tribe.

                          N<>- 51.

           EUFATOEIUM PZSBFOLIATUIII.

          Boneset.  Thorough wort,  Fever wort, &c.

     PZace—United States.
     Quality—Bitter.
     Power—Sudorific, tonic.
     Use—Dyspepsia, catarrhal affections, fevers,  &c.

                  BOTANICAL  ANALYSIS.

    Natural Order.   Composite—L.  Corymbiferse—J.
                    Eupatorinese—Lind.
  Class  XIX.  Syngenesia,   Order Polygamia JEqualis,'

  Lin. Sp. PL 1174.  Willd. Sp. PL iii. 1761.  Bigelow, Med. Bot. i. 33.  Barton,
 Veg. Mat.  Med. ii.  125.  Kaf. Med. Flor. i. 174.  T. & G. Flor. ii. 88. Griff.
 Merf. Bot. 390.

                  Genus.  EUPATORIUM.

  Named in honor of Mithridates Eupator, king of Pontus, who first used it in
 medicine.  The properties of the Asiatic and European species were made known
 by him.  Pliny.
  Synonymes.—Eupatoire perfoliee (F.), Durchwachsener Wasserdost (Oer.)

                THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Closely adherent to the ovary, the limb wanting, or mem-
    branaceous and divided into palse, bristles,  Aairs, &c,  called
    pappus.
Corolla.   Superior, consisting of five united petals, either liguate
    or tubular. 
EUPATORIUM PERFOLIATUM.
Stamens.   Five, alternate with the lobes of the corolla. Anthers
     cohering into a cylinder.
Ovary.  Inferior, one-celled,  one-ovuled.  Style two-cleft, the in-
     ner margins of the branches occupied by the stigmas.
Fruit.  An achenium, dry, indehiscent, one-seeded, crowned with
     the pappus.
  Flowers collected into a dense head (capitum), upon a common receptacle, sur.
rounded by an involucre of many bracts (scales).

                THE SECONDARY  CHARACTERS.

  Eupatorium.   Flowers all tubular.   Involucre  imbricate,  ob-
long.  Style much exserted, deeply cleft.   Receptacle naked, flat.
Pappus simple, scabrous.
  Involucre imbricated,  (rarely simple,} oblong.  Style long,  cloven half way
down.  Egiet pilose, scabrous, or rough papillose. Receptacle. naked.  Akenes
smooth and glandular, five-striate.

                 THE  SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Eupatorium  Perfoliatum.   Leaves  connate-perfoliate,  pu-
bescent.  Stem rough and hairy, round.  Involucre about twelve-
flowered.
  Leaves connate-perfoliate, oblong-serrate, rugose, downy beneath.  Stem villose.

                THE ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

  Class Syngenesia.  Stamens five, cohering by  the tips of
their anthers.  Order Polygamia tEqualis. Herbaceous plants.
Flowers or florets  collected into dense heads  (compound flowers).
Corollas monopetalous, of various  forms.

                    NATURAL HISTORY.

   The Boneset,  or as it is sometimes called Thorough wort, is  a
common well known plant of low grounds, meadows, the banks of
streams, and other moist places, growing generally in bunches,  and
abounding in almost all parts  of the United States.  It flowers from
the middled summer  to the  latter end of October, and is always
easily distinguished  by the leaves being pierced by the stem.   The
root of the plant, is  perennial,  horizontal  and crooked,  sending up
numerous  herbaceous strms,  which are  erect, round, rough  and
hairy, from one to three feet high, simple  below and trichotomously
branched  near the sum •...it, and  of a grayish-green  color.   The
character of the leaves is peculiar, and  serves to distinguish the 
                     EUPATORIUM PERFOLIATUM.

  .  species at the first glance.  They may be considered either as per-
    forated by the stem, perfoliate, or as consisting each of two leaves
    united at the base, connate.  Considered in.the latter point of view
    they are opposite and in pairs which decussate each other at regular
    distances upon the stem; in other words; the direction of each pair
    is at right  angles with that of the pair immediately above or be-
    neath it.  They are narrow in proportion to their length, broadest
    at the base  where they coalesce, gradually tapering to a point, ser-
    rate, much  wrinkled,  paler on  the  inside than the upper surface,
    and beset with whitish hairs which give them the same color as the
    stalks.   The uppermost pairs  are sessile,  not joined at the  base.
    The flowers are white, numerous, supported on  hairy peduncles in
    dense, depressed, terminal corymbs, which form a  flattened summit
    to the plant.  The calyx, which is cylindrical and composed of im-
    bricated,  lanceolate, hairy scales, encloses from  twelve to  fifteen
    tubular florets, having their border divided into five spreading  seg-
    ments.  The anthers  are five in number, black and united into a
#   tube, through which the bifid filiform style projects above the flow-
    er.  The seeds are black,  prismatic,  acute at base, on a naked re-
    ceptacle. The pappus has scabrous hairs.
      This plant appears  to have been known and held in much esti-
    mation by the Aborigines of America.  The first European settlers
    of this continent derived their knowledge of its virtues from them,
    and it became a favorite and universal remedy in domestic practice
    long before  it attracted the attention of  the profession.   It received
    the  name of Boneset  from the fact of its having been employed in
    a painful disease called break-bone fever, and  in New England it
    is called Joepye, from  an  Indian of that name who cured typhus
    with it by a copious perspiration.

     CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

      No accurate  analysis of the Eupatorium  Perfoliatum has
    been made  since  the  recent  improvements in vegetable chemistry.
    An  examination  of it some years since, by Dr. Bigelow, showed
    that the leaves and flowers abound in a bitter extractive matter, and
    which is probably the  active  principle.  It  is soluble in water and
    alcohol,  and forms copious precipitates with the raetaiic salts.  It has
    a faint agreeable odor, and a strongly bitter and somewhat peculiar
    taste.  Rafinesque speaks of a peculiar substance in it which he
    calls Eupatorine,  and says it is brown, bitter,  resiniform, soluble
    in water and alcohol, forming sulphates, nitrates, &c. 
                 EUPATORIUM PERFOLIATUM.
                                                          i
  All parts of the plant are used, but the herb only is officinal.  It
is sudorific, tonic and diaphoretic.   In large doses, emetic and ape-
rient.  It is generally found in the stores in packages put up by the
Shakers at Lebanon, N. Y. These packages contain the leaves and
flowers, and  when not deteriorated by damp are a good mode of
preparing the article.   Some difference of opinion has existed as to
which part of the  plant  is  most efficient.   From  various experi-
ments it  has been thought that the leaves were the most active, but
more extended observations have shown that the flowers and small
branches are equally useful.
  The medical properties of  Eupatorium Perfoliatum are va-
rious and important.  It is employed to fulfil a number of indica-
tions, being given as a tonic,  a diaphoretic or an emetic, as the cir-
cumstances of the case might require.  Besides these,  many other
properties have  been  attributed  to  it, and  though  it is certainly a
highly important remedy when properly administered,  it cannot be
endowed with all the remarkable and numerous powers that have
been attributed to it.
  As a tonic it is deserving of high  commendation, and is well suit-
ed to those cases of dyspepsia, general debility and wTant of tone in
the system requiring the exhibition of the  simple  bitters.  With a
view to its tonic effects it is best administered in substance or in cold
infusion,  and is a mild and agreeable bitter.  The dose of the pow-
der is twenty or thirty grains, that  of the infusion one  or two fluid
ounces frequently repeated.
  As a diaphoretic,  there is ample proof of its  powers,  particularly
in catarrhal affections and inflammatory rheumatism; given in warm
infusion so as  to produce copious perspiration or vomiting.   In the
commencement of catarrh it will frequently arrest that complaint.
In various forms of fever, particularly remittent and  typhoid  fevers,
it is highly esteemed and proved beneficial by the testimony of ma-
ny distinguished practitioners. . In yellow fever it is also said to have
been productive of very great advantage.   With a view to its dia-
phoretic  operation, the infusion  should be  administered warm, in
large draughts, and the patient remain covered in bed.
  As an  emetic it  is also well deserving of notice.  It  is given in
warm decoction, and may be employed for this purpose as a substi-
tute for the infusion of camomile.   It is considered valuable in the
early stage of autumnal fevers.   In large doses it is said to act on
the bowels, and it has long been esteemed as an efficacious remedy
in bilious colic accompanied by obstinate constipation, in the dose of
a teacupful every half hour until a cathartic effect is produced. 
 
 
 
            :n? 52





Canada Snn'keroot^v'ild Ginger 
'/'•r the.
•\ristolo'."''--
lcus vi me ovary. 
Canada Stinice root Wild Ginger 
         ABISTOLOCHIACEJ!'.

    The  Smate e-r oot  Tribe.

                         N°- 52.



  Canada Snake-root.   Wild ginger, Colts-foot, Asarabacca.

     Place—United  States.
     Quality—Slightly bitter.
     Power—Aromatic, nervine.
     Use—Asthma, whooping cough.

                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

   Natural  Order.  Sarmentaceae—L.   Aristolochiae—J.
       Class XX.  Gynandriq.   Order Decandria.

  Lin. Sp. PL 633.  Willd. Sp. PL ii. 838.  Bigelow, Med. Bot. i. 150.  Barton.
 Veg. Mat. Med. ii. 85. Raf. Med. Flor. i. 70. Griff. Med. Bot. 527.

                    Genus.   ASARUM.
  An ancient name, supposed  to have been formed* from a, private, and seira,
bandage, because it was not used in garlands, of which the ancients were so fond.
  Synonymes.—L'asaret (JF.), Die haselwurz  (Ger.), Mansoir (Dutch), Asaro (J.),,
Asaro (Sp.), Wodolei (Russ.),  Kopytriuk (Pol.)

               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Tube adherent  to the ovary.  Segments three, valvate
    in aestivation.
Stamens. Six—twelve,  epigynous, or adliering to the base of the
    short and thick styles.
Ovary.  Three—six-celled.  Stigmas  radiate, as many as the
    cells of the ovary. 
ASARUM CANADENSE.
Fruit.  Capsule or berry, three—six-celled, many-seeded.   Em-
    bryo minute in the base,  of fleshy albumen.
Seeds.  Numerous.

               THE  SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Asarum.   Calyx campanulate.   Stamens twelve, placed upon
the ovary.  Anthers adnate to the middle of the  filaments.   Style
very short.   Stigma six-rayed.   Capsule six-celled, crowned with
the calyx.
  Calyx somewhat bell-form, three or four cleft, superior.  Corol wanting.  An.
thers proceeding from the  middle of the filaments.  Stigma six-cleft. Capsule
coriaceous, six-celled,  crowned with the calyx.

                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Asarum Canadense.   Leaves  two, broad reniform.  Calyx
woolly,  deeply three-cleft,  the segments reflected.  Leaves broad,
kidney-form,  in pairs.
  Calyx woolly, deeply three-parted, divisions sub-lanceolate, reflected.

               THE  ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class Gynandria or Dodecandria.  Stamefis and style con-
solidated.   Order Decandria.   Exogens.   Herbs  or shrubs*
Flowers greenish.  Stamens six to twelve.   Stigmas radiate.

                   NATURAL! history.

  Canada Snake-root or Wild  ginger, is an indigenous small
and  acaulescent  plant,  inhabiting woods and shady  places from
Canada to Carolina  and  Missouri.   It is most abundant in hills,
valleys and rich alluvions.  It flowers from  the last of April  to the
beginning of June, and is of easy propagation and culture.
  The rpecies of  Asarum  under consideration very closely resem-
bles the Asarum Europceum, in appearance  and botanical cha-
racter.  It has  a long, creeping, jointed, fleshy,  yellowish root or
rhizoma, furnished with radicles of a similar color.   The stem is
very short, dividing, before it emerges  from the  ground,  into two
long,  round,  hairy leafstalks, each of which bears a broad kidney-
shaped  leaf,  pubescent on both surfaces,  of a rich shining light
green above, veined  and  pale or bluish beneath.  A single flower
stands in the fork of the stem, upon a hairy pendulous peduncle.
The flower is often concealed by the loose soil or decayed vegetable 
ASARUM' CANADENSE.
 matter, so that the leaves with their petioles are the only parts that
 appear above the surface of the ground.   There is no corolla.  The
 calyx  is very woolly,  and divided into three broad concave acumi-
 nate segments with the  ends reflexed, of a deep brownish  purple
 color on the inside, and of a dull purple, inclining to greenish, ex-
 ternally.   The filaments, which are twelve in number and of une-
 qual length, stand upon the germ  and rise with  a  slender point
 above  the anthers attached to them.   Near  the divisions of the ca-
 lyx are these filamentous bodies, which may be considered as necta-
 ries.   The  pistil consists of a somewhat hexagonal  germ and a
 conical grooved style  surmounted by six  revolete  stigmas.  The
 capsule is six-celledj coriaceous and crowned with the adhering ca-
 lyx, containing many small seeds.
   There  are many varieties  of the Asarum, with small  or large
 leaves rounded  or mucronate, spotted or unspotted.  The flowers
 also vary in color from greenish purple to dark blue.  The names.
 Wild ginger, Snake-root, are common to all these varieties, although
 very different in appearance,  but similar in taste, smell and proper-
 ties.   They are frequently and indiscriminately introduced into the
 bales containing the officinal drug and commingled with it.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   A chemical investigation of the root of Asarum Canadense has
 been made by Dr. Bigelow, which has been repeated by the late Mr.
 Rich'd Rushton.  They found it to contain gum, starch, resin, fatty
 matter, chlerophylle, volatile  oil, salts of lime and potassa, iron and
 lignin. The volatile oil  has  a light greenish-yellow color, a warm,
 fragrant, slightly bitterish aromatic taste.  It is soluble  in all pro-
 portions in alcohol and ether, but less perfectly in water.  From the
 close botanical analogy of the plant with the European Asarum,
 it might be supposed,  like that, to possess emetic and cathartic pro-
 perties, but at least with the  dried root or the leaves such does not
 appear to be the fact.   Where vomiting has been caused by the use
 of this plant, it is more attributable to the quantity taken than to
 the possession  of  any inherent emetic qualities, it may be supposed
 to exhibit.
   The root alone is officinal,  and is prepared  by removing during
 the summer and cleansing and drying in the shade; in this process
the radicles from their delicacy are separated.  When fresh it has a
yellowish color.  As found in the shops it is in long  more or less
contorted pieces, about the thickness of a straw or larger, the exter- 
ASARUM CANADENSE.
 nal covering  is brownish  and wrinkled, the internal substance is
 white, hard and brittle, occasionally the fragments of the radicles
 are attached.   It comes either in mass or in square packages from
 the Shakers at Lebanon, New York, when it is connected with the
 leaves and is subject to mouldiness from the partially dry state ne-
 cessary to packing by  pressure.  Its taste is  agreeably aromatic and
 slightly bitter,  the smell is aromatic.  It is by some supposed to be
 intermediate between  that of ginger and   serpentaria, by  others
 thought to  bear  a closer resemblance to that of cardamone.   The
 taste of the petioles which usually accompany the root,  is more bit-
 ter and less aromatic.
   The root is an aromatic stimulant tonic, and in  a warm  decoc-
 tion is possessed of no inconsiderable diaphoretic properties resem-
 bling the Serpentaria in its action on the system, and  may  be ad-
 vantageously used as  a substitute  for it,  but is rather more  stimu-
 lating.   In  diseases of the skin, attended with fever, in which the
 eruption is tardy or has receded,  and the grade of action is low, it
 is thought to be useful by promoting the cutaneous affection.  It has
 also been strongly recommended in intermittent fevers, and though
 itself generally inadequate to the cure of the complaint, often  proves
 serviceable as an adjunct to Peruvian bark.   With the same reme-
 dy it is frequently associated,  and with considerable advantage,  in
. the treatment of typhus diseases.
   Asarum, like all other articles of the same class, must vary  its
 effects on the animal economy with the mode of exhibition ; thus its
 sudorific power will be manifested by exhibition in warm infusion,
 and in large quantities in this form it will frequently prove emetic;
 in cold infusion or tincture, it  is cordially stimulating and tonic.
   The leaves, when  dried and  powdered,  have powerful errhine
 properties,  and make a fine stimulating cephalic snuff,  which may
 be used in all disorders of the head and eyes.   They excite irrita-
 tion and a discharge of mucus from the nasal membrane; and they
 are useful in certain affections of  the brain,  eyes, face,  mouth and
 throat, on the principle of counter-irritation : thus in paralytic affec-
 tions of the mouth and tongue, in toothache and in ophthalmia.
   The root is used by the inhabitants of many parts of  the country
 as a substitute for ginger, and for many purposes is fully equal to it.
 M. Lemery, in his Dictionnaire  Universal des Drogues Simples,
 published in 1733, alludes to its substitution for this purpose  by the
 Aborigines of America.  It also forms the basis of a spirituous drinkv
 which may be made by the infusion of the whole plant in ferment-
 ing wine or beer. 
 
 
 
  X?  53.






wake robin 
**
W-"  tWi£&.
 
^mtiMk
 
                     ARACEJL


           The  %lrmm   Tribe.


                          N°- 5 3.


                AHUM  THIPHYLLUBS.


          Dragon  root.   Wild turnip,  Wake robin.


     Place—America.

     Quality—Pungent.

     Power—Acrid, narcotic.

     Use—Cough, chronic bronchitis,  asthma, dropsy, &c.  .


                  BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


   Natural Order.  Calamariae—L.  Aroidea?—J.  Lind.

        Class XXI.  Monoecia.   Order Polyandria.

  Willd. Sp. PL iv. 480.  Bigelow, Med. Bot. i. 52.  Raf. Med. Flor. i. 66.  GrifF.
Med. Bot. 616. Per. El. Med. Bot. ii. 86.


                       Genus.   ARUM.

  Formerly Jlron,  supposed to be an ancient Egyptian word, by which the Arum
colocasia was known.  The last mentioned name is an alteration of its Arabic de-
nominative qolgas, according to Forskahl.

  Synonymes.—Le gouet (F.), Der aronswurz (Ger.), Kalfsvoet (Dutch), Aro (/.),
Yaro (Sp.), Munskesvands (Dan.)


                THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Flowers, Mostly moncecious and achlamydeous, arranged upon

     a naked or apathaceous spadix. Perianth, when present, con-

     sisting of four—six  parts.                   £
Stamens.  Definite or  indefinite, hypogynous, very short.  Anr

     thers ovate, extrorse.
Ovary.   Free, one—several celled.  Stigma sessile.

Fruit.   Berry succulent or dry. 
ARUM  TRIPHYLLUM.
Seeds.   Solitary or several, with fleshy albumen.       ,

                the secondary characters.

  Arum.   Flowers  sometimes dioecious.   Spathe  cucullate,  con-
volute at base.   Perianth none.  Spadix cylindric, naked  above,
staminate below the  middle, and pistilate at the base.   Berry  one-
celled,  many-seeded.
  Spathe cfucullate, one.leaved.  Spadix not entirely covered with the fructifica-
tion,  being more or less  naked above, with pistillate flowers beneath, and stami-
nate in the middle (sometimes a few are staminate beneath).   Berry mostly one.
seeded, generally cirrose-glandular beneath.

                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Arum Triphyllum.   Acaulescent.  Leaves trifoliate, mostly
in pair-.   Leaflets  oval,   acuminate.   Spadix clavate.  Spathe
ovate, acuminate, fiat and defiuted above.
  Sub-caulescent.   Leaves ternate.   Leaflets  ovate-acuminate, peduncled, with
the lamina? as long as the spadix.

                THE ARTIFICIAL .CHARACTERS.

  Class Monoecia. Stamens apart  from the  pistils  in different
flowers, upon  the same  plant.   Order Polyandria.   Herbs.
Endogens.  Moncocious.  Flowers incomplete on a spadix. Spathe
present.  Stamens more  tban two.  Root with a fleshy corm or
rhizoma.

                    NATURAL HISTORY.

  The Dragon root or Wake robin is a native of America,  both
North and  South,  and is  common  in all parts of the United States,
growing in damp woods, in ^vamps, along ditches, and in other
moist [shady places.  There are three varieties of this species of
Arum, distinguished by the color of the spathe.  One variety, vi-
rens, has a green spathe.  Another, atropurpureum,  has a  dark
purple spathe.  And the other,  album,  has a white spathe.
  This plant has a perennial root or cormus, which early in the
spring sends up  a large, ovate,  acuminate, variously colored spathe,
convoluted a(gbottom, flattened and bent over at top like a hood,
and  supported by an erect, round, green or purplish scape.   The
scape is from eight to twelve inches high, embraced at the base by
the long sheaths of the petioles.  Within the spathe is a club-shaped
spadix,  much shorter than the spathe,  green, purple,  black or va- 
ARUM TRIPHYLLUM.
     negated, rounded  at  the end  and contracted near the base, where
     it is surrounded by the stamens or germs in the dioecious plants„and
     by both in the monoecious, the female organs being below the male.
     The spathe and upper portion of the spadix  gradually decay while
     the germs are converted  into a compact bunch of shining scarlet
     berries.  The leaves,  which are usually one or two in number and
     stand  on long sheathing footstalks, are composed of three  ovate-
9    acuminate leaflets, paler on their under than their upper surface,
     and becoming glaucous as the plant advances.
       The flowering system of the plants of this tribe  presents  many
     points of interest.  On opening the spathe, it is found to be whitish
     in its interior and closely surrounding a  central  column or spadix,
     on which the minute flowers are crowded.  On detaching these are
     found at the bottom several tiers of round ovaria, which  do not pos-
     sess  any proper style or stigma,  but have  a sort of puckering at
     their  points, which serves the  purpose of the latter.   Each is  one-
     celled and contains two erect ovules.  Above there are two or three
     rows  of abortive or undeveloped ovaria in the form of horned pear-
     shaped bodies.  Above these again there is a crowd of stamens with
     very  short filaments,  and these are surmounted  by another cluster
     of abortive ovaria.   Here, accordingly,  is  a large cluster of pistil-
     liferous and staminiferous flowers,  in which the floral envelopes are
     entirely wanting, and in which, therefore, the separate flowers can
     scarcely be distinguished.   Each ovarium, however, is the essential
     part of a pistilline flower, whilst every cluster of anthers is the es-
     sential part of a staminous flower,  so that here are the most  neces-
     sary organs of fructification reduced almost  to the lowest condition
     in which they can exist.

       CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

       All parts of the Arum Triphyllum are highly acrid, and  this is
     more apparent in the  root, which only is officinal.  In the  green
     state it is stimulant, expectorant, carminative and diaphoretic.   The
     root is roundish, flattened,  an inch or two in diameter, covered with
     a brown loose wrinkled epidermis, and internally white, fleshy and
     solid.  In  the recent state it has a peculiar odor, and is violently
     acrid, producing when chewed an insupportable burning and biting
     sensation in the mouth and throat, which continues for a long time,
     and  leaves an unpleasant soreness behind.  These symptoms are
     alleviated by buttermilk or oily liquors.   Its  action does  not readily
     extend through the cuticle, as  the bruised root  may lie upon the 
ARUM  TRIPHYLLUM.
.Skin till it  becomes dry without producing  pain  or even redness.
 The acrid principle is extremely volatile and is entirely driven off by
 heat, and by drying.   It is not imparted to water,  alcohol, ether or
 olive oil.  The root loses nearly all its acrimony by drying, and in
 a short time becomes quite inert, and almost an  insipid farinace-
 ous substance.  It  may, however,  be kept in its green state a con-
 siderable time by burying it  in moist sand in a cellar.  It is found
 to contain,  besides  the acrid  principle, from ten to seventeen per
 cent, of starch, albumen, gum, sugar, extractive lignin. and salts of
 potassa and lime.  The  starch may be obtained  from it as pure
 white and delicate as from the >potato.  The fecula of the dried root
 is a pure and excellent arrowroot.
   In Europe the dried root of the Arum maculatum (whose medi-
 cinal properties are  precisely those of the plant under consideration
 of this  country)  is  sometimes  employed by the common people in
 times of great scarcity as a substitute for bread ; and an amylaceous
 substance is prepared from it in England called Portland arrowroot
 or Portland  sago.   This substance  is a white powder, whose parti-
 cles examined by the microscope are found to be exceedingly small.
 They are circular,  mullar-shaped or polyhedral.  The angular ap-
 pearance of some of -them probably arises from compression.  The
 hilum is circular and apparently lies in a small depression.  It cracks
 in a linear  or stellate manner.   This substance is  very nutricious
 and demulcent,  affording a light, mild and agreeable article of diet,
 well adapted for the sick and convalescent,  and particularly suited
 from its demulcent properties  to bowel complaints and diseases of the
 urinary passages.
   This article must be used in substance, and in its recent state is
 a powerful local irritant, possessing the property of stimulating the
 secretions, particularly those  of the skin and lungs.   It has  been
 given with  considerable advantage in asthma, pertussis, chronic
 catarrh, chronic rheumatism, and various affections connected with
 a cachactic state of  the  system.    Immediately  taken from the
 ground  it is too acrid for use.  The recently  dried  root, which
 retains  a portion of  the  acrimony, but not sufficient to prevent
 its convenient administration, is usually preferred.  It may be given
 in the dose of ten grains, mixed with gum arabic, sugar and water,
 in the form  of emulsion, repeated two or three times  a day, and gra-
 dually increased to  half a drachm or more.  The powder made into
 a paste with honey  or  syrup and placed  in small quantities on the
 tongue so as to be gradually diffused over the mouth and throat, is
 said to have proved useful in  the apthous sore-mouth of children. 
 
 
 
  X° 54






Peppermint 
                                  *'  ---- ---., v..~, -.supper
pair being abortive or wanting, situated on the corolla tube*
Anthers mostly two-celled.
# 

Peppermint 
                      LABIATE.



              LiUblate   Plants.



                            N°-  54.


                   MENTHA  PIPERITA.


                          Peppermint.


      -PZace—Europe.

      Quality—Penetrating, grateful.

      Power—Stomachic, stimulant.

      Use—Nausea, griping, flatulent colic, hysteria.


                   BOTANICAL  ANALYSIS.


      Natural Order.  Verticillata—L.  Labiateaj—J.

     Class XIV.  Didynamia,   Order Gymosspermia.


   Willd .Sp.PL iii. 74.  Lind. Med. Bot. 487. Smith. Flor. Brit. 6l3.  Griff.
 Med. Bot. 502.  Per. El. Med. Bot. ii. 288.


                      Genus.   MENTHA.

   Mintha or Minthe, in old Greek. The Poets feign that Mintha was a daughter
 of Locytus, tiansformed into the plant which bears her name;  an allegorical  de
 scnption ot the terrible effects ascribed to the plant by the ancients.

   Synonymes—Menthe poivree (F.), Pfeffermunze  (Gfer.), Peperminte (Dutch)
 Peparmynta (Swed.), Menta Piperita (/.), Verbal nina de saper de Pimienta (Si
 Hortelaa apimentada (Port.)                                      '*


                THE  ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS.


 Calyx.  Tubular, regularly five-toothed or cleft or bilabiate-, per-
     sistent.

 Corolla.  Bilabiate, (rarely regular, five-toothed,) the upper lip bifid

     or entire,  overlapping in  aestivation the lower three-cleft one.

Stamkns.   Four, didynamous,. or sometimes only two,  the upper

     pair being abortive or wanting, situated on the corolla tube.

     Anthers mostly two-celled. 
MENTHA PIPERITA.
©vary.   Free,  deeply four-lobed,  the single style arising from the
     base of the  lobes.
Fruit.  One—four hard nuts or achenia.
Seeds.  Erect, with little or no albumen.   Embryo erect.   Coty-
     ledons flat.

                THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Mentha,  Calyx equally five-toothed.   Corolla  nearly regular,
four-cleft, the broadest segment emarginate.  Stamens four, straight,
distant.  Anthers cells parallel.  Filaments naked.
  Corol nearly equal, four-lobed, broadest division emarginate.  Stamens erect,
distant.
                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Mentha Piperita.   Leaves smooth,  ovate-lanceolate, serrate,
petiolate.  Bracts lanceolate.  Calyx quite smooth  at base.
  Spikes obtuse, interrupted below.  Leaves subovate,  somewhat glabrous, pe--
tioled.  Stem glabrous at the base.

                the artificial characters.

  Class Didynamia.  Stamens  four, two of them longer than
the other  two.   Order Gymnospermia.  Seeds  naked.   Ache-
nia four (or fewer)  included in the calyx.   Corolla monopetalous
and  labiate.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

  Peppermint is  a native of Europe, and  has become natural-
ized  ih many parts of the United States.   It is a perennial herba-
ceous plant, and grows in  wet  and moist places, flowering the latter
part  of the summer.   It is occasionally found  growing wild along
the fences and bye places of the country.  In  many parts of New
England,  and especially in the western part of New York, in Ohio
and  New Jersey, the  plant is largely cultivated for the sake of its
volatile oil.   All the species are raised by the same  methods,  by
parting the roots, by offsetting young plants, and by cuttings of the
stalks.  The cultivators  of the  plant observe  that  to keep  up its
quality, the roots must be  transplanted every three years, otherwise
it degenerates into  the  flavor  of Spearmint, Mentha viridis.  If
ihe plant  be cut in wet weather it changes to black and is little
worth.
  The root of the plant is creeping.  The stem quadrangular and 
MENTHA PIPERITA.
 channeled, nearly upright and about two feet high, branching, pur-
 plish and rather hairy with the hairs bent backwards.  The leaves
 are of a dark green color, opposite, petiolate, ovate,  rather pointed,
 serrated, the upper side smoother and less pubescent than the under,
 which is paler with white  and  purple veins.   The  flowers are in
 terminal spikes, solitary, almost capitate, interrupted beneath with
 the lower whorl more remote, and on a footstalk.   The bracts are
 lanceolate and ciliated.  The calyx is furrowed,  tender, studded
 with glandular points.  The base entirely  naked, very smooth and
 five cleft, with the teeth of a  blackish  purple  color  ciliated.  The
 corolla is purple, and conceals within its tube the anthers, which are
 on short filaments.  The germen is four cleft, with a filiform style
 longer than the  corolla, and  furnished with a bifid stigma.  The
 four-cleft germ is converted into four seeds, lodged in the calyx.
   Sir J.  E. Smith  supposes that this plant was discovered by Dr.
 Eales, and says that  what is called Peppermint in the North of Eu-
 rope is merely a variety of  Mentha hirsuta, having a similar odor,
 and is the Mentha piperita of the Linnaean herbarium.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES  AND  USES.

  'The whole plant is officinal.  The odor of  both the recent and
 dried plant is peculiar and  well known,  aromatic, penetrating and
 grateful,  in some degree resembling camphor; and  the taste pun-
 gent, warm,  glowing and bitterish,  followed by a sensation of cold-
 ness when air is drawn in  the mouth.   It gives out its properties to
 alcohol and partly to water.  It contains volatile oil,  a bitter princi-
 ple,  resin, tannic acid and woody fibre.  The  oil can be obtained
 separate  by distillation.  It is  colorless,  but becomes yellowish  or
 even reddish by age.   It has a powerful aromatic odor, and an ex-
 tremely pungent taste.   The camphor  it contains is isomeric with
 the oil.
   Peppermint is employed  in  medicine for several purposes.  It is
 stomachic, stimulant, antispasmodic and carminative.  It is chiefly
 used  to .allay nausea and griping, to  relieve flatulent colic, and  in
 hysteria;  or  as a vehicle to cover the nauseous  taste of other medi-
 cines.   It is, however, to many  palates extremely disagreeable.
 The fresh herb, bruised and applied over the epigastrium,  often al-
lays sick stomach, and is especially useful in the cholera of children.
The medicine may be given in infusion, but the volatile oil, either
alone or  in some  state of  preparation,  is generally and almost al-
ways preferred. 
MENTHA
PIPERITA.
  The following are the principal preparations of this medicine with
their uses.
  Aqua Mentha Piperita.  Take of peppermint a pound and
a half, pour over it as much water as will prevent  empyreuma du-
ring the distillation.   Distil a gallon.
  Peppermint water has the flavor and taste of the plant in  a ve-
ry considerable degree.  It is  sometimes used alone as a carmina-
tive and  stimulant,  but more  generally  for the purpose of covering
the taste of other medicines.
  Spiritus Mentha Piperita.  Take of oil of peppermint, by
weight, six  scruples and a half; proof spirit four pints and a
half; water, sufficient to prevent empyreuma.  Add the spirits to
the oil and pour on them as much water as will  prevent empyreuma,
then distil with a slow fire one gallon.
   The spirit of peppermint is a useful carminative in nausea and
flatulence, and as  an adjunct to purgative remedies.  This  spirit
has no advantage over a simple solution of the oil  in  alcohol, and
may therefore with great  propriety be substituted for it.  The solu-
tion is usually kept in the  shops  under the  name of essence of
peppermint.
  Oleum Mentha Piperita.  Obtained by submiting the  fresh
herb to distillation with water.   Its odor is strong and its taste very
pungent, but at the same time it impresses a sensation of coldness.
The vapor of it applied to the eye causes a feeling  of coldness.  Its
color  is greenish-yellow or  nearly colorless, but it  becomes white
when exposed to the light, and reddish by age.  Four-pounds of the
recent plant yield from one drachm and a half to three drachms and
a half of the oil.  The product is generally less than one per  cent.
In a warm,  dry and favorable season the produce of a given quan-
tity of the  fresh herb is  double that which it yields in a wet and
cold season.
   Oil of peppermint is a stimulant and carminative,  and  is  used
occasionally as an antispasmodic.   It is  a common domestic reme-
dy in cramp of the stomach,  flatulent colic and anorexia,  and as a
coirigent or adjuvant of other medicines.  The dose is from one to
three drops,  and is  most  conveniently given rubbed up with sugar
and then dissolved in water.
   Besides the above there are other popular preparations of pepper-
mint  extensively used.  Infusum Mentha Piperita, Pepper-
mint tea;  Rotul^e Mentha  Piperita, Peppermint  drops;
The Liqueur sold at the spirit shops  as mint or peppermint, ia
used as a cordial. 
 
 
 
Scammony. 
^.^*.  x ,vu-iuui-cciieu, uee.  ozytes united into one.
Fruit.   Capsule,  two—four-celled,  valves with  septrifragal de-
     hiscence. 

"%.. t?
■ 
            CONVOLVULACEJ!..

                Mlm&wee&s.

                        N°- 55.

          CONVOLVULUS SCAMMCNIA.

              Scammony.   Syrian Bindweed.

    Place—Europe.
    Quality—Acrid, bitter, nauseous.
    Power—P u rgat i ve.
    Use—The root in costive habits.

                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

  Natural Order.   Campanacea3—L.  Convolvulacese—J.
       Class V.  Pentandria.  Order Monogynia.

  Lin. Sp. PL 218.  Willd. Sp. PL  i. 844.  -Griff. Med. Bot. 477. Lind. Flor.
Med. 398.
                Genus.  CONVOLVULUS.
  Fiom the Lat.  Convolvers, to entwine from the habit. A large genus of twining
or prostrate herbs.
  Synonymes__Scarnmonee (F.), Scammonium von Aleppo (Ger.), Het Scammo-
ceurn (Dutch), Scanimonea (/.),  Escamonea (S. & P.), Sukmunya (H. & Arab.)

               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Sepals five, much  imbricated, usually united at base,
    persistent.
Corolla.  Regular.  Limb five-lobed or entire,  plaited and twist-
    ed in aestivation.
Stamens.  Five, inserted  into the base of the corolla, and alter-
    nate with its lobes.
Ovary.  Two—four-celled, free.  Styles united into one.
Fruit.  Capsule,  two—four-celled, valves  with septrifragal de-
    hiscence. 
CONVOLVULUS SCAMMONIA.
Seeds.  Few,  large,  with mucilaginous albumen.   Cotyledons
     foliaceous or wanting.

                THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Convolvulus.   Calyx  five-parted, naked, or with  two small
bracts near the base.  Corolla campanulate or funnel-form.  Limb
five-plaited.   Stamens shorter than the limb, rarely a little longer.
Ovary  two—four-celled.  Cells one—two-ovuled.   Style  simple.
Stigma simple or  two-lobed.  Capsule valvate, two—four celled,
four—six  seeded.
  Calyx  five-parted, with or without two bracts.  Corolla funnel-form, plaited.
Stigma two.cleft or double.  Cells of the capsule two or three, each one or two-
seeded.
                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Convolvulus Scammonia.  Stem smooth.   Leaves sagittate,
posteriorly truncate.  Lobes entire or  elongate-laciniate.  Pedun-
cles very long, many-flowered.
   Stem  twining, herbaceous.  Leaves sagittate, truncate behind,  with pointed
lobes at the base.  Peduncles rounded, about three-flowered.

                THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class  Pentandria.   Stame?is five.   Order  Monogynia.
Monopetalous.   Flowers inferior.   Corolla regular.  Herbs rarely
shrubby.  Stamens alternate  with petals.  Fruit capsule or berry.
 Cells with one or two seeds.   Corolla limb entire.

                    NATURAL  HISTORY.

   Convolvulus Scammonia is a native of Syria,  Cappadocia and
 Cochin China.  It grows in abundance in the mountains between
 Aleppo and Latachea,  and  flowers early in summer.  From these
 places the greater part of the  Scammony of commerce is obtained.
 The root, which is  perennial and fusiform, is tapering,  from three
 to four feet long, and  from nine to twelve  inches in circumference,
 covered with bark of a light gray color ; it is branched towards the
 bottom, and every part ot  it contains a milky juice.  It sends up
 many slender twining stems, which spread themselves in the ground,
 or climb on neighboring shrubs  or trees  to the extent of  fifteen or
 twenty feet, adorned  with arrow-shaped, smooth,  bright, green
leaves upon long footstalks. The flowers are in pairs upon the pedi-
,cles, consisting of a double calyx of four emarginated leaflets in each 
CONVOLVULUS  SCAMMONIA.
 ,row, and a funnel-shaped, pale yellow plaited corolla.  The capsule
 is three or four celled, containing small  pyramidical-shaped seeds.
   The plant will grow readily in any soil,  and is increased by the
 roots or seeds,  and sometimes by cuttings in sand.  Scammony  is
 obtained from  the root of this plant in the following manner.  Hav-
 ing cleared away the .earth from about the  root in the beginning  of
 June, the peasants cut off the top in an oblique direction, just be-
 low the  corona, or about two inches from the point wbfence the
 stems arise  and below it.  Under the  most depending part of the
 slope they fix a shell, or some such utensil  or receptacle, into which
 the juice flows spontaneously.  It is left there about twelve hours,
 which suffice for draining off the whole juice: this is in small quan-
 tity,  each root affording but  a few drachms.   The juice from the
 several roots is added together,  often in  an  old shoe or leg of a boot,
 ibr want of something better, where in a  little time it grows hard,
 and is the genuine Scammony.
   This concrete is a .gummy resin,  of a light, shining gray color
 and friable texture.   It is imported from Aleppo in what are called
 drums, which  weigh from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-
 five pounds each ; and from Smyrna  in  cakes like wax, packed in
 chests.   The former is light and friable, and is considered the best;
 that from Smyrna is more compact and  ponderous, less friable, and
 more abounding in impurities.   This is  owing to the craft and cu-
 pidity of the Jews, who  make it their  business to go where the
 Scammony is prepared and buy it while yet soft  of the  peasant-
 ry, and mix it with the expressed juice of the stalks and leaves,
 with wheat flour, ashes, soot,  fine sand, and various other articles
 with which Dr. Russell found it adulterated.  At Aleppo they  have
 not the same opportunities, and therefore the Scammony from the
 latter place is most valuable.

 CHEMICAL  AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND  USES.

   Good  Scammony is light,  friable, externally like a honeycomb,
 and should  lactify or become milky when wetted  with the finger.
 It has a peculiar characteristic,  rather heavy odor,  which has been
 compared to that of old ewe-milk cheese,  and a bitterish, slightly
 acrid taste.   The color is  blackish or bluish gray, changing to dirty
 white, but the color is not a sufficient criterion of its goodness or
 purity, the fine and pure  appearance'of the concrete alone is  the
proper test.   The fracture is irregular but smooth,  faintly shining,
and  the sharp  edges of the shivers are of a lighter gray color  and 
CONVOLVULUS SCAMMONIA.
translucent.  It is pulverulent and the powder has a light gray color.
Its specific gravity is 1.235 (Brisson).  "When it is of a dark color,
heavy and splintery, it  should be rejected.  When triturated  with
water, nearly one fourth of it is dissolved, and the solution appears
slightly mucilaginous, opaque, and of a greenish gray color.   This
solution is not affected by alcohol, solutions of.superacetate and ace-
tate of lead and sulphate of iron, nor precipitated by the acids, but
with sulphuric acid it gives out the odor of vinegar.  Solution of
ammonia does not alter it, but that of potassa occasions a yellowish
precipitate, which is quickly redissolved on the addition of  an acid.
Ether takes  up two parts in  ten of Scammony, and when evapo-
rated leaves a brownish  semi-transparent resin.   Alcohol dissolves
two-thirds of its weight, but proof spirit is its best menstruum, ta-
king up the whole  except the impurities.   Aleppo Scammony con-
tains, according to Bouillon, La Grange and Vogel, 0.60  of resin,
0.20 of extractive, 0.03 of gum, and 0.35 of impurities.   Smyrna
Scammony contains 0.29 of resin, 0.08 of gum, 0.05 of extractive,
and  0.58 of impurities.   When these  impurities consist  of flour,
sand or ashes, they may be detected by dissolving  the sample in
proof spirit, as they sink and  remain undissolved ; but Scammony
is sometimes also adulterated with the expressed juice of Cynanchum
monspeliacum,  and a fictitious Scammony is also sold for  the real,
consisting of jalap, senna, manna, gambogue and ivory black.
  Scammony is a  drastic cathartic,  operating in general  quickly
and powerfully.   The purest is that  which is most active and  solu-
ble.  The ancients were  acquainted with its purgative qualities and
also employed it as an  external application for  removing hard tu-
mors, itch, scurf,  and  fixed pains,  but  for  the latter purposes it is
now seldom or never used.  It is a good purgative in the torpid  state
of the intestines, in leucophlegmatic, hypochondriacal and mania-
cal subjects;  in  worm  cases  and  the slimy state of the  bowels to
which children are subject; and as a hydragogue cathartic  in drop-
sy.   Scammony has been regarded  by some  as a  cathartic of so
irritating a nature as to require to be corrected by exposing  it to the
fumes of sulphur,  defalcating  it with lemon-juice and other acids
and uniting it with demulcent mucilages; but except in an inflam-
ed or very irritable  state of the bowels, it is a safe and efficacious
purgative.  It is, however, apt  to gripe, on which account it  is gene-
rally united with an aromatic,  or a drop of some essential oil.
  The dose is from five to fifteen grains, whether given in  powder,
as a bolus, or in the form of mixture triturated with almonds, gum.
or extract of liquorice and water. 
/ 
 
 
Thorn apple. 
":r  r*fi 
H


lip    *
 
                  SOLANACEJ.

              *Wlght$haiJl e s*

                          N°- 56.

              DATURA  STRAMONIUM.

               Thorn apple.   Jamestown weed.

     Place—America.
     Quality—Foetid, nauseous.
     Power—Narcotic, acrid.
     Use—Asthma, chronic pains,  6cc'.

                  BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

       Natural Order.  Luridse—L.  Solanacese—J.
        Glass V.  Pentandria.   Order Monogynia.

  Linn. Sp. PI. 255.  Bigelow, Med. Bot. i. 17.  Raf. Med. Flor. i. 146\  Griff!
 Med. Bot. 490. Lind. Flor. Med. 510.

                     Genus.   DATURA.
  An alteration of the Arabic name Tatorah. Forskahl.   Tatula is altered from
 Datula, a name given to the Datura by  the Turks and Persians--
  Synonymes.—Pomme epineuse, Stramonie (F.), Der stechapfel (Gfer.), Door-
 nappel (Dutch), Stramonio (/.), Estramonio (Sp.),  Estramonia (P.), Durman
 (Russ.)

                THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

 Calyx.   Sepals  four—five, more or less united, mostly persistent
 Corolla.  Regular.  Limb four—five cleft, plaited in aestivation,,
     deciduous.
Stamens.   Four—five, (sometimes one abortive), inserted on the
     corolla,  alternate with its segments-  Anthers, bursting longi-
    tudinally,  rarely by terminal pores. 
                     DATURA STRAMONIUM.

 Ovary.  Free (superior) two-celled, {four-celled in Datura,) with
     the placenta in the  axis.  Styles  and Stigmas united into
     one.
 Fruit.  A capsule or berry.
 Seeds.  Numerous.   Embryo curved, being in fleshy albumen.

                 THE  SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Datura.   Calyx large, tubular, ventricose, five-angled, deci-
 duous, with a persistent, orbicular, peltate base.   Corolla infundi-
 buliform.  Tube cylindric, long.   Limb five-angled  and plaited.
 Stamens five.  Stigma obtuse, bilamellate.   Capsule tvvo^celled,
 four-valved.   Cells  two—three parted.

  Calyx tubular, angled, caducous, with a permanent orbicular base.  Corol fun.
 nel.form, plaited.  Capsule four-valved,  two-celled, and each cell half divided,
 generally thorny.

                 THE SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.

   Datura Stramonium.   Stem dichotomous.  Leaves  ovate,
 smooth, angular-dentate.   Capsule spiny, erect.
  Pericarps  spinose, erect, ovate.  Leaves ovate, glabrous, angular,  dentate.

                THE  ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class Pentandria.   Stamens  five.  Order Monogynia.
 Monopetalous.   Flowers inferior.   Corolla regular.  Herbs (rarely
 shrubby):  Stamens alternate with petals.  Fruit capsule or  berry.
 Cells twoj  with  many seeds.   Mstivation plicate.

                    NATURAL  HISTORY.

  It is  very uncertain  where the Datura was originally native.
 It certainly appears  indigenous to America, but it was first intro-
 duced into  England  from Constantinople in Gerard^s time, and by
 him " dispersed through the land." Professor Martyn  says,  " that
 in the earth brought with  plants from various  parts of this exten-
 sive continent, they are sure to have the Thorn  apple come up."  It
 is an erratic and wandering plant,  common to all parts of the world,
 and spreading with the utmost facility.  It is probably a  native of
Persia or India, and  has spread to Europe, Africa and America.  It
has been supposed to be a native of North America,  but it has ap-
peared there only since its colonization.   The  Indians call it  the
White man's plant.   In the Western States it has  sprung up only 
DATURA STRAMONIUM.
since their settlement, and probably from seeds carried thither.  The
plant has handsome flowers,  sometimes four inches long.  It has
been cultivated for its beautiful blossoms, although it has an unplea-
sant narcotic smell.  Children  yet use them for garlands by forming
strings of the flowers within each other.
   Datura Stramonium is now become a noxious weed, infesting
fields, &c.  Tt is commonly met with near houses, along the roads,
in commons, old fields, &c, and never in woods or mountains.  It
is found in  all the States,  also in Canada, Mexico, and  in South
America. In the Southern States it blossoms from May to Septem-
ber, and in the Northern States from July to October. It rises about
two feet in height, with a round stem, branching  and dichotomous
above, spreading and leafy.  The leaves are large,  rising from the
forks of the stem on long  round petioles, of a dark green color on
the upper surface and pale beneath, irregularly ovate-triangular  in
figure, sinuated and unequal  at  the base.  The  flowers are large
axillary and solitary, on short erect peduncles.  The calyx is about
two inches in length, tubular,  pentangular and five-toothed.   The
corolla longer, of a white color, funnel-shaped and plaited, with the
filaments which support oblong,  flat anthers adhering to  the tube,
and the style filiform, terminated with  a thick  club-shaped stigma.
When the corolla and its included parts  drop,  the calyx also sepa-
rates except  the base, which remains, and becoming reflex enlarges
with the receptacle as a support to the  fruit.  The fruit is a large,
fleshy, ovate-roundish four-cornered capsule,  beset with  sharp,  awl-
shaped spines, four-celled at the base, two-celled at  the apex,  and
containing a great number of reniform  compressed seeds.

 CHEMICAL  AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES  AND USES.

   Datura  Stramonium  has a  narcotic, foetid  odor, producing
headach; a  bitterish nauseous  taste, and gives  to the saliva  a  deep
green tinge when chewed.  The analysis of Promnitz gives ast he
components  of Thorn apple,  gummy extractive 58, extractive  6,
chlorophylle 64, albumen 15, resin 12,  and phosphate of lime and
magnesia 23 = 178  parts.   According to Wedenberg (Dissertatio
Medica de Stramonii usa, fyc,  Upsal, Ato.) it contains gum and
resin, a volatile matter (carbonate of  ammonia), and  a narcotic
principle which has lately been ascertained to be an alkaline  salt.
It is obtained from the seeds, in  which it is combined with malic acid,
and named Daturine.  It  is nearly insoluble in water and in  cold
alcohol, but  boiling alcohol dissolves it,  and in cooling lets it fall in 
DATURA STRAMONIUM
flocculi.  It is crystallized with difficulty, but has been obtained in
quadrangular crystals.   It forms neutral salts with the acids.   The
medicinal virtues of the herb are extracted  both by water and alco-
hol.   The watery infusion is transparent, with  a very pale yellow
hue, which  is dissipated by acids, but very much deepened by the
alkalies.   It throws down whitish precipitates  with  acetate and su-
peracetate  of lead, and a black precipitate with nitrate of silver.
Solution  of sulphate of iron strikes a deep olive color, and  muriate
of mercury renders  it  milky,  but neither is precipitated till after a
very considerable time.
  Thorn apple  is a  narcotic and stimulant.  Baron Stoerck first
recommended it  as an  internal remedy in cases of mania and epi-
lepsy.  Numerous cases have been recorded in which it  has proved
a benefit in these diseases, but the general result of the practice has
not been satisfactory,  and it is now considered  rather as useful  in
allaying  the excessive  mobility of the system than as tending to the
absolute cure of  the complaint.  Its good effects  have  been more
marked in asthma, especially of the spasmodic kind, used as an
inhalation by smoking or otherwise.   It requires, however, much
caution in its use.  Dr. Bigelow has given some very judicious re-
marks on its employment, and others may be found  in Dr. Dungli-
son's  practice  of medicine.  Dr. Barton regards it  as a remedy of
great efficacy.   He found that when the dose of the dried herb was
gradually increased to thirty grains, it dilated the pupil, and pro-
duced paralysis of the eyelids, effects which were removed by a blis-
ter.   Dr. Marcet, who experimented largely with this remedy, ob-
serves that many kinds of painful diseases  were more relieved  by it
when used internally than by any other narcotic; that its effects on
the bowels were rather relaxing than astringent, and that the great
objection to its employment was the occasional production  of disa-
greeable  nervous symptoms.
  Cataplasms of the bruised  fresh leaves  have been successfully
used  as  an application to  inflammatory tumors and for discussing
masses of  indurated milk in  the breasts of nursing women.   An
ointment made  with the powdered leaves has afforded  much relief
in haemorrhoids  and painful ulcers.   This ointment  has also been
recommended in nymphomania to lessen venereal excitement.
  All parts of the plant are used, but the seeds, from containing most
Datura, are the most powerful. The dose of the powdered leaves is
one grain ;  of the seeds, half a grain ; of the extract of the  seeds, a
quarter of a grain;  that from the leaves, a  grain ;  of the tincture,
ten to twenty drops—all to be gradually increased if required. 
 
 
 
      N? 57.
COPTIS  TRIFOLIA.
     Gold-Thread. 
Stamens.  Indefinite, numerous, distinct, hypogynous.  Anthers
    adnate or innate, 
 
•
            RAIUICTJLACE^.

                 Cr ow foots.

                         N°- 57.

                 COPTIS  TRIFOLIA.
                                      «
                 Goldthread.   Mouth root.

     Place—Europe, America.
     Quality—Bitter.
     Power—Stomachic, tonic.
     Use—Dyspepsia,  debility, promoting digestion.

                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

   Natural Order.  Multisiliquse—L.   Ranunculaceae—J.
       Class XIII.  Polyandria.   Order Polygynia.

  Salisbury.  Linn. Trans, viii. 305.  Bigelow, Med. Bot. i. GO. Barton, Veg. Mat.
 Med. ii. 97.   Raf. Med. Flor. i. 127.  T. & G. Flor. i. 28. Griff. Med. Bot. 87.
 Per. EL Med. Bot. ii. 759.

                     Genus.  COPTIS.

  From the Greek Koctg, to cat, Jrom the numerous divisions of the leaves, ap.
 pearing as if cut.            9
  Synonymes.

               THE ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS.

 Calyx.  Sepals mostly five, sometimes three, four or six, mostly-
    deciduous and imbricated in aestivation.
 Corolla.   Petals three—fifteen, hypogynous, sometimes irregular
    or wanting.
Stamens.   Indefinite,  numerous, distinct, hypogynous.  Anthers
    adnate or innate, 
COPTIS TRIFOLIA.
iparoxysms, when the remission  is such as to call for the use of
 tonics, but is not sufficiently decided to justify a resort to the prepa-
 rations of  Peruvian bark.   It is also occasionally useful during the
 progress of a slow convalescence by promoting appetite and invigo-
 rating the  digestive  function,  and may be employed for the same
 purpose in dyspepsia  and diseases of debility.   From this statement
 it will be seen that Coptis  Trifolia possesses in a very considera-
 ble degree  the tonic  powers which characterize the simple bitters.
 Its use has a tendency to excite the appetite,  invigorate the powers
 of digestion, moderately increase  the temperature of ihe body and
 the force of the circulation,  and act in  general, as a good corroborant
 of the system.  It may consequently be used in all cases of disease
 dependent on pure debility of the digestive organs,  or requiring a
 general tonic impression.  The condition of the stomach and of the
 system generally, however, and  not of the particular disease, must
 be taken into consideration  in  prescribing it;  and let it be remem-
 bered, there is scarcely a single complaint in which  alone it can  be
 advantageously administered under all circumstances.  It may  be
 proper too  to mention that the  article  under consideration is not as
 powerful as gentian,  quassia and other pure bitters.
   In the Eastern States Goldthread is considerably employed and
 held  in high estimation as a local application  in aphthous and other
 ulcerations of the mouth; for this purpose it is frequently macerated
 or chewed in the mouth ; but the principal use made of it is for a
 gargle, particularly for children.  Its astringent properties render it
 peculiarly  serviceable when used with honey and borax. Tt may be
 substituted for golden seal or barberry.  Dr. Bigelow, however, is of
 opinion that its efficacy is inert, and being devoid of astringency, has
 been overrated, and  that probably it has no other  virtues in these
 complaints than  such as  are common to all the simple bitters; but
 notwithstanding this authority, it has the concurrent  testimony of
 very many respectable Physicians and Practitioners  in its favor.
   All parts of the plant possess more or less bitterness,  but this pro
 perty is  more intense in the root, which  is the only officinal part.
 The roots ought to be collected in the summer; they are easily dri-
 ed, but not so easily reduced to powder.
   It  may be given internally in substance, infusion or tincture.  The
 dose of the powder is from ten to thirty grains; that of the tincture
 prepared by macerating  an ounce of the root in a  pint of diluted
 alcohol, one fluid drachm.
   The other species  of Coptis peculiar to India is much esteemed  by
 the natives as a tonic and a stomachic. 
 
 
V 
         IV'.' 58.
LTLJUM  CANDIDTJM
     White lily. 
Seeds.  Albumen fleshy.
 
£>
\y^
V^
-%%
rVfUit M.ivy. 
                   LILIACEJE,

                  JLl I y worts.

                         N°-  58.

                 IslIAVm  CANDXDU1K,

                        White Lily.

     Place—Syria, Palestine.
     Quality—Fragrant, mucilaginous.
     Power—Emollient, anodyne.
     Use—Epilepsy,  dropsy, and maturating tumors,

                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

 , .    Natural Order.  Coronarise—L.   Liliaceee—J.
       Class VI.  Hexandria,  .Ojider Monogynia.

  Lin. Sp. PL 433.  Willd. Sp. PL ii. 184.  Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 238. Griff. Med.
 Bot. 649.  Per. El. Med. Bot. ii. 130.

                      Genus.  LILIUM.

  From the Celtic word Li, which signifies whiteness.  The Lily has always been
 Considered the  emblem of whiteness and purity.
  Synonymes__Le lis (F.), Die lilie (Ger.), Lelie (Dutch), Giglio (/.), Azuce^
 na (S.), Lilieja (Russ.), Lilia (Pal.)

               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

 Calyx and  Corolla.  - Confounded, colored, regular, occasionally
    cohering in a tube.
 Stamens.   Six (rarely four) inserted  into the sepals and petals.
    Anthers introrse.
 Ovary.  Three-celled, many-ovuled.  Styles'  united into one.
    Stigma often three-lobed.
Fruit. Capsular or fleshy, with several or many seeds in each cell.
Seeds. Albumen fleshy. 
L1L1U.U CANDIDUM.
                the secondary characters.

  Lilium.  Perianth campanulate.   Seg?nents mostly recurved,
each with a longitudinal groove within from the middle to the base.
Stamens  shorter  than the  style.   Capsule  sub-triangular,  the
valves connected with latticed hairs.
                                   i
  Corol inferior, liliaceous, six-petalled.  Petals with a longitudinal line from the
middle to the base.  Stamens shorter than the style.  Stigma undivided.  Capsule
sub-triangular, with the valves connected by hairs crossing as in a sievo.

                 THE  SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Lilium Candidujm.  Leaves scattered,  lanceolate,  narrowed at
the base.   Flower campanulate,  smooth inside.

  Leaves lanceolate, scattered, tapering to  the base.  Corol bell-form,  glabrous
within.

                THE ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

  Class Hexandria.  Stamens six.  Order Monogynia.  En-
dogens.   Ovary superior.   Flowers  not spadaceous,  distinct, equal,
both petaloid.   Ovary many-seeded.

                    NATURAL HISTORY.

  The White Lily has always been ranked among  the very oldest
inhabitants of the  pleasure or flower garden.  In the lime  of  Ge-
rard in England, it was very generally cultivated, and doubtless at
a much earlier  period.  A plant at once so stately, so showy, so
fragrant, and at the same time so much disposed to increase, would
of course  soon be found of  very general cultivation.  There is also
another reason  why the plant is accelerated into notice, because
among other extraordinary powers antiently attributed to it,  we are
gravely told that it " taketh away the wrinkles of the face."
  The plant is fragrant and beautiful.   The stem is round,  green,
thick, firm and very upright, about four feet high.  The leaves are
numerous at the bottom, narrow and strap-shaped, with simple par-
allel veins, and these together with the flower stalks shoot up from
under-ground bulbs.  The  flower consists of six leafy portions simi-
lar  in color, size and form, and differing  only  in position.  These
envelop six stamens within  which is a three-celled  ovarium,  con-
taining a  number of ovules in each  cell.   The Lily is remarkable
for its general  development, and for the superior size of its flowers. 
LILIUM candidum'.
 It blossoms early in July, continues about three weeks, after which
 the pleasure ground is evidently thinned of its .beauty.
   Of the White Lily there are three  principal varieties.  I.  With
 double flowers.   II. With flowers blotched with purple.   III.  With
 striped leaves, or leaves edged, with yellow.   The two first of these
 are esteemed merely as curiosities.   The third plant acquires an ac-
 cession of beauty which  it has not originally,  and to which  the
 flower garden is greatly indebted for one of its chief ornaments.
   The Lily increases most abundantly  by offsets, hence it becomes
 necessary that the bulbs should be taken up  and reduced every se-
 cond or third year; but the striped leaved variety increases much
 more slowly and should therefore  remain unmolested for a greater
 length of time.  There is scarcely a soil or  situation in which  the
 Lily will not grow :  it will thrive most in a soil moderately stiff and
 moist.  Though a  native itself of a  warm  climate, moderate se-
 verity of weather does not appear to affect it,  and  therefore we may
 learn not to regulate the culture of plants invariably by the climate
 in which they grow spontaneously.  The best time for  removing
 the  bulbs of this plant is about the middle of  August, but they may
 be transplanted almost at any time in the fall or spring.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

   The scent of the  Lily is so powerful that  sometimes persons  are
 distressed to  have the flowers near them, especially in a room, and
 there is a species cultivated under the name of the Tuberose which
 is much more powerful, especially in the evening.   This is one of
 the  flowers  that has been seen to emit electric sparks, which are
 supposed to  be of electric origin.  In general, however, the flowers
 of the Lily have an agreeable odor, which they impart to oil or lard,
 and an ointment or .liniment is sometimes prepared from them and
 used as a soothing application in external inflammations.   The  in-
 fusion of the flowers of the Lily in olive oil is emollient, and often
 applied externally under the name of Lily oil.  This oil was  an-
 tiently esteemed for its virtues.  It was applied to  any part affected
 with pain or inflammation, particularly in cases of burns and scalds.
   " There is nothing, says Mons.  Tournefort, very remarkable in
 the flowers of the Lily,  except that besides their digestive and ano-
 dyne faculty they have also an anti-hysteric quality.  Infuse them
for some days in wine and so distil them, by this means a most ex-
cellent water may be obtained for hypochondriasis and hysteria
which every one does not know.  The dose is from one to two  or< 
jilLlUAl  CANDIDUM.
three spoonsful, both for a preservative and  a cure."   Fr. Hoffm.
  The bulb of the White Lily, which consists of imbricated fleshy
scales,  is without odor, but  has a  peculiar  disagreeable somewhat
bitter and mucilaginous taste.  It contains  much  mucilage and a
small proportion of an acrid principle, which is dissipated or destroy-
ed by roasting or boiling.   In the recent state it has been employed
with advantage in dropsy.  Boiled  with  water or milk it  forms a
good emollient cataplasm, more used in domestic and popular, than
in the regular practice.
  " Gerard  informs  us  that William Goderus, Serjeant-Surgeon to
Queen Elizabeth  of England, found by experience that the root of
White  Lily stamped and strained  with  white wine and given to
drink for three or  four days successively,  expelled the poison of the
pestilence and caused it to break out in blisters on the skin.  That
the same learned  Gentleman  had  cured  many of the  dropsy with
the juice of it,  tempered with  barley meal and  baked in cakes,
taking  care that his patients  did eat of it for a month or six weeks
with their meat, and no other bread during that time."
  Vegetation,  when  assisted by human  contrivances, is the best
possible means of improving the air and rendering a country fitter
for the abode of mankind.  Cultivation removes the corruptive and
decaying vegetables,  and by turning them under the earth, makes
them nourish the ground instead of poison the air.  It is well known
that many  places, at one  time deadly, are now healthy, not so
much from the care of the new-comer in avoiding the remote causes
of disease, as from the greater number of these causes  being remo-
ved by cultivation.  Wherever  Cerealia is  capable  of growing,
that country is or by  human labor may be made healthy.  Cultiva-
tion likewise always renders a country warmer, for a large quantity
of vegetable matter is raised on  a given  space, and vegetable life
is but the conversion  of certain gases,  oxygen, hydrogen,  azote and
carbonic acid into solid matter, and a change of form—an alteration
from a rarer to a denser state—must always be accompanied by the
extrication of heat. What is it that makes living vegetables so diffi-
cult of being frozen, compared to dead ones, but this constant forma-
tion and existence of  caloric in them.  As  an example of the evo-
lution  of heat by the process of vegetation, it  may be mentioned
that on looking into a wood in spring we shall find the  small plants
more advanced in size and strength than those of the plains.  In
the woods small berries are found much  sooner  ripe  than in the
cleared lands. 
 
 
 
                N? 59.
jiPOCYffUM  AIWROSMNIFOIAUM.
 Doc/sbanct, Bitter-root,  Milk-wetd^ 
XJ V Ait V
      i wo, aistinct or rarely united.  Styles distinct or united,,
Stigmas united into one, which is common to both styles. 
%$''%&.?'
-4P 0 CYW UM  ANDR 0 SM NIP OUIJM.
 Doynbane,, Bitter-root, Milk-weed^, 
                APOCTNACEJ!.

                  J& o g bumes.

                          N°- 59.

       APOC¥ftIUM ANDROSJEMIFOLIUIIT.

       Dogsbane.  Bitter root, Milkweed. Indian hemp.

     Place—America.
     Quality—Bitter.
     Power—Tonic, vermifuge.
     Use.-  Dropsy,  intermittent fever, syphilid

                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

     Natural Order.   Contortese—L.   Apocynaceae—5.
         Class V. Pentandria.   Order Digynia.

  ■Lin. Sp. PI. 311.  Wifld. Sp. JJ. i. 1259.  Bigelow Med. Bot. ii. 148.  Raf.
 Med. Flor. i. 49.  Griff. Med. Bot. 449.  Per. El. Med. Bot. ii. 375.

                   Genus.  APOCYNUM.

  Fiom the Greek  Apo, ay/ay, and Kunos, a dog; that is to say, a plant from
 which dogs must be driven.  Pliny says his Apocynum is mortal to them.
  Synonymes.—L'apocin (F.), Der hnndekohl (Ger.), Hondsdood (Dutch), Apo.
 cino (/.), Apocino (S.), Hundedod (Dan.)

                THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

 Calyx.   Sepals five, united at base, persistent.
 Corolla.  Five-lobed, regular,  twisted in aestivation, deciduous.
 Stamens.   Five, arising from  the corolla and alternate with its
     segments.  Filaments,distinct.   Anthers two-celled, opening
     lengthwise, sometimes  slightly connected.  Pollen granular,
     globose or five-lobed, immediately applied to the stigma.
Ovary.   Two, distinct or rarely united.  Styles distinct or united,.
     Stigmas united into one, which is common to both styles. 
APOCYNUM ANDROSjEMIFOLIUM.
Fruit.  Follicles two, rarely one of them abortive.
Seeds.  Numerous, pendulous,  with or without a coma, albumi
     nous.   Embryo foliaceous.

                the secondary characters.

  Apocynum.   Calyx very small.   Corolla campanulate.   Lobes
short.  Stamens included.  Filaments short, arising from the base
of the corolla and  alternate, with five glandular teeth.  Anthers
sagittate, connivent, cohering to the stigma by the middle.  Ova-
ries two.   Stigmas connate.  Follicles long, sublinear, distinct.

  Corol bell-form.  Stamens with converging anthers, proceeding from the middle
of the stigma, and alternating with five nectaries.  Stigma thick, almost sessile.
Follicles in pairs, long, linear.

                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Apocynum  Andros^emifolium.  Smooth.   Leaves,  ovate.
Cymes, lateral and terminal.  Limb of corolla spreading.  The
tube longer than the calyx.
  Stem erect and branching. Leaves ovate, glabrous. Cymes lateral and termi-
nal.  Tube of the corol longer than the calyz, with a spreading limb.

                THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class Pentandria.   Stamens frVe.   Order Digynia.  Mo-
nopetalous.   Stamens inserted on the pistil, distinct.  Leaves op
posite.  Juice milky.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

  The plant Dogsbane is  indigenous, perennial,  and herbaceous.
It flourishes in all parts of the United States, from Canada to Car-
olina.  It is found in woods, hills, and in dry or sandy soils, along
fences and in old fields. It is rare in  limestone soils, or on rich land.
It blossoms in summer from June to July.  It  prefers a  little  peat
added to common soil,  is of easy cultivation, and increases rapidly
by  suckers..
  The root is large, and  like other  parts  of the plant contains a
milky juice.   The  stem  is erect, smooth, simple below, branched
above, usually reddened on  the side exposed to the sun and covered
with a tough fibrous bark.  Leaves dark green above, paler beneath,
opposite, rounded  at  base and  acute at  apex, about two or three 
                APOCYNUM ANDROS/EMIFOLIU.\T.

 inches long.  The flowers are white tinged with red, and grow in
 loose nodding terminal or axillary cymes.  Cymes paniculate at the
 top of the branches and in the axils of the upper leaves.   The pe-
 duncles  are furnished with very small acute bracts.  Calyx much
 shorter than  the  corolla.  Corolla as long  as the pedicells. bell-
 shaped, white, striped with red, with five acute spreading  segments.
 The fruit consists of a pair of long linear acute follicles, containing  0
 numerons imbricated seeds attached to  a central receptacle,  and
 each furnished with a long seed-down.
   The other species of  the same genus, says Rafinesque,  have the
 same properties in a less degree.  The Apocynum Cannabinum is
 distinguished from the above by smaller leaves and flowers in short-
er panicles, while  the Apocynum Hypericifolium has  prostrated
 stems with narrow leaves, and grows only on the banks of streams
 and lakes.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   Apocynum Andros^mifolium is a very active plant.  It con-
tains bitter extractive soluble in water and  alcohol,  a  red coloring
 matter not soluble in alcohol, a volatile oil  and caoutchouc.  The
 root is the most powerful  part,  but its activity is diminished  and
 eventually destroyed  by keeping;  it must therefore be used fresh.
 The powder  of the recently dried root acts as an emetic equal to
 ipecacuanha, and is very generally employed by Practitioners in the
 country with good  advantage and success.   Like other emetic sub:
 stances it promotes diaphorisis and expectoration.  It diminishes the
 frequency of the  pulse  and appears to induce drowsiness indepen-
 dently of the exhaustion consequent upon vomiting.  In small doses
 it is a  tonic useful in  dyspepsia and fevers.  It  gently stimulates
 the digestive apparatus and thus effects a corresponding impression
 on the general system.
  The Chickasaw  and  Choctaw Indians employed it in syphilis
 and considered it a specific; they used the fiesh root chewed, swal-
 lowing only the juice.  The latter use has been  some time practised
 in Tennessee and Kentucky.  The stem as well as the root abounds
 in a milky juice which exudes when any  part of the plant is wound-
 ed.  Its  taste is nauseous and intensely bitter.  The flowers, not-
 withstanding, smell of  honey,  and produce that  sweet substance.
 Bees and other insects collect this honey, but small flies  are often
 caught by inserting their probosis between  the fissures of the anthers,
 whence it  is not easy for them to extricate it;  they are often seen 
APOCYNUM ANDROS.-TMIFOLIUM.
   dead in that confined situation after unavailing struggles.  Whence
   one of the popular names of this plant,  Catchjly.
      The disease in which this plant has been found to be most useful
   is Dropsy;  in this, from the concurrent testimony of several emi-
   nent Physicians and Practitioners,  its remedial powers are decided,
   sometimes operating as a hydragogue purgative, and at others caus-
•  ing the most profuse discharges of urine, and thus relieving the.tis-
   sues from their  morbid burden.   Dr. Knapp gives  the details  of
   some cases of intermittent fever ajid pneumonic affections, in which
   he derived much benefit from this remedy employed as a  diaphoretic.
      When given as an emetic, the powder is to be  preferred, in doses
   of fifteen to thirty grains ;  where its hydragogue or diuretic elFects
   are desired, the best form is in decoction, made by boiling an ounce
   of the root  in a pint of water;  the dose  is about a wineglass full
   two or three times a day.  The watery extract will act on the bow-
   els in doses of from three to five grains, but is  not  as efficient  as
   the decoction.
      Professor A. Curtis, M. D., of Ohio, publishes  the following  as
   the medical properties of the Apocynum Andros.-emifolium.
       " Bitter, antispasmodic,  relaxant, aperient, stimulant,—in  one
   word,  Depurating ; hence, as  it enables the system to clear itself
   and recover its tone, many have  called it directly tonic.  When
   given in large doses on  a  foul stomach, it vomits; in small doses,
    with lobelia seed,  cayenne,  nervine, and rolled into pills  with bone-
   set, butternut, or blackroot extract, it is one of the best articles  in
   our practice to produce a healthy action of the liver and bowels,  to
   break the  chills in  intermittents, and as one ingredient in spice
   bitters,  woman's friend,  conserve of hollyhock, &c,  to be used af-
   .ter a course, it has few superiors.   Combined with lobelia seed and
   cypripediuin,  rolled in boneset  extract into a pill and given every
    hour, it makes an admirable compound  to break up congestions,
    costiveness, &c, especially when aided by the  bath.   Used with
    polemonium,  catnip, or sage and pennyroyal, it is an excellent hy-
    dragogue in dropsy.  Even alone it has cured many cases that had
    defied the  skill of the mineral school.   Used alone, or  with  a little
   cayenne, it acts pretty thoroughly as a cathartic."
      For further information see Rec. vol. vi. 264, 265.
      Besides the value of this plant as a therapeutic agent, it is enti-
   tled to notice  for its use in the arts.  The bark furnishes a fibre re-
    sembling hemp,  but of a white  color and superior in strength and
    durability, and a decoction  of the plant affords a permanent  brown
    or black dye,  according to the mordant used. 
 
 
 
        tf° 60.
GENTIANA  LUTEA.
    Yellow Genf-'L-ti, 
 
etf

 •i*"
..•*":'
 
              &ENTIAN-ACEJ1.

        The   Gentian   Tribe.

                         N°- 6 0.

                 aEMTIASWA LUTEA„

                     Yellow Gentian.

     Place—E u rope.
     Quality—Bitter.
     Power—Tonic, stomachic, anthelmintic.
     Use—Rheumatism, gout, jaundice, wastings, &c.

                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

     Natural Order.  Stellatse—L.  Gentianacese—J.
         Class V.  Pentandria,   Order Digynia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 329.  Willd. -Sp. PL i. 1331.  Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 206.  Griff.
Med. Bot. 460. Lind. Flor. Med. 519. Per. EL Med. Bot. ii. 347.  Med. Bot. 2d
edition, 273 to 295.

                   Genus/  GENTIANA.

  From Gentius, king of Illyria, who according to Pliny first discovered the tonie
virtues of plants of this genus.
  Synonymes.—La gentia-ne (P.), Der cnzian (Ger.), Gentiasn (Dutch), La gen-
ziana (/.),  La jenciana (Sp.), Goretschafka (Russ.)

               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Sepals four—five—ten, united at base,  persistent.
Corolla.  Usually regular.  Limb divided into as man-y lobes as
     there are sepals, mostly twisted in aestivation.
Stamens.  Issuing  from  the  tube of the corolla, as many as ite
     lobes, and alternate with them. 
GENTIANA LUTEA.
Ovary.   One-celled, sometimes rendered apparently two-celled by
    the introfiexed placenta1.  Style united into one or wanting.
    Stigma one—two.
Fruit.  Capsule, many-seeded.
Seeds.  Small.  Embryo straight, with fleshy albumen.
  Flowers conspicuous, terminal or axillary, regular, or sometimes irregular.

                THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Gentiana.   Calyx, five—four-parted or cleft.   Corolla mares-
cent, tubular at base.  Limb, four—five-parted.  Segments either
spreading,  erect or convergent, often furnished  with intermediate,
plicate folds.  Stamens  five—four, inserted  in the  corolla tube.
Stigmas two, revolute or erect.  Style short or wanting.   Capside
two-valved, one-celled, many-seeded.

  Calyx four or five  cleft.  Corol with a tubular base; beHform, without poro's,
four or five cleft.  Stigmas two,  sub.sessile.   Capsule one-celled, oblong. Colu.
mellas two,  longitudinal.  Stcmens but four when the divisions of corol are four.

                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Gentiana Lute a.  Stem tall, strait.   Leaves oval and ovate,
margin smooth.   Cymes  umbellate,  dense-flowered, pedunculate,
axillary and terminal.  Corolla yellow,  rotate.  Segments oblong-
linear,  acuminate, spreading without folds.    •
  Leaves, broad-ovalc, nerved.  Corols, about five-cleft, wheel-form, whorled.

                THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class Pentandria.   Stamens live.  Order Digynia.  Mo
nopetatous.  Stamens inserted on corolla.   Leaves opposite.  Juice
watery.  Capsule one-celled.

                    NATURAL HISTORY.

  Gentian  is said  to owe its name and introduction into medical
use to Gentius, King of Illyria, who  was vanquished by the Ro-
mans more than one hundred and fifty years before Christ,  it is
therefore not noticed by either Hippocrates or Theophrastus, but is
mentioned by Dioscorides and by Pliny.
  Yellow Gentian  is among the most remarkable of the species
which  compose this  genus, both for its  beauty and  great compara-
tive size.   It isfa perennial  plant found  growing  on the Alps, of- 
GENTIANA LUTEA.
 Switzerland and Austria,  the  Apennines, the Pyrenees and  other
 mountainous or elevated regions of Europe.   In  Switzerland and
 Germany it occupies extensive  tracts  of  ground untouched by any
 cattle. ■The rootis thick, long and cylindrical.   The lower leaves
 are petiolate, large, spear-shaped,  stiff and having five large veins
 on the back, plaited and  of a  yellowish green color;  those of the
 stem  are  concave, smooth and egg-shaped, sessile and almost em-
 bracing the stem, which rises three or four feet in height. The flow-
 ers are in whorls at the upper joints,  large, yellow, peduncled and
 beautiful.  The calyx, which is a membranous, deciduous spathe,
 bursas on the side  when  the flower opens.  The corolla is rotated,
 divined into five or eight narrow spreading segments, elliptical and
 speckled with  many  thick  dots.   The filaments are shorter than
 the corolla, and furnished with long, erect anthers.  The  germen
 is conical, crowned with two sessile,  reflected  stigmas, and becomes
 a conical capsule, which contains numerous small seeds.
   The  plant is very handsome, and often cultivated both for orna-
 ment and for the sake of its powerfully tonic virtues.  Most of the
 species succeed well in a light rich soil, but a few require peat, and
 some must be grown  in pots  to be  protected by  frames in winter.
 Some of them  may be increased by dividing at the root,  but most
 of them seed  freely.   The seeds  should be  sown as soon as ripe,
 Chey will then quickly vegetate, but if left till spring before they are
 sown, they will not come up till the second year.  [Bot. Cult.  371.)
   Gentian roots are imported from  Germany ;  they are in pieces of
 various dimensions and shape, usually of considerable length, con-
 sisting sometimes of longitudinal slices,  sometimes of the root cut
 transversely, twisted,  wrinkled externally, sometimes marked with <
 close transverse rings  of a grayish-brown color on the  outside, yel-
 lowish Or reddish within, and of a soft spongy  texture.

  CHEMICAL  AND  MEDICAL  PROPERTIES &ND USES.

   Gentian roots have  no particular odor,  and  the  taste is intensely
 bitter without being nauseous.  When cut transversely the pieces
 exhibit a yellow maculated heart, with thick bark verging to brown.
 The sensible qualities of  Gentian root are extracted  by ether,  alco-
hol and water.   The two former extract a resin and a bitter extrac-
tive matter, and the  latter  some part of these and a considerable
 quantity of mucilage also, which occasions the infusion often to be-
 come ropy.  Diluted alcohol is its proper menstruum.  In the bitter
extractive the virtues of the plant seem to reside.   According to the 
fJENTlANA LLTEA.
analysis of M. M. Henry, sen., and Caventon, Gentian contains ati
odorous, very fleeting principle, a yellow bitter principle, which they
named Geutianin, a substance resembling birdlime, a greenish oily
matter,  a free organic acid,  a saccharine principle, gum, t tawny
coloring matter and woody fibre.  Journ. de Physique, vol. 84, 245.
  Professor On I k of Konigsberg gives the following process for iso-
lating  the bittjer  principle.   The alcoholic extract is macerated in
water,  and the  solution,  having  been subjected to the  vinous fer-
mentation in order to separate the sugar,  is treated  first with ace-
tate of lead, and then after filtration with subacetate  of  lead and a
very little ammonia, in order to  precipitate the  combination o^the
vegetable principle with oxide of lead, care being taken not Wuse
too much ammonia, lest by its stronger basic powers it should sepa-
rate the vegetable principle from the oxide.   The precipitate thus
obtained is washed with a little water, then mixed with a large pro-
portion of the same fluid and decomposed  by hydro-sulphuric acid.
The liquid having been filtered, is evaporated with a  gentle heat to
dryness and  the residue treated with alcohol of 0.820.  The alco-
holic  solution being evaporated yields  the  bitter principle, which
ought to receive the name of Gentianin.   Tt is  a  brownish )Tellow,
uncrystallizable substance, having in a high^degree the  very  bitter
taste of the root.   It is almost insoluble in absolute alcohol, but so-
luble in ordinary alcohol, and very soluble in water.   It reddens lit-
mus,  and appears to possess  acid properties.
   Gentian root is tonic, stomachic, and in large doses aperient.  In
very large doses it is apt to load and oppress the stomach, to irritate
the bowels, and even to occasion nausea and  vomiting.   Its use as a
stomachic bitter is of a very antient date and is still perhaps the most
generally employed of this class of medicines.  Many of the com-
plex preparations handed down from the Greeks and  Arabians con-
tain it among their ingredients, and it enters into  most of the  stom-
achic combinations employed in modern  practice.   It may  be used
in all cases of disease dependent on  pure debility of the digestive
organs or requiring a general tonic impression.  It has been found
beneficial in dyspepsia, gout, hysteria and jaundice. It  is some-
times joined with the cinchona in intermittents, and according to
the circumstances of the cases for which it is prescribed direct, it may
be combined  with orange-peel, chalybeates, aromatics, squill, mine-
ral acids and neutral salts.   On account of its  antiseptic effects on
dead animal  matter its powder has been used externally as an  ap-
plication to malignant and sloughing ulcers.  The forms in which
it is generally given are infusion and tincture. 
 
 
 
             N? 61.
SFK&TBMA MMIILArnDIIiCA
   Pink-root Worm-grass Sec. 
::;■».!■>■«,.- -J.
      •■■■ "<■'?
 ____  ______^  u^om uio iuuc «ji  iuc ouiuAia, oi^uai ill uuiuwe?
and alternate with its segments. 
 
                  RUBIACE^'.

             «/H u d, d, e r w o r t s.

                          N°- 6 1.

            SFIGEL3A MARYLANDICA.

                  Pink-root.  Worm-grass.

     Place—United States.
     Quality^— Foetid.
     Power—Anthelmintic, narcotic.
     Use—Worms, intermittent fevers, &c,

                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

       Natural Order.  Stellatae—L.  Gentianse—J.
       Class V. Pentandria.   Order Monogynia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 249.  Willd. Sp. PL i. 824.  Bigelow Med. Bot. i. 146.  Barton
Veg. Mat. Bot. ii. 75.  Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 89.  Griff.  Med. Bot. 466.  Per. El.
Med. Bot. ii. 354.

                    Genus.  SPIGELIA.

  Named after Adrian Spigelicts, a celebrated Professor of Anatomy at Padua;
author of Isagoge in rem Herbarium, who died in 1625.
  Synonymes.—Spigeliede Maryland (F.), Spigelie (Ger.), Spigelia (/;)

               THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Tube more  or less adherent, (superior or half superior,)
    Limb four—five cleft.
Corolla.   Regular, inserted upon the calyx tube,  and of the same
    number of divisions.
Stamens.  Inserted upon the tube of the corolla, equal in numbef
    and alternate with its segments. 
SPIGELIA MARYLANDICA.
 Ovary.   Two-(rarely more)  celled.  Style  single or partly  di-
     vided.
 Fruit.   Various'.
 Seeds.   One, few or many in each cell.

                THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Spigelia.   Calyx five-parted.   Segments linear-subulate.  Co-
 rona narrowly funnel-form. Limb five-cleft, equal.  Stamens'five.
 Anthers convergent.   Capsule didymous, two-celled, few-seeded.

   Calyx five-parted.  Corolla funnel-form.  Border  eqaally five-cleft.  Anthers
 converging. Capsule twinned, two-celled, four-valved, many-seeded.

                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Spigelia Marylandica.  Erect, simple, nearly glabrous*.  Stem
 square. Leaves sessile, ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate.  Mar-
 gin and veins scabrous-pilose.  Spikes three—eight flowered. Co-
 rolla,  tube  four times longer than the calyx.  Anthers  exserted.
 Lobes of the corolla lanceolate.  Capsule  glabrous, shorter than
 the calyx.
  Stem four-sided. Leaves all opposite, sessile, lance-ovate, entire.

                THE  ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

   Class  Pentandria.   Stamens  five.   Order Monogynia.
 Ovary inferior.  Monopetalous.   Ovary two or three-celled.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   The Pink-root, not less celebrated for its superior efficacy  in
 medicine, than admired for its beauty, is a native of the Southern
 and Southwestern States, and has become rare as  far North as Vir-
 ginia.  It delights in dry rich soils, on the  borders of woods, and
 flowers from May to July.  The plant is rather difficult in its culti-
 vation.  It requires to  be grown in a pot that  it may be protected
 from frosts or too much wet.  It  will,  however, sometimes  survive
 the winter when planted in the open ground  in a bed of peat. The
best soil  for it is an  equal mixture of loam and  peat, and young
 cuttings planted under a hand-glass will root readily.
  The root consists of a great number of slender fibres, whicb are
 yellow.   The stems are annual,  numerous, somewhat four-angled,
smooth, of a purplish  color, and about seven  or eight inches in 
spigelia marylandica.
 height.   The leaves are opposite, sessile, ovate-lanceolate, quite en-
 tire,  smooth and spreading.   The  flowers are in a solitary spike,
 with small opposite bracts.   The calyx consists of five awl-shaped
 persistent leaflets.   The  corolla is  of a bright red color on the out-
 side  and deep  orange within, pentangular above, gibbous at  the
 throat, and widening at the base, with the border five-parted. The
 segments are lanceolate and revolute.  The stamens are five, short-
 er than the corolla,  supporting sagittate, converging anthers. The
 germen is superior  with a round style, jointed below,  with the upper
 part deciduous.   The seeds are angular and rugged.
   The properties of this plant were learned from the Cherokee and
 Creek Indians,  who became acquainted with them under the name
 of Unsleetla, according to Dr. Garden, about 1723;  and they were
 made known to the profession about 1740.  These Indians collect-
 ed the plant and disposed of  it to the white traders.  They packed
 it in casks, or more commonly in large  bales weighing from 300 to
 350 pounds.  That contained in casks is to be preferred as less lia-
 ble to become damp and mouldy.  In consequence of the imperfect
 manner in which the plant is dried, it seldom happens that packages
 reach the market free  from  dirt and mouldiness,  and having the
 stalks of  a bright color.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

   Pink-root is a  powerful and certain anthelmintic.  The whole
 plant is  possessed of this property,  but the root being the most ac-
 tive is generally employed, and this is most  striking when in a fresh
 state, as there is no article that deteriorates more by exposure and
 keeping.  The odor is very feeble and the  taste sweetish bitter and
 unpleasant.  It  has been frequently analyzed by several eminent
 Chemists  and Practitioners, who have  found  it to contain an oil,
 acrid  resin,  a bitter extractive, (on which  the vermifuge power  is
 supposed to depend,) tannin, gallic acid, some  salts, &c.
   In conjunction with its anthelmintic qualities, however, the plant
 also sometimes displays those of a purgative, and all its virtues have
 been attributed by some writers to this action ; but this is erroneous,
 as it manifests its peculiar power on  the worms, without exciting an
 increased  action of the intestines, and  hence  the usual practice of
 prescribing a purge  after the  exhibition  of  Spigelia.  It is more
probable  that the vermifuge qualities of the plant depend on the
same  principle that induces the narcotic symptoms, to which it oc-
casionally gives rise. These are dimness of sight, giddiness, dilated 
SPIGELIA MARYLANDICA.
pupil, spasmodic motions of the muscles of the eyes, and even con-
vulsions.  These symptoms, following the administration of Spige-
lia, have been thought to depend either on the roots of some other
plant gathered with the Pink-root, or  on some  parasitic vine that
had attached itself to it.   These suggestions,  however, have both
been proved to be erroneous, and that the root itself is narcotic.
  The use of Spigelia has not been confined to the expulsion of
worms.   As early as  1763, Dr. Garden, in  correspondence with
Dr. Hope, states that he had given it with  great success in febrile at-
tacks, apparently arising from a disordered condition of the stomach
and bowels ;  this is also confirmed  by Dr. Ives, and in fact almost
every practitioner must have met with proofs of its efficacy in those
febrile complaints in children, arising from irritation of the bowels
from any cause.  Rafinesque mentions that  it is used  among the
Osage Indians as a sudorific and sedative in acute diseases.
  As an  anthelmintic, however, it is more generally prescribed than
any other article in this country, and in most cases with unequivo-
cal  success,  and without  the production of any unpleasant symp-
toms.  It may be given in powder or infusion,  the dose of the first
of which for children is from ten to twenty grains.  The infusion is
by far the best mode of administration; this is made with  an ounce
of the root  to a pint of water, the dose of which is from an ounce
to two ounces for a child.  One of the best methods is to give a full
dose at bed time and an active purgative  in the morning, as in this
way any narcotic symptoms it may display do not cause uneasiness.
  The most general plan is to give  it in combination, especially
with Setma; this  forms a well known nostrum called  Worm-tea,
for  which there are several recipes, differing only in the quantities of
the ingredients.  It usually purges actively and does not excite nar-
cotic symptoms.  The syrup is also an efficacious form of preparation.
  In the ordinary dose (one or two drachms for adults) Spigelia
has very  little sensible effect on the system, though it may act effi-
caciously as an anthelmintic. In larger  doses it appears to operate
as an irritant to the gastro-intestinal canal smd gives rise to purging
and sometimes to vomiting, though its effects in this way are very
uncertain.  In poisonous doses it operates as-a cerebro-spinant or
narcotic,  giving rise  to violent narcotic symptoms already noticed.
The narcotic effects are said to be less apt to occur when the medi-
cine purges, and to be altogether obviated by combining it  with ca-
thartics.  The danger from its employment cannot be great, as it is
in very general use both in regular and domestic practice, and seri-
ous consequences at present are unknown. 
 
/ 
 
        f^P 62






Common Wine Grape. 
* S* $»*>  i ■
T,;W.V'T "'
Pent».
t  seq.
lants.
ncia.
9 and
(/•),
isk,
ind
uvaky.  superior, two-celled.  Style one, very short. 
4
    i
 i
l$t'
■%:'<&'' 
                    VITACEjE.


                Grape-vines.



                          N°- 62.


                   VITIS  VINirERA.


                   Common Wine Grape.


     Place—All the temperate parts of the World.

     Quality—Acrid, rather styptic.

     Power—Sub-astringent.

     Use—Intermittent and putrid fevers,  and as a corroborant.


                  BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


      Natural Order.   Hederacese—L.   Vitaceae—J.

       Class V.  Pentandria.  Order  Monogynia.


  Lin. Sp. PL 293. Willd. Sp. PL i. 1180. Raf.  %ed. Slot. ii. 121 et seq.
 Griff. Med. Bot. 221.  Per. EL Med. Bot. ii. 641.


                      "Genus.  VITIS.

  Fiom Lat. Vieo, to bind, because its tendrils take hold of the neighboring plants.
 Or from the Celtic Gwyd, a tree or shrab. The G being suppressed in pronuncia.
 tion according to the usage of Celtic nations, the Latins have made of it'vitis and
 the English vine.

  Synonymes—La vigne (F.), Der weinstock (Ger.), Wyngaard (Dutch), Vite (/.),
 Vid (S.), Anceb  (Arab.), Winograd (Russ.),  Winna macica (Pol.)


                THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.


 Calyx.  Minute, nearly  entire or five-toothed.

 Corolla.  Petals  four—five, inserted on  the outside of the disk,

    valvate and infiexed in.aestivation, often cohering above and

    caducous.

Stamens.  Four—five, opposite the petals, inserted on the disk.

Ovary.  Superior,  two-celled.  Style one,  very short. 
VITIS VINIFERA.
Fruit.  A berry, globose, pulpy.
Seeds.  Bony.

                THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Vitis.   Petals deciduous, cohering at the  top  or  distinct and
spreading.    Ovary  partly enclosed within the  torus, two-celled.
Cells  two-ovuled.   Stigma  sessile, capitate.   Berry one-celled,
one^—four-seeded.

  Calyx five.toothed, minute.  Petals cohering at the tip,  hood-like, withering.
Styles wanting.  Stigma obtuse,  capitate.  Berry five-seeded, globular, often
disecious.  Seeds sub-cordate.

                 THE  SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.

  Vitis Vinifera.  Leaves cordate,  sinnately  five-lobed, gla-
brous or tomentose.  Flowers all perfect.

  Leaves sinnate.lobed, naked or downy.

                THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class  Pentandria.  Stamens five.   Order Monogynia.
Polypetalous.   Flowers inferior, regular.   Stamens opposite to the
petals.   Shrubs.   Stem climbing.   Calyx sub-entire.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

  The Vine is a native of Armenia, Georgia, and the Levant;  but
it is now found in all the temperate regions of the earth, and is cul-
tivated with care  wherever its fruit can be brought to perfection.  In
France, the northern limit of the vine is stated to be 50° 20'.   In
Thuringia, Saxony and Siberia it is 51°, but towards  the east it is
lower,  for though Hungary has much wine, yet Galicia has none,
and in the southern parts  of the Russian empire it ascends no high-
er than 48°.   In  America the vine is  cultivated in the Southern
States  only, extending no  farther north than 38°.  The limit south-
ward in the northern hemisphere is properly 15°, but  in the high
mountainous island  of St. Thomas, on the coast  of Guinea,  in
Abyssinia and in the Deccan, it is found almost under the equator.
In  the southern  hemisphere,  its southern limits  are 37°.  The
greatest altitude,  in 45° latitude,  is 2460 feet, in  the north of Swit-
zerland, 1700  feet,  on  the  Alpine range  2000 feet, in Madeira 
VITIS VINIFERA.
2030 feet, in Teneriffe  2500 feet, and  on the Apennines and  in
Sicily 3000 feet.
   Its culture is supposed  to have been introduced  from the east,
where it was cultivated,  and wine made from the fruit in the ear-
liest ages.   We are told that Noah, after coming out of the ark,
planted a vineyard and drank of the wine and was drunken.  Gen.
ix. 20, 21.  It extended into Italy about 600 years after the founda-
tion of Rome, and  thence to Burgundy in  the time of the Anto-
nines.  It was introduced into Madeira from the island of Cyprus
in the fifteenth century.  In Great Britain the vine was cultivated
before the year 731 when Bede  finished his  history, and although
it was at one period brought to considerable perfection  yet its culti-
vation is now chiefly •onfined to the garden,  and as a dessert fiuit.
   The  vine has a slender,  twisted, climbing stem, covered with a
rough,  peeling, fibrous bark.  The leaves are  lobed and sinuated,
serrated,  and placed alternately on long  footstalks.  The flowers,
which appear in June  and July, are small and produced in clusters,
attended  by tendrils.  The calyx is very minute.   The petals are
of a greenish-white  color,  adherent  at their apices,  and soon fall
off, like a little cap, from  the anthers which then spread and shed
their pollen.   The fruit is a  succulent, globular berry,  one-celled
when ripe, naturally containing  five seeds, but in general only two,
which are hard and of an irregular form.  There are many varie-
ties of the vine; that which is called the Alexandrian Frontignac
yields the most delicious  grapes for eating,  and the Syria7i the lar-
gest bunches.-  This is supposed to be the sort of grape which the
spies sent by Moses to examine Canaan,  cut down at  the brook
Eshcol  " a branch with  one cluster of grapes, and they bare  it be-
tween two upon a staff."  Num. xiii. 23.  Strabo relates that in Mar-
giana bunches of  grapes were produced two cubits or a yard long,
and in  some of the Archipelago islands they weigh from thirty  to
forty pounds.  The Syrian  grape has produced in England bunches
weighing nineteen pounds and a half.  There is a grape cultivated
in Madeira as a dessert fruit, the clusters of which sometimes weigh
Iwenty pounds.
   The Vitis Vinifera has become naturalized in most temperate
climates,  but is supposed not to be indigenous to the United States.
No plant in the vegetable kingdom possesses more interesting attri-
butes, is cultivated with greater care, or has been worse perverted or
abused by mankind than the common vine.  By cultivation it sports
into endless varieties, differing in the form, color, size and flavor of
the fruit, and in respect to the hardiness of its constitution. In New 
VITIS VINIFERA.
England its cultivation is very confined, but there are extensive vine-
yards in the  middle and western states for the production of wine.

 CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

  The fruit of the vine when recent and fully ripe has an agreea-
ble, cooling, sweet sub-acid  taste.   It contains besides water, sugar,
mucilage  and jelly, albumen, gluten,  tannin, supertartrate of po-
tassa, tartrate of lime,  phosphate of magnesia, muriate of  soda, sul-
phate of potassa, and tartaric, citric and malic acids ; and a mucoso-
saccharine principle which Chaptal  and Proust regard as the con-
stituent on which the fermentative process in bruised grapes depends.
  At one time almost every part of the vin^was recognized as offi-
cinal, and considered as possessed of remedial qualities, but now it is
generally disused.  The leaves, tendrils and young shoots contain
malic and citric acid and some bitartrate of potash;  they are now
principally employed in wine countries to flavor vinegar.  Grapes
are cooling and antiseptic,  and when eaten in  large quantities diu-
retic  and laxative.  They are very useful in febrile diseases, particu-
larly in bilious and putrid  fevers,  dysentery and all inflammatory
affections.  In Syria the juice of ripe grapes inspissated is used in
great quantity in these,diseases. Grapes have been strongly recom-
mended as an article of common diet in phthisis, and they certainly
contain much bland nutritious matter well fitted for phthisical habits.
  Raisins are made from the  varieties named  the black raisin
grape and the white raisin grape.  They are cured in two meth-
ods,  either by cutting the stalk of  the bunches half through, when
the grapes are nearly ripe, and leaving them suspended on the vine
till their watery part be evaporated and the sun dries  and candies
them; or  by  gathering  the grapes when  they are fully ripe, and
dipping them.in a ley made of the ashes of the burnt tendrils, after
which they are exposed to the sun to dry.  Those  cured in the first
method are most esteemed.
  Raisins differ from  grapes chiefly in the quantity of saccharine
matter being  more  abundant.  They are more laxative  than  the
fresh fruit, and are apt  to  prove flatulent when eaten in any con-
siderable quantity. They are frequently used as an adjunct to some
officinal preparations, -but they add .nothing to their efficacy.
  The juice of the grape consists of  principles, which when left to
themselves for a short-time undergo many important reactions, and
their elements assume  a new arrangement, forming two new com-
pounds, wine and acetic acid. 
 
                Xc 63.
TIRI © §T!E T?l  TE WW <BJa IATUTM
    Forcrwort, Wild. Coffee. &c. 
 

 
           CAPRIFOLIACEJ!.

             Ho n e'y suc&les.

                        N°- 63.

            TRIOSTEUM PERFOLIATUM.

              Fever-wort.  Wild coffee, &c.

    Place—United  States.
    Quality—Bitter.
    Power—Cathartic, tonic.
    Use—Intermittent fevers, ague.

                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

   Natural Order.  Aggregate—L.   CaprifoKaCese—J.
      Class V. Pentandria",  Order Monogynia.

  Lin. Sp. PL 250.  Willd. Sp. PL i.  990.  Bigelow, Med. Bot. i. 90.  Barton,
Veg. Mat. Bot. i. 59. Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 269.  T. & G. Flora, ii. 12. Gri&
Med. Bot. 352.

                 Genus.  TRIOSTEUM.

  Fiom Greek Treis, three, and Osteon, bone; three bones, on account of its
three bony seeds.
  Synonymes.—

               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Adherent to the ovary  (superior).  The limb five-(rarely
    four) cleft or toothed.
Corolla.  Tubular or rotate, regular or irregular.
Stamens.   As many, or one less than as many as the lobes of the
    corolla,  alternate with them, and inserted on the tube.
Ovary.  Three-(rarely four or five) celled.  Style one.  Stigma
    one—four. 
                  TRIOSTEUM PERFOLIATUM.

Fruit.  Baceate, fleshy or dry, crowned with the persistent calyx
     lobes.
Seeds.  Pendulous!

                THE SECONDARY  CHARACTERS.

  Triosteum.   Calyx tube ovoid.  Limb five-parted.  Segments
linear, nearly as long as the corolla.  Corolla tubular, gibbous at
base.  Limb five-lobed,  sub-equal.  Stamens five, included.  Stig-
ma  capitate, lobed.   Fruit  drupaceous,  crowned with the calyx,
three-celled, three-seeded.  Seeds ribbed,  bony.

  Calyx permanent, of the length of the  corol, five-clcft, with linear divisions.
Corol tubular, five-lobed, sub-equal, gibbous at- the base.  Stigma capitate, sab.
five-lobed. Berry three-celled, three-seeded.

                  THE  SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  TriosteUm Perfoliate.   Leaves oval-acuminate, connate.
Flowers axillary, verticiilate or clustered.

  Leaves  oval, acuminate,  connate, sub-pubesceat  beneath.   Flower? sessile,
whorled.  Berries purple or yellow.

                 THE ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

  Class  Pentandria.  Stamens five.   Order  Monogynia.
Monopetalous.   Flowers  superior.  Corolla  rotate or urn-shaped.
Seeds in a drupe or berry.  Shrubs, with opposite leaves, and  no
stipules.

                    NATURAL HISTORY.

  The Triosteum Perfoliatum is a  coarse unattractive plan:.
growing in rocky woods.  It delights in rich limestone soil, on rocky
or stony ground,  preferring the shade, though it is frequently found
in different situations.  Its range is  from New England to  Carolina,
and probably farther.  It flowers in June and July, and  the seeds
ripen in September.
  The root is perennial, horizontal, about eighteen inches  or two
feet  long, three-quarters of an inch in diameter,  and fleshy, nearly
of a uniform thickness from the extremity to within two or three
inches of the origin of the stems.   At this place it is contorted, tu-
berculatcd, or gibbous, and of a brownish color.   The color of the
horizontal  caudex is yellow-ochre  without and  whitish internally, 
                   TRIOSTEUM PERFOLIATUM.
  •
 and  the  fibres which proceed from it are of an ochroleucous hue.
 These are sometimes so large that they may be considered rather as
 branches or forks of the main root.  The plant is from two to three
 feet high, and bushy, several stems arising from the same root.  In
 favorable situations it sometimes attains four feet in  height.  The
 stems are about three-eighths of an inch in diameter,  simple, stout,
 erect,  cylindrical,  hollow, pubescent and of a  green color inversed
 with soft clammy hairs.   The leaves are large, oblong oval, acumi-
 nate, somewhat panduriform towards their base, where they become
 suddenly narrowed. They are mostly connate until they approach
 the fourth pair from the top; these upper ones  are more attenuated
 at their bases and rather amplexicaule.  The under  surface of all
 the leaves is covered with a soft  dense bluish-white pubescence, con-
 spicuously apparent on the  middle rib  and nerves.  On their upper
 surface,  though the pubescence cannot be observed readily  by  the
 naked eye; it is  discernible  by  the  glass more sparse than below.
 The nerves are numerous and commonly alternate as respects thek
 union with the costa.  The two uppermost pairs of leaves are small
 and closely convoluted while the plant is in flower.   After the  flo-
 rescence is past, they are developed to  the full size of  the others, or
 become rather broader at their middle,  and assume a brownish-pur-
 ple color; sometimes the whole plant may be of this hue, though ira
 general it is confined to the upper  portion.  The flowers are  axilla-
 ry, sessile, and arranged  in triplets  round the stem, appearing
 whorled.   The corolla is reddish-purple above, slfriated below with1
 lake  blended into  white, an J every where covered with a dense pu-
 bescence.  It is tubular,  curved, and widest at the top, where it is
 divided into five aurieulated segments or lobes, the latinise being cor-
 date and closed on each other.   The lower end of the tube termi-
 nates in an abrupt gibbosity, which is articulated with the germ.
 The stamens are five in number, inclosed within the corolla and  al-
 ternate with the lobes or laciniae.  The  pistil is somewhat longer
 than the stamens, and  appears conspicuously above the corolla.
 Stigma oblong.  The calyx is composed of five linear3  segments ob-
 scurely ciliated on their margins, of  a dark purplish color and half
 an inch long.  The germ to which they  are articulated is beneath,.
 and garnished with a single green bract, longer and broader than the
 calyx leaves and proceeding from its  base.  The berries succeed to
 the flowers, generally in the number  of six to each axil, sometimes
there are but three, but occasionally nine in luxuriant plants.  They
are ovate, orange-colored  when mature, with three divisions, and
contain three bony nuts or seeds. 
TRIOSTEUM PERFOLIATUM.
  CHEMICAL AM) MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   The root of the Triosteum Perfoliatum is the only officinal
 part.  When dry it is brittle and readily pulverized.  The  odor is
 nauseous and the taste bitter and unpleasant.  Its  active principles
 yield both to water and alcohol,  and are retained in the extract.
   Fever-wort is a mild cathartic, and sometimes operates as an eme-
 tic,  especially when  the  fresh root is given,  or when the dried root
 is administered in large doses.   It has been said on some occasions
 to operate as a diuretic \ but Professor Barton, who observed this
' effect, justly remarks that  this may have been only an accidental
 circumstance, rhubarb having been known  by C.  Piso to produce
 the  same effect.  Its operation as a cathartic is safe, mild and tho-
 rough.  It excites a  motion of the bowels the nearest to the natural
 peristaltic motion of  any purgative which has ever  been discovered.
 It often insinuates itself through the obstructed portions of the bow-
 els better than  more powerful purgatives.  In the  disorders of the
 bowels, such as dysentery, diarrhoea, and cholera morbus, the Tri-
 osteum Perfoliatum is a charming remedy.  It may  be used in
 all cases where it is wished to act gently on the bowels either alone
 or in combination.  One of the common vulgar names of this plant,
 Bastard Ipecacuanha, indicates also the well known emetic power
 which it unquestionably possesses.  Shoepf speaks of it as an emetic
 only, and alludes to its use in intermittent fevers and pleurisy.   A-
 mong the almost countless number of medicinal substances that have
 been employed to a  greater or less extent to alleviate suffering  and
 cure disease, perhaps there  is none more valuable or more generally
 applicable in the treatment of the divers diseases to which man is
 subject than a  safe,  prompt and efficient emetic.   The safety and
 efficacy of Fever-icort as an emetic, and the great number of acci-
 dents and diseases requiring a medicine of this description entitle it,
 therefore, to rank high with the profession.   Rafinesque mentions
 that the leaves  of this plant are diaphoretic.   They have a tendency
 to increase the secretions, and consequently they possess the property
 of raising a sweat in a considerable degree.   In fevers the plant is
 one of the most valuable articles in the catalogue of medicines.  By
 way of eminence it is called Fever-wort.
  The extract,  which is  the best mode of exhibiting Triosteum
 Perfoliatum, purges in doses of from ten to fifteen grains. . Five
 pounds of the root are said to afford two pounds of extract.   The
 dose of the powder is a scruple to half a drachm. 
 
 
 
              N?. 64
 IPAFATT, R S 'D 1> I lv 1F E ffi I? M •
Poppy, Garden-poppv, White-poppy 
'vEM.
¥* O p / •
,;  k-  f
i\di'•:■■■.
 ir..,-;:  vi.vi.  ;
,.   Jr.;
i. .■"'..  ;•/. 7V...  W.n-i
 ■.(,■■  '-i'l'. .'lf«</. ,';<;
:;,   .T-inci. /•'/«-. 5f-;. ':
PAPAVKK
-It;  jiavol ■:/.;. '''
 ■■ .-■' i, p.-.. -;- >'
adelphous.   Anthers innate. 
1; 
             PAPAVERACEtE.


               t*oppy w orts.



                         N°-64.


             PAPAVER  SOMKriFEBUM;


            Poppy.  Garden poppy,  White poppy.


    Place—Europe.

    Quality—Somewhat bitter.

    Power—Narcotic, anodyne.

    Use—Pleurisy,  catarrh.


                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


    Natural Order.   Rhceadeee—L.  Papaveracese—J.

      Class XIII.  Polyandria,  Order Monogynia.


  Linn. Sp. PL 726. Willd. Sp. PL ii. 1144.  Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 250.  T. &, G.
Flora, i. 60.  Griff. Med. Bot. 121. Lind. Flor. Med. 15.  Per. El. Med. Bot. 688.


                    Genus,   PAP AVER.


  From the Celtic Papa, which shjniges pap, or the soft food given to children, ia
which the seeds were formerly boiled to make the infants sleep.

  Synonymks.—Le pavot (P.), Der  mohn (.Ger.),  Maankop (Dutch), Papavero
(7.), Adormidera (S.), Papoila (P.),  Post (Ind.), Mak (Russ. and Pol.), Vaimue
(Dan.)


               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.


Calyx.  Sepals two, rarely three,  deciduous, imbricated in aesti-

    vation.
Corolla.  Petals four, rarely five or sir, hypogynous.

Stamens.   Often wanting, but some multiple of four, rarely poly-

    adelphous.  Anthers innate. 
PAPAVER  SOMNIFERUM.
 Ovary.  Solitary.   Style short or wanting.   Stigmas two, or if
     more, stellate upon the fiat apex of ovary.
 Fruit.   Either pod-shaped, with two parietal placentae, or capsu-
     lar with several.
 Seeds.  Indefinite or numerous, minute.   Embryo  minute at the
     base of oily albumen.

                THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Papaver.  Sepals two, caducous.  Petals four.  Stamens in-
 definite or numerous.   Capsule one-celled, opening by pores under
 the broad, persistent stigma.
  Calyx two.leaved, caducous.  Corol four-petaled.  Stigma a broad disk, with ra-
 diating lines.  Capsule one-celled, dehiscent by pores under the permanent stigma.

                 THE  SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Papaver  Somniferum.   Glabrous and glaucous.  Leaves
clasping, incised and dentate.   Sepals glabrous.  Capsule globose.
  Calyx and Capsule glabrous.  Leaves clasping, gashed, glauceous.

               THE  ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class  Polyandria.   Stamens twenty or more, arising  from
receptacle (hypogynous).   Order  Monogynia.   Ovaries  com-
pound.   Placentas parietal.  Sepals  two  or three.   Juice colored
(except in the exotic Chryseis).

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   The  somniferous or white poppy is a  native of Asia, and has
become naturalized  in  Europe and in the United  States.  It was
well known to the ancients, and  is spoken of by Homer as then
cultivated in gardens, perhaps at first, solely for the sake of its seed,
which was used as food.   It is now extensively cultivated in most of
the states of Eyrope, not only on account  of  the opium for which
it is reared in Turkey, Persia and India, but also on account of the
capsules, and of the bland oil obtained from the seeds.  In the Uni-
ted States it has seldom been grown except as an ornamental  flow-
er, but there is every reason to believe that its cultivation would
prove a very lucrative branch of industry not  only from the opium
that might be obtained, but also from the oil to be procured from the 
PAPAVER somniferum.
 seeds, which is an excellent substitute for that of the olive and is
 much employed to adulterate it.
   Papaver Somniferum is an annual plant, flowering in June
 and July in Europe, and in February in India.  The root is taper-
 ing and white,  tfre whole plant is generally smooth,  though some-
 times there are a few rigid hairs on the upper J)art of the stem. The
 stem is  glaucous,  colored,  smooth, erect and  round, somewhat
 branched, leafy, rising to the height of two, three or four feet, when
 in a favorable situation.  The leaves are large, simple, obtuse, lobed
 and orenated, and embracing the stem on which they are alternate-
 ly placed..   The flowers are large, various in color and supported on
 long terminal footstalks.  The calyx is formed of two smooth ovate,
 bifid, concave  leaves, that drop on  the expanding of the petals,
 which are four in number,  large, roundish, entire, somewhat undu-
 lated and white, occasionally of a silver-grey color, and tinged with
 violet at the base.  The filaments are very numerous, slender, short-
 er than the  corolla,  and support erect compressed anthers; and the
 germen, which is  globular and  smooth, is crowned with a many-
 rayed  stigma.   The  capsule, which stands  on  a  short pedicel,  is
 globular when  well grown, smooth, glaucous, from two to four inch-
-es in diameter, a little flattened at the tap and bottom, and crowned
■with the persistent stigma, the segments of which  stand erect and
 have an elegant appearance.  The seeds  are small and indefinite,
 white or grey, reniform and very  numerous;  they escape when ripe
ithrough small openings under,the points of the stigma.

 •CHEMICAL  AND  MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   All parts  of the  Poppy except the seeds  (which are alimentary
and not narcotic) contain a white opaque narcotic juice, which, how-
ever, abounds  more in  the capsules, and hence these are the only
officinal parts of the plant.  A decoction of the poppy may be made
to answer many of the purposes of opium itself.  In the diseases of
 young children it is far preferable.   The leaves, stalks and heads
 are all possessed of the narcotic principle.  Poultices made with  a
 decoction of  this plant are excellent applications to assuage pain and
 allay anguish in cases of cancer,  ulcers and chronic inflammations.
 The poppy  tea  may be taken in hysterics,  painful  menstruation,
dysentery, diarrhoea, cholera morbus, nervous headache, toothache,
earache, coughs, consumption, and in general any painful disease
where there  is not a high degree of inflammation and fever.
  Opium is  more generally used than any other  remedy.  It is the 
PAPAVER SOMNIFERUM.
inspissated juice of the white poppy.  The juice is a white milky
fluid, which oozes from the leaves, capsules and stalks when they are
slightly cut.
  The juice  of the poppy, exposed for a few days to the sun and
air, thickens  into a stiff, tough mass, which is Opium.   The best
kind of opium comes from Turkey.  It has a peculiar heavy, disa-
greeable smell and a bitter, nauseous, acrid and warming taste.   It
is of a dark-brown color, and when reduced  to powder, yellow.   It
is compact, solid, tenacious, and when broken has a shining frac-
ture.  The best part of it comes in flat pieces,  covered with large
leaves and reddish capsules of a species of rumex probably used  in
packing it.  The round masses without the capsules adhering  to
them, are of  an inferior quality.
  The East India Opium is soft, ductile and about the consistency
of tar.   It has something of a smoky smell,  a darker  color and a
more nauseous and  bitter taste.  It is supposed to be about half the
strength of the Turkey opium.
  Opium  is a powerful narcotic or inducer of sleep, and an astrin-
gent.   No medicine has ever been discovered at all comparable to it
in moderating and relieving pain, or in promoting sleep.  It is soluble
in alcohol, wine, vinegar and water, though  the two last afford but
weak solutions of it.  Its sedative virtue resides in a principle called
morphia or morphine.
  A grain or  two of opium taken into  the stomach, produces a re-
markable  composure of the mind, succeeded by a certain degree of
langor and drowsiness ; the pulse becomes slower, fuller and softer,
all the secretions are in the first instance diminished; the motion of
the bowels is  retarded; the thirst increased  and the mouth dried.
The heat of  the body appears to be increased and the senses ren-
dered dull.   In the course  of three or four  hours a perspiration is
produced.   The narcotic effect of a dose of opium lasts about eight
hours,  and in general a full dose of it cannot be given with safety
oftener than three times in twenty-four hours.  In cases of great pain
and distress it can be given much oftener and in  larger doses.
  The medium dose of opium is one grain,  given in the form of a
pill.  Tt is  often, however, given in doses of from one to three grains.
It operates differently upon different individuals.   In almost all dis-
eases attended with pain, distress and loss of sleep, opium is more or
less used,  and is found of essential service.   In the commencement
of inflammatory diseases it is deemed inadmissible unless its use be-
comes unavoidable from the urgency of  the pain and the entire want
of sleep.  It is generally used in the form of Laudanum or Paregoric. 
 
 
 

                  x\Ts 65
   JElIGrEJM   FIMIE?>:TA .
Allspice,  Jamaica  pepper,  E ay berry  tree. 
f
OTAMkjns.  xuuemme.   jtnt tiers imrorae.   Kuyte auu  Oligma
     simple.
Ovary.   Two or three-celled. 
9

••£V
'tm^m-.-f^'-
^

ii'.V.*-
f-'-f:
   B r&E :T JI A   FIM K^TTA.
Allspice.  Jamaica   pepper, E ay berry  tree 
                 fflYETACE^.

            •Jfly rtleblooms.



                EUGENIA  PIMENTA.

     Pimento.  Allspice, Jamaica, pepper,  Bayberry-tree.

    Place—South America.
     Quality—Aromatic, fragrant.
    Power—Heating, stomachic.
     Use—Spice, condiment in dressing food.

                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

     Natural  Order.  Hesperides—L.  Myrtacese—J.
       Class XII.  Icosandria.  Order Monogynia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 576. Willd. Sp. PL ii.  973.  Griff. Med. Bot. 300.  Lind. Flor.
Med. 76.  Per. El. Med. Bot. ii. 529.

                    Genus.  EUGENIA.

  In honor of Prince Eugene  of« Savoy, who was a protector and encourager of
Botany, and possessed a botanic garden.
  Svnonymks.—Pimente (F.), Gewurzmyrte (Ger.), Pepe dell Giamaica (I.),  Pi.
mienta (S.), Krydd pepper (Swed.)

               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Adherent  below to the compound ovary.  The Limb
    four—five cleft,  valvate.
Corolla.  Petals as many as the segments of the calyx.
Stamens.   Indefinite.   Anthers introrse.   Style and  Stigma
    simple.
Ovary.   Two or three-celled. 
EUGENIA PIMENTA.
Fruit.  A berry.
Seeds.  Numerous. >

               THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Eugenia.  Tube of the Calyx roundish.  Limb divided, as far
as the ovary, into four  segments.   Petals as many as the lobes.
Stamens indefinite, free.  Ovary two or three-celled.  Cells con-
taining many ovules.  Berry nearly globose, crowned by the calyx
when ripe, one, rarely two-celled.   Seeds one or two, somewhat
rounded,  large.   Embryo  spuriously monocotyledanous.   Cotyle-
dons very thick, combined into one mass.  Radicle scarcely dis-
tinct,  very short.

                THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Eugenia Pimenta.  Peduncles axillary and terminal, trichoto-
mous-paniculate.  Flowers four-cleft, in  the forks of the peduncle,
nearly sessile, others paniculate.  Leaves oblong or oval, pellucid-
dotted, somewhat opaque, smooth.  Branches terete.  Branchlets
compressed, the younger ones as well as the pedicles pubescent.

               THE  ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class Icosandria.  Stamens  twenty or more, arising from
the calyx (perigymous).   Order Monogynia.  Leaves opposite
not succulent.   Ovary adherent (inferior).  Leaves punctate.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

  Eugenia Pimenta is a native of South America, where it is
called Pumake (in the Maypure language), and of the West India
Islands and Mexico.  It  grows  very abundantly on the hilly parts,
on the north side of the island of Jamaica, whence its fruit received
the name of Jamaica pepper.  It flowers in June, July and August,
and soon afterwards ripens its fruit.
  The tree is beautiful and handsome, rising in height about thirty
feet, straight, branching, and  covered with  a very smooth  grey
bark.  The leaves, which are supported on footstalks at the ends of
the twigs, are elliptical, pointed, of different sizes, but the  largest
are five inches long and two broad in the middle, smooth,  thin, en-
tire, shining,  and of a deep green color.   The foliage in general is
dense and ever-verdant and at  all times gives the tree a refreshing 
EUGENIA PIMENTA.
appearance.  The  flowers are produced in terminal bunches, or
rather trichotomous panicles.   The calyx is four-cleft.   The petals
four, reflected, of a pale green color, enclosing many longer spread-
ing filaments of the  same color, supporting pale  yellow roundish
anthers.  The fruit is a spherical berry, crowned with the persistent
calyx; when ripe it is black or dark purple, smooth, shining and
hilocular, with the seeds enveloped in a moist green pungent aroma-
tic pulp.   When the  berries  ripen they lose much  of the aromatic
warmth for which they are esteemed, and acquire a taste similar to
that of juniper-berries.  The tree  exhales  an  aromatic fragrance,
especially during the summer months, when it is in flower.
  Jamaica pepper, commonly called Allspice, from the  taste be-
ing thought to resemble a composition of all other spices,  is about
the size  of, or somewhat  larger than a  peppercorn.   It is round,
brown, dull, roughish but not wrinkled, crowned with the segments
of the calyx, and occasionally though rarely has a short pedicel. It
.consists of  an external somewhat hard but brittle shell,  which is
paler within and encloses two dark-brown cochleate seeds.
  The plant begins to bear fruit when three years  old  and arrives
at maturity at seven.   It grows best  in a calcareous  soil, covered
with a light mould.  The berries are gathered before being ripe and
are carefully dried on mats or terraced floors in the shade.  The
first day  or two they are often turned so as to be fully exposed to the
sun.  When they begin  to dry they are frequently winnowed and
are removed under cover at night.   In ten or twelve days or about
two weeks they become  wrinkled, dry and of a dark-brown color,
and are then packed in bags or casks for sale.  Some kiln-dry them
by which the same object is sooner effected.   They have an aro-
matic, agreeable smell, and a strong  clove-like taste.   The  more
fragrant and smaller they are, the better they are accounted.

 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND  USES.

  Eugenia Pimenta has an aromatic, agreeable odor,  resembling
that of a mixture of cinnamon, cloves and nutmegs, with the warm
pungent taste of the cloves, qualities which reside chiefly in the cor-
tical part of  the dried  berry.   Water, alcohol and  ether extract its
virtues.  The watery infusion is of a brown color,  and reddens lit-
mus infusion.   With solution of sulphate  of iron it  immediately
strikes a  deep black color and slowly lets fall a precipitate.   Nitrate
of mercury precipitates it of a yellowish-brown, acetate of lead of a
dirty green, and nitrate of silver of a deep reddish-brown color.  It 
EUGENIA PIMENTA.
is also precipitated by infusion of yellow cinchona bark.  The sul-
phuric and muriatic acids redden it, and throw down pale rose colored
precipitate s. The nitric acid forms no precipitate but gives the infu-
sion a yellow hue.  The alcoholic tincture is rendered  milky and
slowly precipitated by water; the ethereal, when evaporated in wa-
ter, deposits drops of a greenish-yellow volatile oil, a pellicle of a
pungent nauseous-tasted resin, and some extractive.  Hence Jamai-
ca pepper or Allspice  appears  to contain a volatile oil, resin, ex-
tractive, tannin, and gallic acid.  It  is devoid of the fiery taste and
acridity which  distinguish  pepper and  ginger, but in other respects
its effects agree with those of other spices.   The  volatile oil is by far
the most important  of its active principles, yet the resin, extractive
and tannin must contribute very considerably to its operation.
  Allspice is  an energetic stimulant and tonic,  which is generally
used as a  condiment, partly on account  of its flavor,  and partly to
promote the digestion of some kinds of food, which experience has
shown are not  by  themselves easily or  readily  digested.   It is fre-
quently employed with success and  has  proved  useful united with
bitter  substances in  dyspepsia attended with much flatulence and in
arthritic and hysterical or old rheumatic affections.  The watery
infusion, sweetened with sugar and the addition of a little milk,  is
very readily taken by children and is an excellent cordial in malig-
nant  measles,  scarlatina, confluent small-pox and the other exan-
themata when the fever assumes  the typhoid type.  It is also exhi-
bited  advantageously when the eruption is slow to appear, and when
it is necessary to restore the strength of  the  patient.  Its principal
use in medicine is however to cover the  disagreeable taste of other
remedies,  or to  give them warmth.  For this purpose it may be sub-
stituted for any aromatic substance.
  The dose of the berries is from five grains to forty.
  The following are the principal preparations of this medicine :
  Aqua Pimento. Allspice water.  Take of the berries, bruised,
half a pound, water a  pint.   Macerate the berries in the water for
twenty-four hours, and with a sufficient quantity of water to prevent
empyreuma.   Distil a gallon.
  Spiritus PiMENTiE.   Spirit of  Allspice.  Take of the berries
bruised, two ounces, proof spirit a gallon, water sufficient to prevent
empyreuma.   Macerate for twenty-four hours, then  distil a gallon
by  a  gentle heat.
  Oleum  Piment/e.   Oil of Allspice.  Obtained by submitting
the berries, bruised, with water to distillation.
  The medicinal uses of these preparations are very limited. 
 
 
 
             N9 66
F TIP? n (CA  vGrlPl/ilYAT r;v3 
diuretic,
Seeds.  Numerous,
a.

254.  Griff.
02 (Dutch),
tnik (Russ.)
^e Zim&
1 Stigma. 

>5
v,-  ■■>'■ ».
^ 
MYBTACEJ!.
             JMyrtleblooms.

                        N°- 66.

               PTJNICA GMNATUM.

                      Pomegranate.

    Place—Africa, South Europe.
    Quality—Styptic.
    Power—Astringent, relaxing,  anodyne.   Flowers diuretic,
          anthelmintic.
    Use—Headache,  prolapsus, worms.

                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

     Natural Order.  Pomacese—L.   Myrtacese—J.
      Class XII.  Icosandria,  Order  Monogynia.

  Lin. Sp. PL 676. Willd. Sp.  PL  ii. 981. Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 254.  Griff.
Med. Bot. 294.  Lind. Flor. Med. 74.  Per. El. Med. Bot. ii. 533.

                    Genus.   PUNICA.
  Lat. Punica, Carthagenian, or of Carthage, where it first grew.
  Synonymes__Le grenadier (F.), Der granatbaum (Ger.), Granaatboom (Dutch),
Granato (/.), Granado (S.), Romeira (Port.), Rumman (Arab.), Granatnik (Russ.)

               THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Adherent below to the  compound  ovary.  The Limb
    four—five-cleft, valvate.
Corolla.   Petals as  many as the segments of the calyx.
Stamens.  Indefinite.   Anthers  introrse.   Style and Stigma
    simple.
Ovary.  Two or three-celled.
Fruit.  A berry.
Seeds.  Numerous, 
PUNICA GRANATUM.
                the secondary  characters.

   Punica.   Calyx  five-cleft.  Petals  five.   Berry  many-celled,
many-seeded.   Seeds baccate.  Placenta parietal.

  Calyx five-cleft, superior.   Petals  five.   Pome or berry many-celled,  many.
seeded. Rectptaclt parietal.  Seed berried.

                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Punica Granatum.   Arborescent. Leaves, lanceolate, with no
marginal vein, entire, smooth.

  Leaves lanceolate. Stem woody.

                THE ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

   Class  Icosandria.   Stamens  twenty or  more,  arising from
the calyx (perigymous).  Order Monogynia.  Leaves opposite,.
not succulent.  Ovary adherent (inferior).  Leaves punctate.

                   NATURAL  HISTORY.

   The Pomegranate  is a  native of the south of Europe,  Asia
and Barbary, but in the West Indies, where it was introduced from
Europe, the fruit is larger and better flavored than in its native cli-
mates.  It is a shrubby tree, and in favorable situations (its proper
soil is a cretaceous one) it rises twenty feefin height,  with a very
unequal trunk,  sending out  branches from its whole length,  some
of which  bear thorns.  The leaves are opposite, about three inches
long,  half an inch broad  in the middle, pointed at each end, entire,
and of a light,  lucid green color.  The flowers, which stand at the
end of the young branches, are large and sessile, they are three or
four together and make a fine appearance.   The  calyx is  thick,
fleshy, of a  fine red color, and divided  into five pointed segments.
The petals are roundish and wrinkled, inserted into the upper part
of the tube of the calyx, and of a scarlet color.   The fruit, which is
cellular, is a pulpy many-seeded berry, the size of an orange, crown-
ed with the calyx, which is sharply  toothed, globular  and covered
with a thick coriaceous rind.  Much care is requisite for its cultiva-
tion.  It requires a rich loam, a sunny situation, and to be protect-
ed by glass.  This tree grows wild upon  both shores of the Mediter-
ranean, in Arabia, Persia, Bengal, China and Japan.   It has been 
PUNICA GRANATUM.
 introduced into the East and West Indies,  and is cultivated in  all
 civilized countries where the climate is sufficiently warm to allow the
 fruit to riperi. In higher latitudes, where it does not bear fruit it is
 raised in gardens and hot-houses for the beauty of its flowers, which
 may be produced double and acquire increased splendor of coloring
 by the means of  cultivation.
   The Pomegranate  was very early known, being repeatedly  re-
 ferred to in the Bible, {Numb. xiii. 23;  Deut. viii. 8, &c.) and is
 noticed by Homer {Odys. \ ii. 120).  The Romans became acquaint-
 ed with it during their contests with the Carthagenians,  and hence
 called it Malum  Punicum, which implies that it was abundant at
 an early age in the neighborhood of Carthage.
   Some difficulty having been  experienced  in comprehending the
 structure of this anomalous fruit, Dr. Lindley has explained it thus.
 Within the calyx are two rows of carpella,  a lower and  inner one
 consisting of three or four carpella surrounding the axis and placed
 in  the bottom of the calyx, and an upper and outer one  consisting
 of  from five to ten carpella, surrounding the lower, but adherent to
 the upper part of the tube of the calyx.  The  two strata or tiers of
 cells in the Pomegranate are  found by the two rows or tiers of car-
 pella, the upper and outer row being forced to the top of the fruit by
 the contraction of the tube of the calyx from which they arise.  The
 transverse diaphragm is formed by the adhesion of the upper to the
 lower stratum of carpella, and the outer part of the rind of the Pom-
 egranate is formed by the calyx which contains the carpella.  Nat.-
 Syst. 2d ed. p. 44, and  Introd. to Bot.

 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   The flowers, rind of the fruit  and  the bark of the root of Pu-
 nica Granatum are all officinal.  The flowers, which are named
 Balaustines, are inodorous and taste bitterish.  They impart a vio-
let-red color to the saliva, and are  mild astringents.   The rind  of
the fruit when dry is in irregular, convex, brittle, brownish fragments,
with no smell but a bitter astringent taste.  The bark of the  root
and the rind of the fruit  have  the same sensible qualities.  The bark
of the root is in small pieces,  of an ash-grey or yellowish color ex-
ternally, yellow within, and brittle but not fibrous. Water extracts
the virtues of both, and the solution strikes a deep bluish-black with
sulphate of iron.   According to Reuss  {Hanb. d Chim.)  216 parts
yield 60 of tannin, 74 of mucus,  2 of resin,  22 of oxidized tannin,
and 45 of  extractive. 
PUNICA granatum.
  The red succulent pulp, which is not officinal, is pleasantly acid,
resembling that of the orange; it is cooling, very refreshing,  useful
for quenching thirst and  gently aperient.  It contains much  muci-
lage, united to a little tannin.   It was formerly made into wine by
the ancients; in the East it is much used for making sherbets and
is highly esteemed.
  Both the rind of the fruit and the bark of the root  are astringent.
They are given in the form of decoction in chronic and colliquative
diarrhoea, and the protracted stage of dysentery.  They are suppos-
ed to  prove  beneficial also in checking the violent sweating whioh
accompanies hectic fever; but the chief  use of the decoction is an
injection  in  leucorrhoea, or a gargle in sore throats after the local
inflammation is moderated.
  The bark  of the root has long been used by the natives of Hindos-
tan, and according to M. Deslandz by the negroes of St. Domingo,
as a specific  in cases of tapeworm.   In consequence of the recom-
mendations of Drs.  Fleming, Buchanan and Ainslie it was exten-
sively experimented with in Europe and  with almost universal suc-
cess.  Its utility for this purpose has been fully cpnfirmed by the ex-
periments of Mr. Breton, Dr. Gomes of  Lisbon, and Dr. Wolff of
Bonn.  The mode of administration is in decoction made with  two
ounces of the freshly dried bark to two pints of water, boiled  down
to a pint, of which a wineglass full is to be taken every half hour
till the whole is consumed.   The action  of the remedy is generally
accompanied with nausea,  and sometimes vomiting, purging, and
even vertigo and syncope. The worm, however, is generally voided
alive, a few  minutes after the last dose.  Celsus says it was used by
the ancients for a similar purpose.  M. Bourgeoise, who  gave it in
a great number of cases, advises that before commencing with its
administration, the. patient be kept on  a  strict and spare diet for
some days, and the evening before the medicine is taken to have his
bowels well opened by means of a full  dose  of castor oil.   If the
remedy should not succeed upon the first trial, it should be repeated
every day for three or four days until the worm is discharged.  Tae-
nia is comparatively rare in this country, and the pomegranate  root
has been little used, possibly because the oil of turpentine in large
doses has been found perfectly effectual.
   The bark and flowers are sometimes  given  in the form of pow-
der, in doses of a scruple increased to a drachm.  A decoction may
be prepared  in the proportion of an ounce of the medicine to a  pint
of water, and given  in the dose of a fluid ounce.   The seeds are
demulcent. 
 
\ 
 
N? 67.
a iw ;i s'lr 'p :i, e r hi ii a\  § k :r ,p ;k nta hk ii a
  Virqima.. Snake-root,  Snake * weed, 
c,  alexi-
of the ovary.
ese—J.
 Barton
Per. El.
ition; the
the expul-
inienoster.
jed.), We.
     ; valvate

     >e of the

.,, .... the cells 
8
Virginia- Snake-root,  Snake-weed. 
          ARISTOLOCHIACE^.


                 HlrtUtvorts.


                          N°-  67.


         ARISTOLOCHIA  SERPENTARIA.


              Virginia  Snakeroot.  Birthwort.


     Place—United States.

     Quality—Acrid.

     Power—Expelling, diuretic,  diaphoretic,  anthelmintic, alexi-

           pharmic.

     Use—Intermittens, eruptions,  venomous bites.


                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


 Natural Order.   Sarmentacese—L.   Aristolochiacese—J.

       Class  XX.  Gynandria,   Order Triandria.


  Linn. Sp. PL 1363.  Willd. Sp. PL iv. 151. Bigelow Med. Bot. 482.  Barton
Veg. Med. Bot. ii. 44-  Raf.  Med. Flor. i. 61.  Griff. Med. Bot. 529.  Per. El.
Med. Bot. ii. 241. Loudon Eric. PL 13022.


                 Genus.  ARISTOLOCHIA.

  From the Greek aristos, excellent, and lochieos, pertaining to parturition; the
plant was considered formerly to possess considerable powers in aiding the expul.
sion of the placenta, and in exciting the lochial discharge.

  Synonymes.—Serpentaire de Virginie (F.), Schlangenosterluzey, Virginienoster-
luzey, Virginische  Schlanjenwurzel, (G.), Slangrod, (Dan.), Ormrot, (Swed.), We-
zownik Wirginianski (Pol.)

               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.


Calyx.   Tube adherent  to the ovary.  Segments three valvate

    in aestivation.

Stamens.  Six—twelve, epigynous or adhering to the base of the

    short and  thick styles.

Ovary.  Three—six-celled. Stigmas radiate, as many as the cells

    of the ovary. 
ARISTOLOCHIA SERPENTARIA.
Fruit.  Capsule or berry, three—six-celled, many needed.  Em-
     bryo minute, in the base of fleshy albumen.
Seeds.  Numerous.

                the  secondary characters.

   Aristolochia.  Calyx ligulate, with an inflated base and an
unequal  border.   Anthers six, subsesaiie upon the  style.  Stigma
six-cleft.   Capsule six-celled,, many-seeded.

  Calyx wanting.  Carol superior, one-petalled, ligulate, inflated at the base. Cap.
sule six-celled, many-seeded.

                 THE specific characters.

   Aristolochia Serpentaria.   Stem, erect, ffexuous.   Leaves
oblong, cordate, acuminate.  Peduncles radical.  Lip of the calyx
lanceolate.

  Leaves heart.form, oblong, acuminate. Stem zigzag, ascending. Pcdunclis rad-
ical.  Lip  of the corol lanceolate.

               [the  artificial characters.

   Class Gynandria.  Stamens and style consolidated.   Order
Triandria.  Exogens.   Herbs or shrubs.   Flowers greenish.
Stamens six to twelve.  Stigmas radiate.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   Virginia Snakeroot is a native of the whole middle and south-
ern sections of the United States.  It is a curious vegetable of low
growth in hedges and thickets.  It flowers in  May and June and
ripens its seed in September.
   The root is perennial, consisting of bundles of fibres, of a yellow-
ochre color, which changes to brown on drying, attached to a con-
torted horizontal trunk,  from which several stems  rise about ten
inches in height, slender, crooked and jointed,  supporting on long
footstalks at each knot, thin cordate entire pointed trinerved leaves
of a yellowish-green color.   The flowers proceed from  the joint?,
near the  root, and stand upon long sheathed articulated peduncles,
which bend down and almost bury the flowers beneath the decayed
leaves near the roots.  There is no calyx.  The corolla is of a brown-
ish-purple color, globular  at the base, contracted and bent in the 
ARISTOLOCHIA SERPENTAR.IA.
 middle and terminating in a triangular lip.  The anthers are sessile,
 attached to the under side of the stigma, which is roundish, divided
 into six  parts and almost sessile, rising from an  oblong, angular,
 hairy, inferior germen.   The seeds are flat and contained in a six-
 celled hexagonal capsule.
   Dried  Serpentaria root is  brought to market in bales containing
 about one hundred  pounds,  and  it is frequently  mixed with the
 roots  of the  Spigelia Marylandica.   This is an important fact,
 and should  render great caution in the purchase of snakeroot, par-
 ticularly  when brought from those districts in the southern  States,
 where the Serpentaria and  the  Spigelia grow together  in  great
 abundance.  When the stems  are mixed with the roots, it is easy
 to detect the sophistication by  the eye, but  it will require a closer
 examination to distinguish the  roots by themselves.   Their appear-
 ance is very similar, and it is only  by the taste that the genuineness
 of the snakeroot can be known..
   The plant grows plentifully throughout the middle, southern and
 western States, abounding particularly  in the valley of the Ohio,
 and in the mountainous regions of the  interior.   The root is col-
 lected in  Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, in Ohio, Indiana and
 Kentucky, and is brought to market often mixed with  the  leaves
 and stems of the plant, and with dirt from which it has not been
 properly cleansed at the time of collection.

 CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND  USES.

   Virginia Snakeroot has an aromatic odor, not unlike that of
 valerian, and a sharp, warm, bitter, pungent  taste, resembling in
 some  degree that of camphor. Water extracts all the sensible quali-
 ties of the  root, affording a yellowish-brown- infusion which is not
 altered by sulphate of iron or zinc, nitrate of silver, oxymuriate of
mercury, tartarized antimony, the  mineral  acids and the  alkalies,
nor is it  precipitated by gelatine or tannin.  The superacetate of
 lead throws  down a fiocculent  precipitate, which is not soluble in
 acetic acid, showing the presence of mucus.   With alcohol it affords
 a bright  greenish tincture, which is rendered turbid by the addition
 of water.   According to Bucholz,  a German chemist, the compo-
nents of Serpentaria are volatile oil 05, yellow gum rosin 2.85, ex-
tractive 1.7, gummy extract 1.7, woody fibre 62.4, and water 14.55
in 1000 parts.
  The analysis of M. Chevallier gave the following results—vola-
tile oil, a yellow bitter principle, soluble in water and alcohol, resin, 
                ARISTOLOCHIA SERPENTARIA.

gum, fecula, woody fibre, albumen and malic and  phosphoric acids,
partly combined with potash.  The active principles of Serpentaria
therefore appear to reside in a bitter resin and an essential oil.  " On
distillation a white pearly fluid collects in the receiver, strongly im-
pregnated with the aroma, but less bitter than the root.  This fluid
on standing deposits  round the edges of its surface small crystals of
camphor."   Bigelow.
  Aristolochia  Serpentaria is one of the most valuable and
well established of our native remedies.   It is much  used in  phar-
macy and enters into the composition of many extemporaneous pre-
parations.  The root is  stimulating diaphoretic and  tonic.  It is
almost entirely destitute of smell, with, at first, a sweetish taste, but
afterwards hot and pungent, producing a very peculiar tingling sen-
sation in the  fauces.  It is beneficially employed in typhoid and
putrid fevers, whether idiopathic or accompanying  the exanthemata,
to excite diaphoresis, and support the powers of the system, and is
found frequently to  increase the efficacy of Cinchona in  removing
protracted intermittents.  It is administered with success in gangre-
nous affections, chlorosis and atonic affections of the intestinal canal,
and generally in  all the cases  in  which it  becomes necessary to
stimulate powerfully  the organs and to promote at the same time a
slight diaphoresis.  It is also an  excellent remedy in dyspepsia, par-
ticularly when the skin is  dry and parched.   It must be observed
that it acts on the  skin by stimulating this membrane and increas-
ing  perspiration.   It is also sometimes used  as a gargle in putrid
sore throat.  On account of its stimulant properties, it is contra-indi-
cated in the inflammatory  diathesis, and previous to its exhibition
the bowels should be  well evacuated. It may be given in substance,
(of the  powdered root the dose is from 20 to 30 grains,) or in infu-
sion, (which is almost always preferred,) made  by macerating half
an  ounce of the bruised root in a pint of boiling water, in a covered
vessel for two  hours  and straining.  This  is the ordinary form  in
which Serpentaria is employed.  The dose is one  or two  fluid oun-
ces repeated every  two hours in low forms of fever, but less frequent-
ly in chronic affections.  Decoction is a bad form of preparation of
Serpentaria, as the boiling dissipates the essential oil in which much
of the virtues of the remedy depends.
  The  wide range of country over which Aristolochia Serpen-
taria is to be found will render the plate particularly useful, as it
will enable the practitioner  and apothecary to detect this well char-
acterized species in almost  every forest of the middle, western and
southern States. 
 
 
 
        N?  68.
IF©MiEA  JJAILAIP&
        Jalap . 
lor.










ap.
















>er-





ted
Wiu» no iUliC*.
ate 
\v 
          CONVOLVULACEJ!.

               Bindweeds.

                        N°«68.

                  IPOMiEA JALAP A.

                         Jalap.

    Place—South America.
    Quality—Nauseous,  acrid.
    Power—Purging.
    Use—Cold habits, worms in children.

                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

 Natural Order.   Campanacese—L.   Convolvulacese—J.
      Class V.  Pentandria.  Order Monogynia.

  Wilid. Sp. PL i. S44. Raf. Med. Flor. i. 123.  Griff. Med. Bot. 474.  Lind. Flor.
Med. 396-  Per El. Med. Bot. ii. 343.

                   Genus.   IPOMiEA.

  Prom Greek ips, vine or twining, and omvios  like, from its resemblance in ap.
pearance and habit.
  Synonymes.—Jalap (F.), Jalappenharz (Ger.), Scialappa (/.), Jalapa (S.).

              THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Sepals five, much imbricated, usually united at base, per-
    sistent.
Corolla.  Regular.  Limb five-lobed or entire, plaited and twisted
    in aestivation.
Stamens.  Five, inserted into the base of the corolla and alternate
    with its lobes. 
IPOMiEA JALAPA.
Ovary.   Two—four-celled, free.  Styles united into one.
Fruit.  Capsule, two—four-celled,  valves with  septifragal dehi-
    scence.
Seeds.  Few, large, with mucilaginous albumen.   Cotyledons fo-
    iiaceous or wanting.

                THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Ipom^ea.   Sepals five.   Corolla campanulate.   Stamens inclu-
ded.  Style one.  Stigma two-lobed, the lobes capitate.   Ovary
two-celled.   Cells two-seeded.   Capsule two-celled.

  Calyx five-cleft naked.  Corol funnel or bell form, with five folds.  Stigma globe-
headed, papillose.  Capsule two or three-celled, many-seeded.

                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  IpomjEA Jalapa.  Roots tuberose, incrassated, perennial. Stems
annual, twining, branched, smooth.  Leaves  ovate, acuminate, cor-
date at the base, quite entire and smooth on both sides.  Peduncles
one to three  flowered.  Sepals unequal, obtuse, smooth.   Corolla
salver-shaped, with a subclavate, cylindrical tube and a subpentago-
nal, horizontally-expanded  limb.  Stamens exserted.

  Leaves ovate, obscurely obtuse, spreading, villose underneath.  Peduncles one-
flowered.

                THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.
                                                <
  Class  Pentandria.   Stamens five.  Order  Monogynia.
Monopetalous.  Flowers inferior.  Corolla regular.  Herbs rarely
shrubby.  Stamens alternate with petals.   Fruit capsule  or berry.
Cells with one or two seeds.  Corolla limb entire.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

  This species of Convolvulus is a native of South America, ta-
king its name from Palappa,a. city of Mexico in Yera Cruz, in  the
neighborhood of which it grows at a height of about six thousand
feet above the ocean.   It might probably be cultivated in the south-
ern section of the United States.  It delights  in rich light soil and
young cuttings root freely in sand  under a hand glass.   It flowers
in August and September.
  The root is perennial, of an irregular egg-shape, and a dark al-
most black color on  the outside, ponderous, large and when fresh 
IPOM^A JALAPA.
abounding with a milky juice.   It sends up many triangular, twi-
ning, twisted stems which extend upwards of ten feet, with smooth
petiolated leaves, of a bright green  color, varying in shape, some
being cordate, others angular and a few oblong and pointed.  The
flowers are on short, axillary peduncles, that send off two pedicels,
each bearing a large, bell-shaped, entire, plaited flower, of a reddish
color externally, and  a dark purple within, with a calyx composed
of five oval, concave pale green leaves, somewhat indented at their
points.  The anthers are of a yellow -color, large, on slender short
filaments, the style is shorter than the filaments, and the germen
oval.  The seeds are bristled.
  The dried roots found in commerce  rarely exceed a pound each
in weight.  They vary in size, from that of the fist to that of a nut.
When entire they are usually more or  less oval and  pointed at the
two  opposite extremities.   The  larger  roots are frequently incised,
apparently to facilitate dessication.   They are  covered with a thin
brown wrinkled cuticle.  They should be heavy, hard and difficult
to powder.  When broken good jalap roots should present a deep
yellowish-gray color interspersed with deep brown concentric circles.
The slices vary in their shape, color and other properties. Those of
inferior quality are light, whitish and friable.  The sliced tubers are
liable to be adulterated, which is sometimes done with slices of bri-
ony  root,  but  the fraud is  easily discovered by the spongy texture
and  whiter color of the latter, and its burning less readily when ap-
plied to the flame of a candle.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES  AND  USES.

  Good Jalap root has a sweetish, heavy odor when broken, and a
sweetish slightly pungent taste.   It is heavy, compact, hard, brittle,
with  a shining undulated fracture,  exhibiting numerous resinous
points distinctly visible with  the microscope.   It is always kept  in
the shops in the state of powder, which is of a yellowish gray color,
and  when inhaled irritates the  nostrils  and throat and  provokes
sneezing  and  coughing.   It yields  its active  properties partly  to
water, partly to alcohol and completely to diluted alcohol. M, Cadet
de Gassicourt obtained from five  hundred parts of jalap, twenty-four
of water, fifty of  resin, two hundred and twenty of gummy extract,
twelve and a half of fecula, twelve and a half of albumen, one hun-
dred and  forty-five of lignin, sixteen and three-tenths of  saline mat-
ters, two and  seven-tenths of silica, with a loss of seventeen parts.
The resin of jalap consists of two portions, one of which,  amounting 
IPOM.EA JALAPA.
to seven parts out often, is hard and. insoluble in ether, the other is
soft and soluble in that menstruum.  The proportion of resin to the
other  ingredients of  the root varies in  different specimens.
   Ipom/ea Jalapa  is a stimulant cathartic acting briskly on  the
bowels, and although occasionally griping severely yet safe arid effi-
cacious.   It is used  in the same cases as scammony, to which it is
closely allied not only by its effects, but also by botanical affinities
and chemical  properties.  Whenever it  is required  effectually to
evacuate the intestines, it is tolerably certain in its operation, more
so indeed  than many other purgatives.   In the proper dose it may
be  given without the  least hesitation  to  children, in  any case re-
quiring an active  purge.  It  has an  advantage  over some  other
evacuants that it does not stimulate or heat the system,  its  effects
being confined principally to  the  alimentary  canal, the peristalic
motion, secretions and  exhalations of which it promotes, and consti-
pation less frequently succeeds its use than of some other purgatives.
   Daily experience in fact proves the value of jalap as  an active,
certain and  safe purgative in various diseases both of  children and
adults.  Of course its irritant properties unfit it for exhibition in in-
flammatory affections of the alimentary canal,  as well as after surgi-
cal operations about  the abdomen  and pelvis.   Also it is not an  ap-
propriate purgative in irritation of, or hemorrhage from the uterus, or
in piles and stricture and  prolapsus of the  rectum.   On  the other
hand its use is indicated in torpid  and over loaded conditions of the
intestinal  canal as well as in constipation  attended with retention of
the catamenia.  When the object is to relieve cerebral congestion
and dropsical  affections, by a  counter-irritant  influence on the mu-
cous membrane, jalap is well adapted to fulfil it.  " Jalap,  (says
Bremser,) is without contradiction  in verminous diseases, one of the
best purgatives and which perhaps  possesses at the same time
greater anthelmintic virtues than any other."
   Jalap is apt to be  attacked by worms, which however are said to
devour the amylaceous or softer  parts and to leave the resin, so that
the worm-eaten drug is more powerfully purgative than that which
is sound.   Thus out of 397 parts M. Henry obtained 72 parts of
resin, while from an equal quantity of the latter he procured only
48 parts.  Hence worm-eaten jalap should be employed for obtain-
ing the resin,  but should  not be pulverized,  as  it would afford a
powder of more than the proper  strength.
   The dose of jalap  in powder is from fifteen to thirty grains, of the
resin or alcoholic extract from four  to eight grains.  The latter is
usually given  rubbed up with sugar, or in emulsion. 
 
 
 
         NT°69.
 Hydrastis  Canadensis.
Tvrmtnc.root, Golden seal
 
. _ w. tviuvUUUi 
£*■■

t!iien sis. 
          RANUNCULACEJL

                 Cr ow foots.

                         N°-  69.

            HYDRASTIS  CANADENSIS.

   Turmeric-root.  Golden seal,  Yellow-root, Orange-root.

    Place—United States.
     Quality—Bitter.
    Power—/Tonic,  stomachic.
     Use—Aids digestion, removes obstructions.

                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

  Natural Order.   Multisiliquae—L.   Ranunculaceae—J.
      Class XIII.  Polyandria*  Order Polygynia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 784; Wllld. Sp. PL ii. 1340. Barton, Veg. Med. Bot. ii. 17,
Raf. Med. Flor. i. 40.  Griff. Med. Bot. 82.

                  Genus.  HYDRASTIS.

  From the Greek ydor, water, the plant grows in  watery places.  Or to com.
memorate •« a young lady of noble  birth."
  Stnonymes.—Hydraste (F.)
               THE ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Sepals mostly five, sometimes three, four or  six, mostly
    desiduous, and imbricated in aestivation.
Corolla.   Petals three—fifteen, hypogynous, sometimes irreguiaF
    or wanting.
Stamens.  Indefinite or numerous, distinct, hypogynous. Anthers
    adnate or innate.
Ovary.  Indefinite or numerous, rarely solitary or  few, distinct,
    seated on the torus.
Fruit.  Either dry achenia or baccate or follicular. 
HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS.
 Seeds.  Numerous.   Embryo  minute,  at  the  base of horny  or
     fleshy albumen.

                THE  SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Hydrastis.   Sepals  three, ovate,  petaloid, equal.   Corolla
 wanting.  Stamens indefinite or numerous, a little shorter than the
 sepals.   Baccate fruit composed of numerous, aggregate, one-seed-
 ed acines.

   Petals three, ovate (by some considered a colored' calyx).  Berry composed of
 one-seeded acines.

                  THE SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.

   Hydrastis Canadensis.  Root of  a deep  yellow color inter-
 nally.  Stem six—nine inches high, becoming purplish, hairy above.
 Leaves two only, alternate, on the  upper  part of the stem, petiolate,
 emarginate at base, palmate with three—five lobes.  Peduncle ter-
 minal, solitary, one-flowered.  Sepals  reddish while-.  Fruit  red,
juicy.   Seeds nearly black.

  Stem with two opposite leaves above. Leaves petioled, emarginate at the base,
 palmate, serrate, gashed.  Peduncle terminal, solitary, one-flowered. Root yellow.

                THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class Polyandria.  Stamens  twenty or more, arising from the
receptacle (hypogymous).  Order  Polygynia.   Leaves  never
peltate.   Herbs, with acrid colorless juice.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   The Hydrastis  Canandensis  is peculiar to North America.
It was originally included by Linnseus  in Hydrophyllum, but
afterwards  separated under its present name at  the suggestion of
his industrious correspondent, Mr.  John Ellis, to  whom we  are in-
debted for the generic name Hydrastis, which  has been adopted
by all Botanists except  P. Miller,  F. B. S., who in his Gardner's
Dictionary  terms it Warnera.  Another species has been described
by Walter  under the  name of Hydrastis Carolinensis, but as  it
has not since been detected, it is probably nothing more than a local
variety of this one.  Dr.  Muhlenberg has also introduced it in his
catalogue, but with the doubtful mark. 
HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS.
   The Hydrastis is found in most parts of the United States, being
most common to the west of the mountains.  It may be occasion-
ally found in the New England States, but not common.  Small
quantities have been collected  m Vermont and Connecticut, but it
is very rare in Massachusetts.   It is very abundant westward of the
Alleghany mountains and may be found every where in Kentucky,
Indiana  and Ohio.  It grows  in rich woodlands, deep valleys and
on the banks of streams.   It is occasionally noticed in Pennsylva-
nia springing up at  the base of hills and generally on their northern
side;  near Philadelphia it is very rare.  The flowers are exceeding-
ly fugacious,, the petaloid sepals falling off soon after they expand ;
they appear in April and May, and are succeeded by the bright red
fruit which closely resembles a raspberry, but is not edible.
   Some Botanists have thought it probable that the name Hydras-
tis had  a reference to the natural situation of the plant, from ydor,
water, or ydreia, an imbibing of water.  It is extremely  doubtful,
(says Prof. Barton,) whether  this was really the derivation  of the
word, for the plant, as far as  any thing of its  natural history is
known, is neither remarkable for imbibing  nor for  growing in  the
vicinity of water; neither does it appear to delight  in a very moist
soil, for where it is found in the greatest abundance, and  where it
grows most in profusion, it is confined altogether to shady  woods of
rich soil.
   The root is perennial, of a bright yellow color, tortuous  and rug-
ged, from which proceed a  great number of tolerably large fibrous
portions.  The fibres rather more brilliant than the root.  Stem
simple, upright, pubescent or hairy, especially in  the young state of
the plant.   It is terminated with two unequal leaves, beyond  the
smaller  of which the peduncle projects, bearing a  single  white or
very pale rose colored flower.   The leaves are at first small during
the florescence but increase rapidly in size as the plant advances to
maturity.  The fruit is a berry, of a bright red  color, consisting of
a number of muriated acini, each of which contains  one or  two obo-
vate seeds of a black color, having a  minute embryo at the base of
a fleshy and oily albumen.

 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   No analysis of Hydrastis Canadensis  has been made, nor are
its medicinal properties fully known, though from various trials and
experiments of several eminent physicians and practitioners it may
very safely be recommended as a strong tonic bitter, and may be 
HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS.
used wherever such a remedy is required.   It has a pleasantly bit-
ter and somewhat pungent taste, is slightly laxative and of cowrse
alterant, aiding the system to remove obstructions and recover its
tone, and  is highly esteemed and thought valuable throughout the
United States.  It keeps the bowels moderately open without acting
as a purgative, or reducing the strength of the patient.   It is highly
useful  during recovery from fevers, for dyspeptics or those who are
troubled with indigestion, or any other complaint to  remove the
heavy, disagreeable sensation often produced by indigestible  food.
A teaspoonful of this root pulverized, taken  in a little hot water,
sweetened, with  the addition of a little cayenne, will give immedi-
ate relief from the distress caused by unhealthy food in the stomach.
When used directly after eating, it aids digestion and removes heavi-
ness from  the stomach.  A small  particle of this powder—the size
of a pea—will remove the inquietude.
   Golden Seal is an excellent corrector of the bile and may  be used
for  that purpose.  Tt is very good in jaundice and in all derange-
ments  of the digestive organs.  In colic also it  may be used with
exceeding good effect.   Compounded with  poplar bark, one part of
the former and two of the latter, four parts of good sugar and one-
eighth part cayenne, forms a compound that is valuable in every
family, where it should be always at hand.
   Turmeric root is very popular  and  much  used in  some of the
western States in form of an infusion as a topical application in
chronic opthalmia and other diseases of the eye, and there is evi-
dence  sufficient  of its efficacy in  these complaints.  The  Indians
are said to have employed it in the same form for old sores, and as
an external application to ulcers.  It is likewise highly probable that
it may be found useful in many external complaints as a topical  tonic.
  A strong decoction of Hydrastis  Canadensis and poplar bark, with
one-tenth  as much powdered peach kernels, and one-tenth of strong
tincture of myrrh, with an equal measure of dry sugar,  make  an
excellent dysentery or cholera syrup.
  This plant was well known  to and extensively used by the In-
dians both as a dye and for medicinal purposes.  The root yields a
brilliant yellow color, which appears to be permanent and might be
advantageously employed  in the arts.   In an aecoant of the princi-
pal dyes used by the Indians, by Hugh Martin, in the 3d vol. of the
Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. 1783, he states that from experiments  made
by himself and others, it  was found  to succeed  perfectly  with silk,
wool and linen, and by the addition of indigo to furnish a handsome
rich green. 
 
 
 
      \r?70.
Humulus lupulus
  Common Hop 
 
 
                URTICACE.ffi.


              JY ettletvorts.



                        N°-70.


                HUMULUS  LUPULUS,



                       Common Hop.


    P£ace—Europe

    Quality—Bitter.

    Pewer—Tonic,  narcotic, anodyne.

    Use—The strobiles, in nephritis,  phrenitis.   The seeds ia

            constipation.


                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


      Natural Order.  Scabridse—L.   Urticaceae—J.

      Class  XXII.  Dioecia.   Order Pentandria.


 Linn. Sp. PL 1457. Bigelow. Med. Bot. iii. 164.  Raf. Med. Flor. i. 246.  Griff.
Med. Bot. 574. Lind. Flor. Med. 296.  Per El. Med. Bot. ii. 205.


                   Genus,  HUMULUS.


 From Lat. humus fresh earth, the hop grows only in rich soils.  The English
word hop seems to  be the Anglo-Saxon hoppan, to climb.

 Synonymes.—Houblen (F.)-, Der hopfen (Ger.), Hoppe (D.), Lupolo (/.), Horn-
brecillo (S.), Lupulo  (P.), Hymel (Pers.), Chmel (Russ.), Chmiel (Pol.), Baruce
(Indian).


               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.


Calyx.   Membranous, lobed, persistent.

Corolla.  None.

Stamens.  Definite, distinct, inserted into the base of the calyx and

    opposite its lobes. 
HUMULUS LUPULUS.
Ovary.   Free, simple, one-ovuled.   Style one.
Fruit.  Achenium or utricle, surrounded by the membranous or
     fleshy calyx.
Seeds.  Not numerous.

                THE SECONDARY  CHARACTERS.

  Humulus.  Calyx five-sepaled.   Stamens five.  Anthers with
two pores at the summit.  Bracts imbricate, large, entire, concave,
persistent,  one-flowered.   Calyx  membranous,  entire,  persistent. .
Styles two.  Achenium invested by the thin calyx.
  Staminate flowers.  Calyx five-leaved.  Corol none. Anthers with two pores at
the extremity. Pistillate flowers. Calyx one.leafed, entire, oblique, spreading.   *
Styles two.  Seed one within the leaf—like calyx.  Infioresence strobile-form.

                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Humulus Lupulus.  Stem long, annual, rough backwards with
reflexed prickles.   Leaves very rough, generally three-lobed, deeply
cordate at base, on long stalks.  Flowers of the barren  plants  ex-
tremely numerous, paaicled, greenish. Flowers of the fertile plants
in aments with large scales.
,  Stem twining with the sun.  Leaves lobed.

                THE ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

   Class Dicecia.   Stamens apart from the  pistils in different
flowers upon different plants.   Order Pentandria.  Herbs exo-
gens, dioecious.  Fruit a utricle or achenia.  Styles two.  Leaves
rough (often with stings) stipulate.   Flowers inconspicuous.

                    NATURAL HISTORY.

  In England the hop is an indigenous plant, perennial, growing in
hedges and flowering in July.  Throughout the United States  it is
found wild in hedges, &c, and is extensively cultivated for the sake
of its fertile aments, which are chiefly used as a preservative in malt
liquors.
  The root sends up many  long,  striated, angled, rough, flexible
stems, which support themselves by twining round upright bodies
in a spiral direction from left to  right.   The leaves are opposite, in
pairs, petiolate, heart-shaped, serrated, entire or lobed, and of a dark
green color on the upper disc.  Both the leaves and petioles are  sca-
brous, with minute prickles, and at the  base of each leaf-stalk  are 
HUMULUS LUPULUS.
two interfoliaceous, entire, reflected, smooth  stipules.  The flowers
are  axillary and furnished with bracteas, the males are yellowish
white in panicles and drooping, the  females which are on distinct
plants are  in solitary cones or strobiles, ovate and  pendulous, com-
posed of membranous scales of a pale greenish color, tubular from
being  rolled in at-the base and two-flowered, each containing one
round, flattish seed, of a bay-brown color, surrounded with a sharp
rim and compressed at the tip.
   At the proper season while the strobiles are yet scarcely ripe, the
plants are cut about three feet from the ground, the poles on which
they are twined pulled up, and the strobiles carefully picked off one
by one.  Those that are over ripe or defective are separated from
those that are ripe enough, and both kinds are carried to the kiln as
soon as possible after they are picked.  The heat of the kiln requires
to be regulated with great nicety, and in order to prevent them from
drying too fast, many kilns  have two floors, on  the uppermost of
which the  greener hops  are laid, and gradually dried before being
brought to support the heat of the lower floor.   Charcoal is the fuel
usually employed, other  kinds of fuel injuring the flavor of the hops.
The strobiles are considered sufficiently dried  when they become
crisp, but they acquire a degree of toughness  and tenacity before
they are bagged, from being laid in heaps in the storehouses.  Five
pounds of moist or under-ripe hops make one pound only when ta-
ken from the kiln.  The best hops are brought to market in fine
canvass sacks, called " pockets," each of  which contains somewhat
more than  one hundred weight of hops.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   Hops have a strong,  peculiar, fragrant, subnarcotic  odor, and  a
very bitter, aromatic, astringent taste.   They have a pale, greenish
yellow hue, appear like thin transparent veined leaves, and although
not tough they are difficult to pulverize.
   Some late experiments by Dr. A. W.  Ives, of New York, prove
that the active properties of the strobiles of the hop reside in  a sub-
stance which forms one-sixth  part only of their weight  and which
is easily separated by merely sifting  in a fine sieve.  Dr. Ives has
named it Lupulin.  He found in 120 grains of lupulin, five  grains
of tannin, ten of extractive, eleven of bitter principle, twelve of wax,
thirty-six of resin,  and forty-six of woody  fibre (lignin).  Hops, from
which  all the lupulin is  separated, yields an  extract, which possess-
es none of the virtues of the hop {Annals of Phil. p. 194).   The 
HUMULUS LUPULUS.
virtues of the strobiles are extracted by boiling water, or alchohol,
or ether.  The watery infusion has a pale straw-color, is rendered
muddy by the mineral acids;  alkalies deepen its color, it strikes an
olive with sulphate of iron, is precipitated by alcohol, solution of su-
peracetate of lead, nitrate of  silver and  tartarized antimony,  and
when rubbed with magnesia or lime, a rod dipped in muriatic acid
discovers the presence of ammonia.  The etherial  tincture when
evaporated in water  leaves a pellicle of greenish intensely bitter re-
sin,  and deposits some extractive.   By distillation  in water hops
yield a  volatile aromatic oil.   From these experiments they appear
to contain resin, extractive, volatile oil, tannin, an ammoniacal salt,
and  what has been termed the bitter principle.
   Humulus Lupulus is narcotic, tonic, diuretic, and externally ap-
plied anodyne and discutient.   Hops are said to possess the  power
of procuring sleep in  the delirium of fever, and in mania, when used
as a pillow, and owing to this effect having been confirmed  in the
case of King George the third of England, their efficacy as a gene-
ral narcotic when  introduced into the stomach has been  investiga-
ted.  Dr. Maton observed, that besides allaying pain  and producing
sleep, the preparations of hops reduce the frequency of the pulse, and
increase its firmness  in a very direct manner.  One drachm of  the
tincture and four grains of the extract given once in six hours.  He
found the extract exceedingly  efficacious in allaying the pain of ar-
ticular rheumatism, but subsequent experience has not afforded suf-
ficient proof of its utility as a sedative, and Dr. Bigsby's experiments
have lessened very much the confidence physicians were previously
disposed to give to it.  An ointment compounded with the powder
of the hop  and lard  is recommended as an anodyne application to
cancerous sores.  A fomentation of it will certainly afford much re-
lief in painful swellings and tumors.
  When administered internally, all the good effects of hops may
be obtained  by the use of Lupulin, which is  best given in  pills, in
doses of six to ten grains, or in tincture in those of half a drachm to
a drachm.   Lupulin may be  likewise  substituted for the  hops in
poultices, ointments,  &c, with much advantage.
  The  principal consumption of hops is in the  manufacture of
malt liquors, to which they eommunicate  the bitter flavor  and tonic
properties.
  The  young shoots of the Humulus Lupulus,  when they have
risen three or four inches from the root, are sometimes gathered and
boiled like asparagus,  to  which they are very little inferior: these
shoots are usually called hop-tops. 
 
 
 
^8&
-^^
 &
     X° 71



0111 iim Maculatuin


    Hemlock . 
V*4- 
 
              UMBELLIFERJ!.

                Um belli fers.

                          N°-71.

               CONlVm  MACULATUKE.

                          Hemlock.

     Place—Europe.
     Quality—Nauseous.
     Power—Narcotic, diuretic.
     Use—Scirrhus, scrofula,  ulcers, scabies,  &c.

                 BOTANICAL  ANALYSIS.

    Natural Order.   Umbellatee—L.   Umbelliferae—J.
        Class V.  Pentandria.  Order Digynia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 34&. Willd. Sp. PL i. 1395.  Bigelow, Med. BoU\. 113.  Raf.
Med. Flor. i. 148. T. & G. Flor. i. 60.   Griff. Med.  Bot. 339.  Per. El. Med.
Bot. ii. 497.  Lon. Ency. PL 216.

                     Genus.  CONIUM.
  From the Greek koneion, from knos, a cone or top, so  called because it produced
giddiness in those who drank it.  It is the  Greek name for poison hemlock.
  Synonymes.—La cigue (F.)t Der schierling (Ger.), Scheerling (Dutch), Cicuta
(/.), Ceguda (Sp.), Boligolow (Russ.), Swinicwesz (Pol.), Skarntyde (Dan.)'

               THE  ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Adhering to the ovary, entire or five-toothed.
Corolla.  Petals five, usually inflected at the point, imbricate in
    aestivation.                         '
Stamens.   Five, alternate with the petals and inserted with them
    upon the disk.
Ovary.  Inferior, two-celled, surmounted by the fleshy disk which
    bears the stamens and petals.  Style two, distinct, or united at.
    their thickened base.   Stigma simple. 
CONIUM MACULATUM.
 Fruit.  Dry, consisting of two coherent carpels, separating from
     each other by their faces {commissure) into two halves {mero-
     carps).
                 THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Conium.   Calyx  margin obsolete.  Petals obcordate with an
 acute, inflected point.   Fruit ovate, laterally compressed.  Carpels
 with five acute, equal, undulate-crenulate ribs, lateral  ones margi-
 nal, intervals without vittse.  Seeds with a  deep, narrow groove on
 the face.

  Seeds five-ribbed.  Ribs at first erenate with flat intervals between them. Germ
 ovate, gibbous.  Perianth entire.  P'tals unequal, cordate, inflexed.  General in-
 volucre about three to five leaved.  Partial owes mostly three leaved, unilateral.

                  THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Conium Maculatum. Stem spotted.  Leaves tripinnate.  Leaf-
 lets lanceolate, pinnatifid.  Fruit smooth.

  Stem very branching, spotted.  Leaves very compound. Seeds striate.

                 THE  ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class  Pentandria.  Stamens five.  Order Digynia.  Po-
 lypetalous.   Seeds two.  Flowers in  umbels.  Herbs with hollow
 stems.

                    NATURAL HISTORY.

  Conium Maculatum is usually supposed to be the koneion of
 the Greek writers, the  celebrated  Athenian  state poison, by which
 Socrates and Phocion died,—and the cicuta* of the Roman authors.
 It is a native of  Europe and  parts of Asia, and is naturalized in
 many places in the United States.  The plant is biennial and um-
 belliferous, growing under hedges, by road-sides and among rubbish,
 flowering  in June and July.
  The  root, which is fusiform, branching, whitish  and fleshy  ex-
 udes when cut a milky juice.   The stem rises erect about four or
five feet in height, is  branching and  leafy,  round, hollow, striated,
smooth, shining  and maculated with brownish purple.   The lower
leaves are very large, above a  foot in length, on  large sheathing
petioles, supra decompound  and shining.  The upper leaves are bi-

  *A Latin  name used by Virgil (Ec. 2d and 5th) but  of unknown application. 
CONIUM MACULATUM.
 pinnate, the whole stand upon channelled footstalks proceeding from
 the joints of the stem, arc incised, smooth, of a deep green color on
 the upper  surface, but paler  underneath.  The rays of the umbels
 are ten or twelve, those of the umbellules fifteen or  sixteen.  The
 involucre consists of from three to seven short turned-down, lancet-
 shaped leaflets with  white edges spread at the base, the involucel of
 three or four leaflets on one side only and spreading.   The flowers
 are very small, the petals white, the outer ones rather  longer than
 the inner, cordate, inflected.  The stamens the length of the petals,
 supporting white obicular anthers.  The styles two, filiformr diverg-
 ing, and crowned with  round stigmas.  The fruit is ovate, striated,
 smooth and brownish when ripe.
   Hemlock  is distinguished  from other umbelliferous plants with
 which it may be confounded,  by its large and  spotted stem, the
 dark and shining color of its lower leaves, and their disagreeable
 smell when  fresh and bruised, resembling in some degree the urine
 of a cat.
   For medical use the leaves should  be gathered about the end  of
 June or early in July when the plant is in flower, the small leaflets
 picked off, and  the footstalks thrown away.  The picked leaflets
 are then to be properly dried, and as exposure to  the air and light
 destroys the fine green color of the plant, and injures its active qual-
 ities, the dried leaflets must be preserved in boxes completely filled,
 by gently pressing down the  leaves, then covered  with a closely-fit-
 ted lid, wrapped  in paper and  sealed \ or if powdered, the powder
 may be preserved good, in closely-stopped opaque phials for many
 years.
   As powders are generally  affected by the action of the air and
 light, all powders should be kept in opaque or green glass bottles.
 The effect of light on a majority of powders is rendered obvious by
 the labelled side of clear bottles containing them, which are always
 turned to the light, becoming encrusted with the powder, changed
 in its color, while the other side remains clear and transparent.
   According  to Linnaeus, sheep eat the leaves, but horses, eows and
 goats refuse them.  Ray informs us that the thrush will feed upon
 the seeds, even when corn or grain is 10 be had.  Curtis says Hem-
 lock is eaten  by few or no insects.

 CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   The odor of properly dried Hemlock leaves is strong, heavy and
narcotic, but not so disagreeable as that of the fresh leaves: the taste 
CO MUM MACULATUM.
 is slightly bitter and  nauseous.   They are easily  pulverized, and
 the  powder should retain the  beautiful green color of the leaves.
 The acrimony only of the fresh leaves is lost in drying, but the nar-
 cotic principle remains uninjured if the operation be well performed.
 The virtues of Conium Maculatum are extracted by  alcohol and
 sulphuric ether.  To the ether  it communicates a very deep green
 color, and when  the tincture is evaporated on the surface of water,
 a rich dark green resin remains in which  the narcotic  principle of
 the plant appears to reside;  it contains the odor and taste in perfec-
 tion, and half a  grain produces headache and slight vertigo.  Dr.
 A. T. Thomson  discovered  this principle,  to which Dr. Paris pro-
 poses to give the name of concin.  Dr. JBrandes has  discovered a
 particular principle of alkaline nature, which  he terms  cicutine, of
 a green color, insoluble in water and in doses of half a grain causing
 vertigo  and headache.
   Hemlock is a  powerful narcotic, and is used as such both inter-
 nally and as an  external application.  It has long been  employed
 as a medicine of great efficacy, and  although we  are  indebted to
 Baron Stoerck, of Vienna, for bringing it into  general notice, yet he
 rated its powers too high, and  the multitude of discordant diseases
 to which he enumerated it  as beneficial,  led  many sober  men to
 doubt its efficacy altogether.  Hemlock is nevertheless a useful nar-
 cotic and is advantageously applied as a palliative in  many com-
 plaints  not curable by any other  medicine.  It is found serviceable
 in chronic rheumatism, in scrofulous, syphilitic and other ill-condi-
 tioned ulcers and glandular tumors, in pertussic, and the protracted
 cough which is very troublesome,  and often remains after pneumo-
 nic inflammation.
   The  leaves of this plant are strongly poisonous,  many instances
 of their fatal effects which have occurred in this and other countries
 are on  record.  The root of Hemlock, however, does not appear to
 possess  any noxious power.   Mr.  Curtis, in the Flora Londinensis,
 expressly states that they have been  eaten in the recent  state and
 also boiled in considerable quantities without occasioning any incon-
 venience.  An over-dose of Hemlock  produces sickness, vertigo,  de-
 lirium,  dilatation of the pupils, great anxiety, stupor and  convul-
sions.   The best antidote is vinegar, after the stomach  has been
 evacuated and the  cerebral excitement reduced by bleeding and
 purging.
   The best mode of exhibiting Hemlock is the dried leaves in the
 form of powder:  dose three grains, gradually increasing  it every day
 until a  slight vertigo forbids its further increase. 
 
 
 
          N'» 72.
Ktionvmiis Atropurpureus
  Spindlentree,  W'a.hoo. , 
rd,



i of

ine




in-
he

rt- 
f.'-.  *••*. ■'-'-*-'--.
?-:'''-';'  ^J??--.'
Spin:! 
             CELASTRACE^.

               Sit a ff~ trees.

                        N°-72.

           EUONYMUS ATROPURPUREUS.

          Spindle-tree.  Burning bush,  Wa-hoo.

    Place—United States.
    Quality—Bitter.
    Power—Tonic, laxative.
    Use—Ague,  dyspepsia, fever, debility,

                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

     Natural Order.  Dumosse—L.  Celastracese—J.
      Class V.  Pentandria.  Order Monogynia.

  Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 220.  Griff. Med. Bot. 220. Lon. Ency. PL 178.  Howard,
Bot. Med. ii. 246. Kosts. Mat. Med. 434.

                  Genus.   EUONYMUS.

  From the Greek eu, well, and onoma, a name, well named. The application of
the name is however obscure.  Euonymus was also a Heathen divinity.
  Stnonymes.—Fusain, or Bennet de  Pretre (F.), Spindelbaum (Ger.), Fusaggine

              the  essential characters.

Calyx.   Sepals four—five, united at base, imbricated.
Corolla.  Petals as many as sepals, inserted by a broad base un-
    der  the margin of the flat,  expanded disk which surrounds the
    ovary.
Stamens.  As many as the petals and alternate with them, insert-
    ed on the margin of the disk. 
EUONYUS ATROPURPUREUS.
 Ovary.  Superior, immersed in and adhering to the disk.
 Fruit.   A capsule or berry.
 Seeds.   Either with or without an arillus.

                the  secondary characters.

   Euonymus.  Calyx flat, of five (sometimes  four or  six) united
 sepals.   Corolla  flat, inserted on the outer  margin of a glandular
 disk.   Stamens five, with  short filaments.  Capsule colored, five-
 angled, five-celled, five-valved.  Seeds ariled.
   Calyx five-parted or five-cleft, flat.  Corol flat, inserted on the outer margin of a
 glandular disk   Capsule five-angled, five-celled, five-valved, colored.  Cells two-
 lobed.  Seeds calyptred or ariled.

                 THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Euonymus Atropurpureus.  Branches smooth.   Leaves el-
 liptic—lanceolate,  acuminate, finely serrate, puberulent,  beneath.
 Peduncles  compressed, many-flowered.   Flowers usually  penta-
 merous.

   Leaves petioled, lance-oblong, accuminate, serrate. Peduncles divaricate, many-
 flowered.  Flowers four-cleft.  Fruit smooth, red.

               THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class  Pentandria.   Stamens five.   Order Monogynia.
 Polypetalous.  Flowers inferior, regular.   Stamens alternate with
 the Petals.  Sh?*ubs.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   The Spindle-tree is a smooth shrub or  large bush, growing from
 four to ten feet high  in shady woods and thickets,  in river bottoms
 in the western States.  It flowers  in June, and  its  seeds ripen late
 in the fall.  The  Indians generally called it  Wa-hoo, among whom'
 it  is said to have been a popular remedy, as well as among the
 whites of certain  early settlements in the  Mississippi valley.
  The bark is  smooth, dark gray, interspersed with  large white irre-
gular shaped spots, which disappear towards  the  termination of the
 branches. The shrub is considerably branched.  The branches shoot-
ing up at very acute angles, sometimes three together; the extreme
portions of the branches, constituting the growth of the preceding
year, are of a  dark green color with many dark  spots, whilst those
portions which appear to have been produced two  years preceding 
EUONYMUS ATROPURPUREUS.
are less green with stripes or lines of white.  Leaves petiolate, oppo-
site on the young branches, alternate on the old, oblong, ovate, acu-
minate, serrate, deep green on the  upper and light  on the under
side.  Flowers, a kind of cyme, or a cluster often axillary to the
leaves, very small,  dark reddish-brown  inside, inclining to  green
outside,'producing an  angular shaped  rough involucre or  husk,
which opens in the fall, exhibiting the beautifully bright fiery red
fruit or herries in strong contrast with decaying nature and which
has procured for it the name of burning bush, it sometimes bears.
   The common name  Spindle-tree is  derived  from  the uses to
which another species of the Euonymus is applied.  This species
has a wood which without being hard, is very tough; and this was
formerly much employed in making spindles for the spinning-wheel.
Now that the jenny has superseded the distaff, this is little used ex-
cept for making toothpicks and skewers :  and also by watch-makers,
for cleaning delicate machinery, for which it is very well  adapted
on account of  the fine point with which it  may be worked without
breaking.   Another of its common names, Prick-wood, seems to
render it not improbable, that it was formerly used in the manufac-
ture of those  skewer-like  pins, which were employed  to hold the
dress  together  as late as the reign of Henry VIII., when the manu-
facture of metal pins became more general.
   The Euonymus  Atropurpureus, Spindle-tree, is of easy cul-
ture in common soil, and  propagated by  layers, ripened  cuttings
planted in autumn,  or seeds.

 CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND  USES.

   The bark of the root of Euonymus Atropurpureus is the part
employed  as medicine, and should  be gathered at the  time that it
will  peal off readily, when it should be  beaten with a hammer or
mallet, carefully dried and preserved for  use.  The bark when dry
is  of  a light brown color outside, white within, rough and  much
wrinkled, resembling in its appearance the dried root of spignet.  It
possesses a peculiar bitterness that  is very permanently tonic and
somewhat anti-periodic.  It exhibits also a laxative  power, on ac-
count of which it is esteemed very valuable in the treatment of dys-
peptic complaints, for the stomach will bear this substance with ad-
vantage, while many other tonics produce  disagreeable symptoms.
Some physicians and practitioners regard it as one of the most valu-
able articles in dyspepsia.
   This medicine is  also particularly useful in all  cases of  debility, 
EUONY US ATRO PURPUREUS.
and valuable as a tonic after intermittent fever or fever and ague.
When depended  on for the cure of ague, it should be preceded  by
an emetic or cathartic, as the circumstances may require, and then
if freely and perseveringly applied it  will generally be successful.
It may be used alone or combined with balmony, or any other tonic.
The dose is from half to a whole teaspoonful three or four times a
day.
  The seeds of the  Spindle-tree, as well as those of the other spe-
cies, are all nauseous, purgative and emetic, and  are used in some
places to destroy vermin in the hair.   The  leaves are poisonous to
sheep, and other animals feeding on them.
  The following are the principal preparations of this medicine :
  Tinctura Euonymus.  Take  of  the bark in  coarse  powder,
four ounces, alcohol two pints.  Digest seven days and filter.
   Tincture of Euonymus.   Tonic and anti-periodic, useful in  in-
termittent and remittent fever and in general debility.  The dose is
from two to four fluid ounces.
  Extractum Euonymus.   Take Euonymus bark four pounds,
alcohol two and a half gallons, water three  gallons.  Digest in the
alcohol at  a temperature  a little below the boiling  point, for four
hours, or keep in  a warm place for a week, strain  through calico
and  distil to one pint.   Boil  the bark in the water  for four hours
over a slow fire, strain and evaparate to  one pint.  Mix the liquors
and evaporate by means of a water bath to the proper consistence.
  Extract of Euonymus.  This article is an excellent laxative bit-
ter and is very highly esteemed in  convalescence  from fever, espe-
cially when of an intermittent or remittent type, and is decidedly
the best article used.  The dose is five grains.
                 ADVERTISEMENT.
  The fourth year of the Family Flora or Materia Medica Botanica will be pub-
lished in the usual  form. Each  part  will contain the usual number of plates  of
plants, colored from original drawings, taken  from nature, with the Botanical
Analysis, Natural History, and Chemical and Medical Properties and Uses, as  in
the preceding series. The fourth year will perfect the second volume, but  the three
first years may be bound together and in that case two volumes will complete the
whole work.  Subscription for each year is always $1.50 in advance, or  $2.00  at
the end of the year, or for either of the past years.
  All communications should be addressed (postage free) to
            PETER  P. GOOD, Elizabethtown, Essex County, New  Jersey.

  D3*The Family Flora can only be obtained by application as above  (post paid)
with remittance ; which will'secure immediate and punctual attention. 
 
 
<f 
           K° 73 .
 IHT©S(EM:>iniT§ OTK&1EIR,
Henbane, Poison  tohacco  ice 
                                  -.     —is uursting
^ituuinany, rarely by terminal p^rcs. 
.it
fcr
&i.&!i-&r\H'
•■■*v?K
 
                  SOLANACEJ!.


                 Nightshades.


                           N°.  73.


                  HYOSOYAMUS  NIGER.


               Henbane, Poison-tobacco, dr.


    Place—Europe.

    Quality—Insipid.

    'Power—Narcotic, sedative.

    Use—Paralysis,  convulsions,  mania, epilepsy.  The smoke

            to relieve tooth-ache


                 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


        Natural Order.  Luridse—L. J. Solanaceae.

       Class V. Pentandria.   Order Monogynia.


  Willd. Sp.  PL i. 1010.  Woodv. 204.  Smith Flor. Brit. 598.  Eng. Bot.  591.
Loudon. Ency. PL 136. Bigelow Med. Bot. i. 161. Linn. Sp. PL 257. Stephen-
son and Churchill, i. 9.  Raf. Med. Flor. i  255. Lind. Med. Flor. 508. Per. El.
Med. Bot. ii. 307.  Griff. Med. Bot. 484. Wood Class Book, 446.



                  Genus.  HYOCYAMUS.

  From vs, a pig, and nvapos, a bean, the fruit has been thought to resemble a bean,
and is said to be not poisonous to swine.
  Synonymes.—Lajusquiame (Fr.), Das Bilsenkraut {Ger.), Bilsenkruid. (Dutch),
Bulme (Dan.), Giusquiamo (1.)  Beleno (S.), Meimendro (Port.) Belmort (Swed.),
Bielum  (Pol.), Khorassanie Ajooan  (H.)  Sickran  (Arab), Khorassanie  onsum
(Tarn.), Buzirulbury (Pers), Adas-pedas (Malay), Adas (Jav.)


                 THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Sepals four—five, more or less  united mostly persistent.

Corolla.   Regular, Limb four—five cleft, plaited in aestivation,

     deciduous.

Stamens.    Four—five  (sometimes  one abortive),  inserted  on

     the corolla, alternate with its segments.  Anthers bursting

     longitudinally, rarely by  terminal p^rcs. 
HYOSCYAMUS NIGER.
Ovary.   Free (superior), two-celled,  {four-celled  in  Datura),
    with the placenta in the axis.  Styles and  Stigmas united
    into one.
Fruit.  A capsule or  berry.
Seeds.   Numerous.   Embryo curved, lying in fleshy albumen.

                 the secondary characters.
  Hyoscyamus.   Calyx tubular, five  cleft.   Corolla infundibu-
liform, irregular; one of the five, obtuse lobes larger.   Stamens
five, declinate.   Stigma capitate.   Capsule ovoid,  two-celled
opening with a lid near the summit.

  Calyx tubular, five cleft.  Corol funnel-form, five-lobed, obtuse, irregular.  Stamens
inclined.  Capsule two-celled, covered with a lid.

                  THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.
  Hyoscyamus  Niger.   Stem  branching,  erect,  very leafy,
Leaves sinuate, clasping.   Flowers sessile.

  Leaves clasping, sinuate.   Flowers veiny sessile.

                  THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class Pentandria.  Stamens five.  Order, Monogynia, Mono-
petalous.  Flowers inferior.   Corolla  regular.   Herbs  (rarely
shrubby).   Stamens  alternate with  petals.   Fruit capsule  or
berry.   Cells two with many seeds.   JEstivation plicate.


                  NATURAL  HISTORY.

  Common Henbane  is  a  native of Europe, and is naturalized
in the northern  parts of  the United  States.   It  grows spon-
taneously at Detroit and Upper  Canada, on waste  grounds, and
at the sides  of roads,  particularly on a calcareous soil, flowering
in July and August.  The root  is  long, tapering, compact, and
fibrous.  The  stem erect,  woody, round,  and branched, rising
about two feet  in height.   The leaves are alternate, sessile, and
embracing the stem, large, the lower  ones being about  a foot in
length, deeply sinuated, undulated, woolly, and  of a sea-green
color.  The flowers  are in  terminal,  recurved,  leafy,  simple
spikes, and  each  is simple and erect.   The calyx is permanent,
pitcher-shaped, with a regular five-cleft border, reticulated Avith
veins.   The corolla straw-colored, and beautifully pencilled with 
HYOSCYAMUS NIGER.
a net-work of purple veins.   The filaments are inserted into the
tube of the corolla tapering, downy at the base, and supporting
purple anthers.  The  style  is purplish,  with a  blunt, round,
stigma.   The capsule is globular, invested with the body of the
calyx, bilocular, and closed with a convex smooth lid.
   The whole  plant  is  covered  with soft,  white  hairs,  feels
clammy and slightly adhesive.  It emits a foetid  odor ;  is of a
sea-green  hue, and poisonous when eaten.
  A species of bug {Cimex) and  of beetle  {Chrysomela) take
their specific names  from feeding on this plant; but no quadru-
ped is known to eat it, unless the goat and sheep,  and that very
rarely and sparingly.
   The Henbane is a hardy plant, of common culture ; it grows
in loam and peat, and cuttings root without  being covered  by a
glass.


 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND  USES.

   The virtues of Hyocyamus  Niger are completely extracted by
diluted alcohol.  The  watery infusion is of  a very pale yellow
color and  insipid, and has the  narcotic odor of the plant.  It is
not altered  by the acids.   The  alkalies  change the color to a
deep greenish yellow, which, on  the addition  of an acid, disap-
pears, and a brownish flocculent precipitate  is produced.   It  is
copiously  precipitated by solutions of acetate of lead, white ;  by
nitrate of silver, black ;  sulphate of iron strikes  with it a pale
olive  color,  and a  dark precip^ate is slowly formed.  Thence
Henbane  appears to contain  resin,  mucus, extractive, a peculiar
alkaline salt, and gallic acid.  M. M. Meissner and Brandes have
examined the nature  of this alkaline  salt,  which  they  have
named Hyociama, and have ascertained that on it depends the
peculiar virtues and the poisonous properties of this plant.  The
seeds contain a larger proportion of this alkaloid than either the
leaves or  the  roots ; it is in  the form of a malate.  It crystal-
lizes in long prisms, and  forms neutral salts with the acids.
  Henbane  is narcotic.   Its  operation is  very similar to that  of
opium ; increasing at first the strength of the pulse, and produc-
ing some sense of heat, effects which are followed by proportional
diminution of excitement and sleep. In some habits it occasions
diaphoresis or diuresis, and  sometimes a  pustular irruption ;  at
other times  it purges ;  and  in over doses,  produces sickness,
stupor; dimness of sight, hard pulse, delirium,  and coma, with 
HYOSCYAMUS NIGER.
dilation  of the  pupils;  until  the pulse gradually  becoming
weak and tremulous,  petechiae make their appearance, and death
ensues. Dissections show the effects of inflammation in the sto-
mach, bowels, and the membranes of the brain.  After an emetic
is given, and the stomach fully cleared, vinegar is the best anti-
dote.
   The effects of Henbane  as  an anodyne were known  to the
ancients.   But as those were ill understood,  its use was almost
completely relinquished till the time of Baron Stoerk, who may
be regarded as having introduced it.  It may be employed in all
the cases in which the use of opium is indicated, where the latter
disagrees with the habit, or where its constipating effect is wished
to be  avoided.  In painful and  spasmodic affections,  hysteria,
rheumatism, and gout, much benefit has resulted from its use,
and it is  particularly serviceable when  it is united with colo-
cynth  or other powerful  cathartics, in colica pictonum.   It  is
used externally to lessen and allay the irritation of very sensible
parts, thence fomentations of the leaves have been found benefi-
cial in scrofulous and cancerous  ulcers, haemorrhoids and other
painful swellings.  The leaves and  marshmallow flowers  boiled
in milk, with  the addition of a  few grains of acetate of lead,
are recommended as a topical application in  scrofulous ophthal-
mia.   Smoking the leaves, like tobacco, is said to allay the pain
of toothache.  Its effects in dilating the pupil, when an infusion
of it is dropped into the  eye, are similar to those of belladonna,
and thence it  is also employed as a preparative to the operation
for cataract.  It is  used by practitioners very  generally,  and
particularly recommended in the forms of extract and tincture
only,  and on no occasion  should  it ever be  prescribed in com-
binations with alkalies, as these  destroy its  narcotic powers in
twenty-four hours.
   The leaves are active only in  the second year of the plant;  if
scattered about buildings they are said to drive away mice and
rats.   If more than a small portion of the  leaves  should have
been accidentally swallowed, brisk  emetics  ought instantly  to
be taken, and  after discharging the contents  of the  stomach,  it
will be necessary to administer some mild drinks, such as large
portions of  vinegar or lemon juice diluted  with water,  as the
stomach is  able  to support them.   The whole plant is fatal  to
poultry, whence  its common name ; it intoxicates swine, but
cows,  horses,  dogs,  and goats are able to bear a tolerable  pro-
portion before  they are affected. 
 
 
 
                N° 74-.
 MIEIIDIEtDD'JA IPTTLlE&liQniDTES .
Pen nyr o val. S i ck -we e d, S qu aw- mint ,vc
 
                                                    ,------rj,~l.
     uair ueing abortive or wanting, situated on th^ corolla tube.
     Anthers mostly two-celled.
Ovary.  Free, deeply  four-lobed,  the  single  style arising from
     the base of the lobes. 
«*.  J&a*



%*■■"■
V(]  S«|! 
                    LABIATE.

              Labiate  Plants.

                          N°.  U.

              HEDEOMA  PULEGIOIDES.

        Pennteoyal, Tich-iveed, Squaw-mint, &c.

     Place—North America.
     Quality—Aromatic.
     Power—Stomachic, stimulating, emmanagogue.
     Use—Nausea, flatulence, obstructed menstruation.

                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

            Natural Order.  Labiatse—L. J.

   Class XIV. Didynamia.   Oedee  Gymnospermia.

  Persoon Synop. ii. 131. Beach Fam Ph. 677. Loudon Ency. PL 500. Barton Veg.
Mat. Med. ii. 165.  Raf. Med. Flor. i. 231.  Lincl Med. Flor. 491. Griff. Med. Bot.
508.  Kost. Mat. Med. 328.  Wood, Class Book, 422.

                   Genus.  HEDEOMA.
  From the Greek jj<5aa, sweet, or agreeable, oajxri, smell, on account of the fragrance
of the plant.
  Synonymes.— Menthe peuliot(F.), Polei (Ger. Dutch, Dan.), Pulija (Swedish ), Poley    •
(Pol.), Puleggio (/.), Paleo (S), Poejo (Port.)

                THE ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS.
Calyx.   Tubular,  regularly five-toothed  or  cleft, or bilabiate,
     persistent.
Corolla.   Bilabiate, (rarely regular, five-toothed,) the upper  lip
     bifid  or entire, overlapping in aestivation the lower  three-
     cleft one.
Stamens.   Four, didynamous, or sometimes only two, the upper
     pair being abortive or wanting, situated on the, corolla tube.
     Anthers mostly two-celled.
Ovary.   Free, deeply four-lobed, the single  style arising from
    the base of the lobes. 
HEDEOMA PULEGIOIDES.
Fruit.  One—four hard nuts or achenia.
Seeds.  Erect, with little or no albumen.  Embryo erect.  Co-
     tyledons flat.

                 the secondary characters.

  Hedeoma.   Calyx  gibbous  beneath at  base, thirteen-ribbed,
throat hairy, upper lip of Corolla erect, flat, lower lip spreading,
three-lobed.  Stamens two, fertile, ascending.

  Calyx two-lipped, gibbose at the base, upper lip with three lanceolate teeth;  lower
lip with two subulate ones.  Coral ringent.  Two short Stamens barren.

                  THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Hedeoma Pulegioides.   Leaves oblong, few-toothed  Flowers
axillary, whorled.

  Pubescent, Leaves oblong, serrate. Peduncles axillary, whorled.

                  THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class Didynamia.   Stamens four, two  of them longer than
the other two.  Order G-ymnospermia.   Seeds naked.  Achenia
four (or fewer), included in the calyx.  Corolla monopetalous
and labiate.


                  NATURAL HISTORY.

  The species comprising  this  genus Hedeoma, which are mostly
North American plants, were  included by Linnaeus and other
botanists in Cunila and Melissa, but were distinguished, sepa-
rated and named by Persoon,  and they constitute  a small, but
well-marked group.
  The Hedeoma Pulegioides notwithstanding, is yet commonly
blended, even by some medical writers, with the Mentha Pule-
gium, which belongs to  a different genus, and does not grow in
America.  The shape, smell, and properties are somewhat similar,
whence  the same vulgar name ; but the American plant appears
to be most efficient.
  Hedeoma Pulegioides,  the  American Pennyroyal,  is  very
common and abundant all over the United States and in Canada
growing on dry and hilly grounds, on the road sides, in unculti-
vated fields,  and in open woods,  and flowers  throughout the
summer.  The plant is a small strong scented herb, held in high 
HEDEOMA PULEGIOIDES.
repute in domestic practice, and is of easy culture.   The root is
annual, small, fibrous, branched, and yellowish.   The stem is up-
right, about a foot high, with slender branches, obscurely angular,
terete, and pubescent.   The leaves are small, opposite, oblong,
lanceolate, or suboval, on short petioles, base attenuated and sub-
acute, margin with small remote serratures, surface  rough or
pubescent, nerved  and pale beneath.  Flowers all along the
branches in axillary whorls of six,  nodding on short  pedicles,
very small.  Calyx pubescent, corolla very  small, hardly longer,
white, with the lips purple, base slender, then campanulate with
two  small lips, the  upper rounded, seldom notched, the  lower
with two rounded lateral lobes, and an obcordate middle lobe.
Stamina and style filiform, anthers oblong.  Stigma lateral acute.
Fruit  four small oblong  seeds in the persistent calyx,  mouth
closed by  the ciliated bristles of the lower lip.
  Pennyroyal is cultivated for its use in culinary and  pharma-
ceutical preparations.  It grows best on a tenacious soil, even a
clay is more suitable than  a  light, silicious soil.  It should be
moderately fertile, free of stagnant moisture, and consequently
on a dry subsoil, or well-drained.   A wet  soil makes the plant
luxuriant  in summer, but insures decay in winter.
 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND  USES.

   The medical properties of Hedeoma  Pulegioides are stimu-
lant,  carminative, diaphoretic  and emmenagogue.  The smell
and taste are very warm, pungent, strong, and hardly aromatic,
but pleasant or otherwise  according to different  personal affec-
tions.  Its active  properties reside in a volatile oil, which may
be procured by distillation.   One cwt. of fresh pennyroyal affords
an average produce of one lb. of essential oil.   This oil is analo-
gous in properties to that of the European  pennyroyal.  It has
a light yellow  color, with  the odor and taste of the plant.  Its
specific gravity is 0.948.  It is much used as a rubefacient.  It
is  an ingredient of most of  the liniments and other preparations
that are designed to act as excitants and counter irritants on the
surface.   By many it  is also used  internally as  a stimulant,
diaphoretic and carminative.  It is considered a good remedy in
flatulent  colic and sick stomach, to correct the operation of nau-
seating or griping medicines, and to impart flavor to mixtures.
It  may either be taken  alone, dropped  on sugar, or it may be 
HEDEOMA PULEGIOIDES.
 worked into a mass and thus formed into pills.  The dose is from
 two or ten drops.
   The infusion commonly called pennyroyal tea, is a very popu-
 lar domestic remedy, and frequently taken freely without regard
 to quantity or strength.  The most  popular method of making
 this tea is: take  of pennyroyal a handful,  of  boiling water a
 pint.  Steep in it a covered vessel,  and sweeten with sugar.
 This infusion  is warming and grateful to the stomach, and is
 particularly useful in allaying nausea and  vomiting.   In large
 draughts it promotes perspiration, and taken freely on  going to
 bed, it is an excellent remedy for a sudden cold, or slight attack
 of disease.   Combined with cayenne, it may be given with great
 advantage  in  obstruction of the  menses, the feet having  been
 previously  bathed  in warm water, hence  it is much used as an
 emmenagogue in popular practice, and frequently with considera-
 ble success.  It affords relief in flatulency and pains of the  sto-
 mach  and  bowels, and for  this purpose may be  given  freely to
 children.   Although pennyroyal affords  a very popular graveo-
 lent tea, and probably more used in domestic practice than any
 other of the aromatic herbs, yet  there are  many other labiate
 plants which are equivalent to it, and possibly more agreeable.
   This herb put  into water  which has  become  unwholesome
 during a sea voyage, will give it an agreeable flavor, and render
 it less  injurious to  the system.
   This plant is also frequently used  to  kill the  Ticks, Ixodes,
 which attach themselves to men, dogs, and cattle in summer.
 Hence one  of its common or vulgar names.   These troublesome
 animals are found wherever the Hedysarums and Lespedezas
 or true tickweeds grow, upon which  they breed.  By rubbing
 the legs or  boots with this plant or its oil, those insects will avoid
 you, or, if  they have taken hold, the  oil kills them.   A strong
 decoction of the plant is equally convenient,  and a strong decoc-
 tion of tobacco is as good.
  The whole plant gives out, when pressed between the fingers,
 a strong, pungent,  and grateful scent, which is extremely reviv-
 ing and pleasant.  The expressed juice mixed with a little sugar-
 candy  has been frequently prescribed for the hooping cough,  and
 with remarkable success.  A table-spoonful is a dose.
  A conserve of the young  tops  acts as a diuretic  and  has
 proved serviceable in the gravel.  It  is likewise good for  the
jaundice and all other complaints arising from obstruction of the
 viscera. 
 
 
 
          N"0  75
ACD^ J T'UM ^.AIPIBILJLIIJS
"Wolfsbane, Monkshood sec. 
itfiiitj
p:. -■'^..  U.S.
     i^umi ur wanting.
Stamens.   Indefinite or numerous, distinct, hypogynous.   An.
     thers adnate or innate. 
~.J
*
^■-&-js£:

*£*>:.
1**
:-       ■  ..       . MS"-
\fi.^
Woltsoaiie,-lyioiiKstiuuu  m. 
                 RANTJNCULACEJ!.


                   Cr owfo ots.


                           N°.  75.


                ACONITUM  NAPELLUS.


                 Monk's-hood, Wolfs-lane.


          Place—Europe.

          Quality—Acrid, somewhat poisonous.

          Power—Narcotic, diaphoretic, diuretic.

          Use—Rheumatism,  gout, paralysis, &c.


               BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


  Natural  Order.   Multisiliquae—L.  Eanunculacese—J.


      Class XIII. Polyandria.   Order Monogynia.


  Willd. Sp. PL ii. 1235. Woodv. Med. Bot. 2d Ed. 165. Linn. Sp. PL 751. IT. S.
 Dis. 52. Raff. Med. Flor. ii. 186. Lindley, Med. Flor. Per. El. Mat. Med. ii. 749.
 Griff. Med. Bot. 91. Stephenson and Churchil, i. 28.  Wood, Class Book, 146.



                   Genus.  ACONITUM.

  The derivation is not clear. Some writers derive it from Acone, a town of Bithynia,
 others deduce it from the Freek anoviTo;, without dust; because the plant grows in dry
 places; but after all, it most probably comes from axovrj, a rock, for  the plant grows
 also in rocky places.
  Svnonymes.—Aconit, chaperon de Moine (Fr.) Blanerstrumhut (Ger.)  Monniks-
 kappen (Belg.)  Stermhnt (Dan.)  Stermhatt (Swed.)  Napello (7.)  Aconito (S.)

                      t
                 THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.


 Calyx.   Sepals  mostly  fivex  sometimes  three, four,  or six,

     mostly  deciduous, and imbricated in aestivation.

 Corolla.   Petals three—fifteen, hypogynous.  Sometimes ir-

     regular or  wanting.

Stamens.   Indefinite  or  numerous, distinct,  hypogynous.  An.

     thers adnate  or innate. 
ACONITUM NAPELLTJS.
Ovary.  Indefinite or numerous, rarely solitary or few, distinct,
     seated on the torus.
  Fruit.  Either dry achenia, or baccate, or follicular.  Embryo
Minute, at the base of horny or fleshy albumen.
  Seeds.   Numerous.

                 THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Aconitum.   Sepals five, irregular, colored, upper one vaulted.
Petals five,  the three lower minute, the two upper on long claws,
concealed beneath  the  upper  sepal, recurved  and nectariferous
at the apex.   Styles three—five.  Follicles three—five.

  Calyx wanting. Petals five, upper one vaulted.  Nectaries two, hooded, peduncled,
recurved. Carpels three or five, pod-like.  By some, the corol is considered as a
colored calyx.

                   THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Aconitum Napellus.   Stem straight,  erect.  Leaves  deeply
five-cleft,  cut into linear segments,  furrowed above.   Upper
Sepals arched  at the  back.  Lateral  ones hairy on the  inside.
Ovary smooth.

  Leaves shining, five-parted, the divisions three-parted by gashed incisions, sub-divi-
sions linear.  Upper lip of the corol lanceolate, ascending, two-cleft.  Spur straight,
obtuse.

                  THE ARTIFICIAL.CHARACTERS.

  Class X.  Polyandria.  Stamens  twenty or  more, arising
from  the  receptacle, (hypogynous.) Order Monogynia.   Ovary
simple.  Calyx  four-five  sepaled.  Leaves ternately divided.
Flowers racemose.

                   NATURAL  HISTORY.

  The ancient history of Aconitum is involved in great obscurity.
The  Greeks  make  frequent reference to  a most virulent poison,
which they term aKovnov.   Theophrastus is the earliest writer
who speaks  of it.  As Aconitum Napellus is a viiulent  poison,
and is a native of Grreece. where it is known at the present day,
by the  above appellation,  it  would appear probable  that  our
common aconite was the  plant  referred  to by the  ancients.
But  the characters of it as given by TheoDhrastus ouite nreolndfi 
ACONITUM NAPELLUS.
 this  supposition,  and the plant described  by this  ancient na-
 turalist has never been satisfactorily identified.
   This species, Aconitum Napellus,  varies much in the color
 and size of its flowers, especially in a cultivated state, and  is
 much prized as an  ornament in the  garden.  It is a native of
 most parts of Europe, in mountain forests and plains, flowering
 iu May and  June.  The  roots are napiform  and fibrous.   The
 stem is  firm, elongated,  erect, smooth, rising to the height of
 five or six feet, leafy and terminating in a  long sparse spike of
 flowers,  racemose, and the  peduncles branched below.  The
 lower leaves are few,  alternate on long channelled petioles, pal-
 mated, or rather pedate, being  divided to  the base into three or
 five broad cuneiform divisions, deeply cleft and toothed.  The
 petioles are shorter and the leaves less divided the nearer they
 are to the summit of the stem.   The color of the whole is a deep
 green on the upper disk, and a  pale green on the under ; both
 sides are naked,  smooth,  and shining.  The flowers are  of a
 cerulean blue, on unifloral, erect,  axillary, pubescent pedicels.
 They have no calyx ; but two small, erect, calycinal stipules, or
 rather subulate bracteolae, are  placed one  on each side of the
 pedicle within  a few lines of the flower.   The petals are five ;
 the uppermost helmet-shaped and more accuminate than in some
 others, covering two singular,  peduncled nectaries;  the lateral
 ones broad and roundish, the lower oblong, elliptical,  and divari-
 cating.   These four are slightly pubescent.   The nectaries are
 cuculated, the spur  of  each  being hooked and blunt.  The lip
 lanceolate, revolute  and bifid.   The filaments are spread, and
 white at  the base,  where they closely cover  the  germens,  but
 the upper part is filiform, purple, spreading, and bearing whitish
 anthers.   The  germens are  three, four,  or five, with simple,
 reflected stigmas, and become capsules with many regular seeds.
  The plant is  of easy culture ; and for  medical purposes, the
 leaves should be gathered  when the flowers appear.

 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

  The whole of the plant is  poisonous ;. but  the  deleterious
qualities are lost in a considerable  degree when it is  dried,
or long kept,  and much of its  acrimony is dissipated.   The leaves
when fresh have a faint narcotic  odor, and a moderately bitter,
acrid taste, leaving  a painful sensation of  heat in  the mouth
when they are  much  chewed.  The  activity of the plant is 
ACONITUM NAPELLUS.
very uncertain, and depends on soil and the nature of the sea-
sons.   The tuber is most active immediately after the period of
flowering, next the seed, and  successively the  leaves, stalk and
fruit.  Its narcotic principle  is  an alkaloid,  which  has been
named Aconita.  This principle is soluble in cold water, scarcely
so in cold alcohol, but freely if heat be applied.
  Aconite is narcotic, diaphoretic, and in some cases,  diuretic.
In over doses it occasions violent nausea, vomiting, hypercathar-
sis, vertigo, cold sweats, mania and convulsions, which termi-
nate in death ; and these effects appear to depend on its action
on the nervous  system, as dissections of fatal cases have not dis-
played any particular marks of organic disease.
  Although, as already mentioned, this plant was  known to the
ancients, it was introduced into regular  medical practice by Baron
Stoerk of Vienna, who administered it internally in chronic rheu-
matism,  gout, exostosis, paralysis, and scirrhus ; and since the
publication of his experiments in 1702, it has  been advantage-
ously employed in similar cases, and also in amaurosis, scrofula,
cancer, itch, venereal nodes and intermittents.  It is now uni-
versally ranked  among the most potent of therapeutic agents.
In consequence,  however, of  its uncertain action, and its occa-
sional production of alarming symptoms, it is not in general use.
Much caution is required in the exhibition of it; and it is abso-
lutely necessary to know the length of time it has been gathered,
as its activity varies so very considerably as to require this to be
ascertained before the dose can be apportioned.  It is given in
the form of powder, extract and tincture, and may be combined
with calomel, antimonials,  camphor and  guaiacum.   The dose
of the powder  is  one  or two grains,  gradually increasing it to
six or eight.  The extract varies much in strength ; but its use
should always  be commenced  in  doses  not exceeding half a
grain.   The  tincture may  be administered  in doses  of ten  to
fifteen drops.
  Succus Spissatus Aconita  Napelli.   Inspissated  Juice of
Aconite.   Let  the fresh  leaves  of aconite be bruised,  enclose
them in a hempen bag, and press them strongly until they yield
their juice, which is to  be evaporated in flat  vessels heated with
boiling water saturated with muriate of soda,  and  immediately
reduced  to the  consistence of thick honey.  After the mass is
cold,  let it  be put into glazed earthen vessels and moistened
with  alcohol.   This extract is  the form under which  Baron
Storck introduced wolfsbane  into practice. 
 
 
 

             X°  76
   STRILDIYIAS  HDI-ID-KCA.
Unicorn.T31azino-star. Ague-root <;c 
Fruit.  Capsule or berry, three-celled, generally with septicidal
    dehiscence.
Seeds.  "With a membranous testa, and dense fleshy albumen. 
'■*»£
Unicorn. Ulazine-star. A6Ue-root .tc 
               MELANTHACE^E.

                  Melanths.

                        No. 76.

                  HELONIAS DIOIOA.

                     Unicorn Root.

       Place—United States.
       Quality—Not unpleasant.
       Power—Tonic, anthelmintic.
       Use—Colic, rheumatism, jaundice.

               BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

   Natural  Order.  Coronariee.—Melanthaceas.   J.

       Class VI. Hexandria.   Order  Trigynia.

  Willd. Sp. PL ii. 183.  Lou. Ency. PL 268.  Linn. Sp. PL 456. Bigelow, Med
Bot. iii. 50.  U. S. Dis. 64. Raf. Med. Flor. i. 37.  Per EL Mat. Med. ii. 130.  Griff.
Med. Bot. 263.  Wood Class Book, 559.

                  Genus.   HELONIAS.

         From the Greek, t>or, a marsh, where some species grow.

                THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Floral Envelope,  or  Perianth regular, in two series, each of
    three segments which are distinct or united at base, gener-
    ally  involute in aestivation.
Stamens.   Six, with extrorse anthers.
Ovary.   Three-celled,  nine—many  ovuled.   Styles distinct  or
    wanting.  Stigmas undivided.
Fruit.  Capsule or berry, three-celled, generally with septicidal
    dehiscence.
Seeds.  With a membranous testa,  and dense fleshy albumen. 
                     HELONIAS DIOICA.

                 THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.
  Helonias.  Perianth six-parted, spreading, petaloid, the seg-
ments sessile, and without glands.  Styles three, distinct.  Cap-
sule three-celled, three-horned.   Cells many-seeded.
  Calyx wanting.  Corol six-parted or six-petalled, spreading, glandless.  Styles dis-
tinct.  Capsule three-celled, three-horned, few-seeded.
                   SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.
  Helonias Dioica.  Stem leafy.   Leaves lanceolate, radical
ones  oblanceolate.   Raceme spiked,  nodding, dioecious.   Pedi-
cels  short, without  bracts.    Stamens  exserted.    Segments
linear.
  Scape leafy.  Racemes spiked, nodding.  Pedicels short, subtracted.  Filaments
longer than the corol.  Petals linear.  Leaves lance-oblong.  Generally dioecious.
                 THE  ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.
  Class Hexandria.  Stamens six.    Order  Trigynia.   En-
dogens.   Calyx and Corolla similarly developed. Flowers con-
spicuous, mostly colored.   Ovary many seeded.
             HjEMODORACEjE.
               Bloodroots.
                      No. 76.
              ALETRIS  FARINOSA.
                Star-G-rass, Colic root.
              BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.
 Natural Order.   Coronarise, L.  Hsemodoraceae, J.
    Class  VI. Hexandria.   Order  Monogynia.
                 Genus.   ALETRIS.
From the Greek aXe'ias, meal, from the dust with which the plant is covered.
                 GENERAL  CHARACTERS.
Perianth semi-inferior, tubular, with a six-cleft spreading 
ALETRIS FARINOSA.
 limb,  somewhat hexagonal, scabrous  and plaited  externally.
 Stamens inserted on the base of the segments.  Filaments flat.
 Anthers somewhat sagittate.   Ovary three-lobed,  pyramidal.
 Style  formed of three connate bristles.   Stigma simple.  Cap-
 sule pyramidal, opening in three directions at the apex.   Seeds
 very small, striated, numerous.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   On account of the great irregularity and confusion with many
 medical writers on the Unicorn, Unicorn-root,  Star-grass, Colic-
 root, &c, as two American plants of different orders, genera, and
 species,  are simultaneously, commonly, and vulgarly called, it
 has been determined to  designate and  describe both under one
 and the same number (No. 76,) in  the Family  Flora.

   The Helonias Dioica, Unicorn-root,  is abundant  in  some of
 the "Western States, and it is found also in Pennsylvania, New-
 York, and Connecticut.   It grows  in woodlands  and meadows,
 delighting  in  a moist situation, and blossoms in  midsummer.
 The root is perennial, rather smaller than the little finger, irre-
 gular,  from one to  two inches long, of  a dirty dark  color, very
 hard, full of little pits, rough and wrinkled, having numerous
 small darkish  fibrous roots, which  when deprived  of their out-
 side  bark somewhat resemble hog's bristles.  The end  of the
 caudex or main root often dead or rotten; premorse.   Leaves
 radical, pale, smooth,  evergreen, lanceolate in a sort of  whorl at
 the base of the scape.   Stem or  scape from eight  to  eighteen
 inches  high, upright furrowed, and terminating in  a  spike  or
 tassel of white  dioecious flowers.  Flowers small, very numerous.
 greenish white, in  long, terminal, spicate racemes, which are
 more slender and weak  on the barren plants.   Ovaries as Ions
 as the  linear  petals,  subtriangular.   Capsule three-furrowed,
 oblong, tapering at the  base, opening at the top.   The fertile
 plants  are taller, more erect, but with fewer flowers.

  The Aletris  Farinosa, Star-grass, is  found in almost all parts
 of the  United  States, growing in   poor,  dry soils in open situa-
tions on hills,  prairies, and  borders of woods, and  flowers  in
 June and July.  The root is perennial, small, branched, crooked,
blackish outside, brown within, premorse, intensely bitter.  Stem
or scape round erect, from one to two feet high, naked,  except a
 few scattered bracts ending in a long spike of white, somewhat 
ALETRIS FARINOSA.
 scattered flowers, and at base surrounded with a circle of lanceo-
 late, sessile leaves, which spring immediately from the foot and
 spread on the ground in the form of a star.  Hence have origi-
 nated the popular names of star-grass, blazing star, and mealy
 star-wort, by which the plant is known  in different parts of the
 country.  The leaves are entire,  pointed, very smooth, longitu-
 dinally veined, and of unequal size, the  largest being about four
 inches in length.


 CHEMICAL  AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

   The root of Helonias Dioicia is the part principally used, and
 is highly celebrated as a tonic, and general strengthener of the
 system.   Dr. Rogers says it relieves colic, stranguary,  rheuma-
 tism,  and jaundice.  It  affords an excellent female medicine,
 and has a powerful tendency to prevent abortion, and they who
 are liable to  accidents of this  nature, ought to make  frequent
 use of it.   Half a tea-spoonful  of the powdered  root may be
 taken three times a day, in a gill of warm water, or for ordinary
 use, a portion of it may be added to the bitter tonic.   It  is also
 highly valued in suppressed  menstruation.
   The Unicorn-root is also an excellent  remedy for coughs, con-
sumptions, and all complaints of  the lungs, promoting expecto-
ration and insensible perspiration.   The constant use of it, how-
ever, sometimes  makes the  mouth sore, when it must be laid
aside, and some other expectorant  used till the mouth gets well,
and then it may be again resumed.

   The root of the  Aletris  Farinosa, is the official portion em-
ployed as medicine.  It  is a very bitter and valuable tonic and
stomachic, promoting in small doses the appetite and digestion ;
but in large  doses is apt   to produce nausea and vomiting.
 Twelve grains of the powdered root is the largest dose.
   The bitterness appears to  reside in a resinous matter,  which *
is fully imparted  in the tincture, to alcohol, which it renders ex-
tremely  bitter, whilst water is  rendered much less so.   The
tincture becomes turbid by the addition  of water.
   The star-grass may be given in tincture, decoction or sub-
stance, though the first and last forms are undoubtedly the best;
or it may be incorporated into cordials or  syrups.  It is useful
in all cases of debility and  loss  of appetite, fevers,  colic, and
rheumatism. 
 
 
 
                   \r9 77.
           fASSUA ]MSTJJ ■■[., /\ .
Cassia, Purging Cassia. Pudding--pipe tree .\:r. 
*■.:.-. PL 348.
■ --- 'nor.. M'.i
                           _____„v»v,..m"v»i*o  wi  uio»/iuct.    /inc/iers
                   a.     '          I
     versatile.
Ovary.   Superior, single and simple.  Style and Stigma simple. 
A  .  ^4*
^&-S'-...*
't.-'^Y V   A
y**.

[S%
j i 'iroi a-. 
LEGUM1N0SA
       Leguminous   Plants.

                           N°. 11.

                    CASSIA  FISTULA.

     Cassia, Purging cassia, Pudding pipe tree, Sfc,  Sfc.

       Place—East Indies, Egypt, Arabia.
       Quality—Sweet, somewhat nauseous.
       Poiuer—Demulcent.
       Use—Obstipations of the bowels, nephritic calculi.

              BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

  Natmral Order.   Lomentacese—L.  Leguminosse—J.

        Class X. Decandria.   Order Monogynia.

  Willd. Sp. PL ii. 513.  Woodv. Med. Bot. 2d Ed. iii. 60. Loudon Ency. PL 348.
Linn. Sp. PL 540. U. S. Dis. 186   Stephenson and Churchill.  Lindley, Flor. Med.
262.  Per. El. Mat. Med. ii. 601.  Griff. Med. Bot. 558. Wood, C. B. 236.

                      Genus.   CASSIA.
  From the Hebrew Ketzioth, rendered by xacnari in the Septuagint, and latinized
Cassia.
  Stnonymes.—Casse (Fr.) Rohnkassie (Ger.) Pypkassie (Dutch.) Cassievar (Dan.
Swed.) Polpa di  Cassia  (/.)  Fistularis (Sp.)  Ameltas (H.)  Suvernaca  (San.)
Konnekai (Tarn.)  Khyar Sheber (Arab.) Khyar Chirber (Pers.)  Drangu (Jav.)
Mentus (Malay.)  Sonali (Beng.)

                 THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Sepals  generally five, more  or  less united, often un-
     equal.
Corolla.   Petals five, either papilionaceous or regular, perigy-
     nous.
Stamens.   Diadelphous,  monadelphous or  distinct.   Anthers
     versatile.
Ovary.   Superior, single and simple.  Style and Stigma simple. 
CASSIA FISTULA.
•           Fruit.   A legume,'either  continuous (one-celled)  or (a lomcni)
                 jointed into one-seeded cells.
            Seeds.   Solitary or several, destitute of albumen.

                             THE  SECONDARY  CHARACTERS.

              Cassu.  Sepals five, scarcely united at  base, nearly equal.
            Petals five, unequal, but not papilionaceous.   Stamens ten, dis-
            tinct.  Three  upper  anthers often  sterile;  three lower  ones
            beaked.  Legume many seeded.

              Calyx five-sepalled. Corol five-petalled.  Anthers three, lower ones  beaked, and
            on longer incurved filaments.  Legume membranaceous

                              THE  SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

              Cassia Fjstula.  Trunk  from forty  to fifty feet  high, about
            the size of  a walnut tree.   Leaves large, composed of  from five
            to six pairs  of oval and  acute  folicles, from  three to five inches
            long.   Flowers large, yellow, in clusters, hanging from the axilla
            of the leaves.

              Leaves in six pairs.  Petioles glandless.  Legume reniform.

                             THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

              Class Decandria.  Stamens ten.  Order Monogynia   Fruit,
           a  legume,   Ovary single and simple.

                              NATURAL HISTORY.

              Cassia  Fistula is a  native of Egypt and the  East Indies, but
           is  now naturalized in  the West  Indies and South America.   It
           was known to the Arab and  Greek physicians of the middle ao-es,
           and is supposed  to have received  its name from its agreeable
           odor,  somewhat resembling that of  the celebrated spice.
              The  tree  rises  to the height or forty  or  fifty feet, with  a
           large  trunk, covered with a soft, cineritious  bark, and  is much
           branched  at  the  top.   The  leaves  are  composed of six  pairs of
           ovate, pointed, undulated  pinnae,  of a  pale  green color, with
           many  transverse nerves, and  peduncled.   The stipules   arc
           scarcely apparent.  The flowers  which appear in June  arc of a
           golden  color, placed upon  long pendent terminal spikes.   The
           leaves of  the calyx are crenated,  blunt  and  greenish.   The
           petals  unequal,  spreading  and  waved.  The three  undermost 
CASSIA FISTULA.
filaments are  long and  incurved.   The  others  exhibit  large
anthers, three of which are rostrated, or like the open beak of a
bird, at  the  extremity.   The fruit is a long woody, dark-brown
pod, about the  thickness  of the human  thumb, and nearly two
feet in length, cylindrical, with two longitudinal furrows on one
side, and one on the other,  and divided into numerous  trans-
verse cells, each containing one smooth, oval, yellowish, shining
seed, with red lines dividing it longitudinally, imbedded  in soft
black pulp.
   The fruit of the Cassia Fistula is known in commerce by the
name of Cassia pods, which are said to  undergo a kind of fer-
mentation, to prepare them for  keeping.   For this purpose they
are collected before they  are quite ripe, and carried into a close
room, in which is prepared a layer of palm leaves and straw six
inches thick, on which they are laid, the  room closed, and the
next day the heap sprinkled with water, and this process re-
peated.  In this way they are treated for forty days till they be-
come black.  Those  which  are  brought to this market  come
principally from the West Indies, packed in casks and cases, but
a  superior kind is  brought from  the East Indies, and is easily
distinguished by its  smaller, smooth pod,  and  by the greater
blackness of its pulp.  The heaviest pods, and those in which
the seeds do not rattle on being shaken, are the best, and contain
the greatest quantity of pulp.
   The tree will thrive in  loam and peat, and cuttings will root
in sand under a hand glass,  in moist heat.


        CHEMICAL  AND  MEDICAL PROPERTIES.

   The pulp of Cassia Fistula is the only part employed in  medi.
cine, it is of a very dark-brown color, of a very faint and sick
odor, and of  a sweet mucilaginous and sub-acid taste.   It  is apt
to become sour if long exposed to the air, or mouldy if kept in a
damp place.  It is  viscid, almost entirely soluble in water, and
partially so  in  alcohol and  sulphuric ether.  The watery infu-
sion, which  shows  a tendency  to gelatinize, has when filtered
the color of  the pulp, and yields a precipitate with alcohol and
the solution of the superacetate  of lead.   The alcholic and ethe-
rial tinctures are not affected by the addition of water, although
when they are evaporated a thin pellicle  of resin remains. No
alteration is produced  on the  alcoholic  and watery infusions
by infusion of galls, nitrate of silver, sulphate of  iron, nor the 
CASSIA FISTULA.
 nitric nor sulphuric acids;  but chlorine throws down a yellow-
 colored precipitate, which is insoluble in ether.  Hence there is
 reason for concluding with Vanquelin, that this  pulp contains
 sugar, gelatin gluten, mucus, a small portion of resin, etxractive,
 and some coloring matter.
   Cassia pulp is a gentle laxative, and well adapted for children
 and very delicate females.  In small doses it is mild and agree-
 able, and in larger ones purgative, but from the  quantity required
 to produce this  latter effect, it is apt to occasion nausea, flatu-
 lence, and  griping.  To assist  its  operation  and prevent the
 griping, it is  usually conjoined with some neutral salt  and an
 aromatic.  It does not appear to  possess  any advantage over the
 pulp of prunes,  and is not as agreeable.   It is, however, seldom
 used in this country, and as seldom in England.
   The root also contains a bitter  principle, and  has been em-
 ployed as a substitute for Peruvian bark.   It contains a peculiar
 principle, which has been examined by Caventon, who regards it
 as a powerful diuretic.   It forms soluble combinations with the
 mineral acids.   The leaves and the flowers  are also purgative.
 Their employment  is indicated when in the  course of a phleg-
 masia it is necessary to keep the bowels open, but their adminis-
 tration is contra-indicated in cases of hypochondria and in atonic
 affections.
   Confectio Cassle Fistula.   Confection of Cassia.  Take of
 fresh cassia pulp half a pound, manna two ounces, tamarind pulp
 an ounce, syrup  of roses half a pound.  Bruise the manna, then
 dissolve it in the syrup by the heat'of a water bath,-and having
 mixed in the pulp, evaporate down to a proper consistence.
   Electuarium  Cassle Fistula.  Electuary of Cassia.  Take
 of cassia pulp four parts, tamarind pulp, manna, of each one
part, syrup of damask roses four parts.   Bruise the manna  in a
 mortar, and dissolve it in the syrup by means  of a gentle heat,
 then add the pulps, and by a continued heat reduce the mixture
 to a  proper consistence.
   Or another.   Take  of freshly extracted cassia  pulp  half a
pound, manna two  ounces, tamarind pulp an  ounce, syrup of
 orange half a pound.  Bruise the manna, then dissolve it in the
 syrup  by means  of a moderate heat and add the pulp;  lastly,
 evaporate slowly the mixture to a proper consistence.
   This electuary is  gently purgative, and  is used to relieve
 habitual costiveness, as a purge for  children, and as a vehicle for
 the exhibition of other more powerful medicines. 
 
 
 
                ^r° 78.
  ■R.OAS. Q HJJI iV(QTISTdDlLTLTUM,
Ginsens Red-hervy. Five Eneers  £C. 
:?/.'..
Fruit.   Baccate or drupacious, of several one-seeded cells. 
K*

 
                    ARALTACEjE.

                    *lraliad&.

                          N°.  78.

              PANAX  QTJINQUEFOLIUM.

          G-inseng, Red-berry, Five fingers,  See, Sfc.

          Place—North America.
          Quality—Sweetish, aromatic.
          Power—Stimulant, antispasmodic.
          Use—Nervous affections, debility.

              BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

    Natural Order.   Hederaceae—L.  Araliaceae—J.

        Class V.  Pentandria,   Order  Digynia.
  Willd. Sp. PL iv. 1124.  Woodv. Med. Bot. 2d Ed. 149 t 58.  Loudon Enn,. PI
872.  Bigelow Med. Bot. ii. 82. Linn. Sp. PL 393.  U. S. Dis. 530.  Raff. M;-<! Bot.
ii. 53.  Per. El. Mat.  Med. ii. 474. Griff. Med. Bot. 344. Kost.  Mat. Med. 518.
Tor. and Gray Fl. i. 646.  Wood.  C. B. 295

                      G-ENUS:  PANAX.

  From the Greek Hav all, and ana; a remedy supposed to be a panacea or universal
remedy.
  Synonymes.—Ginseng d'Amerique (Fr.)   Ginsang (It.)  Kraftwurzel (Ger.)

                 THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.
Calyx.   Superior, entire, or toothed.
Corolla.  Petals five—ten deciduous, rarely wanting, valvate
  in aestivation.
Stamens.  Equal in number to  the petals, and alternate with
  them.   Anthers introrse.
Ovary.   Crowned  with a  disk,  two or many celled.   Ovules
  solitary   Styles as many as the cells.
Fruit.   Baccate or drupacious, of several  one-seeded cells. 
PANAX QUINQUEFOLIUM.
                  THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Panax.  Diceciously polygamous.  Calyx adnate to the ovary.
 Limb short, obsoletely five-toothed in the perfect flower.   Calyx
 in the  staminate flower entire.   Petals five.   Stamens  five,
 alternate with the petals.   Styles two—three.   Fruit baccate,
 two—three celled.  Cells one seeded.

   Polygamous, unbelled.  Involucre many-leaved.  Calyx five-toothed in the perfect
 flower,  superior.  Berry heart-form, two or three seeded.  Calyx in the staminate
 flower entire.

                   THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Panax Quinquefolium.  Root fusiform.  Leaves three,  ver-
 tieillate, five foliate.  Leaflets oval, acuminate, serrate, petiolate.
 Pedicles of the umbel rather shorter than the  common petioles.

   Root fusiform.   Leaves ternate, quinate.  Leaflets oval, acuminate, petioled, serrate.

                  THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class Pentandria.   Stamens five.  Order Digynia.  Calyx
 superior.  Flowers umbelled.  Berry five-seeded.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   The Ginseng is a perennial plant indigenous  to North America
 and Chinese Tartary.  It occurs in most parts of the temperate
 portions of the United States, but is most common to the west-
 ward,  being  almost eradicated  in  the Atlantic  States.  It  is
 usually found at  the roots of trees, in rich soil, especially in hilly
 situations.   It flowers in June  and July.  The  hardy species
 thrive  well in light rich soil, the others grow  in loam and peat,
 and are  increased by  cuttings in sand  under a hand-glass,  but
 from some trials that have been made when attempted to be cul-
 tivated, they  have not  always been found to succeed well.
   The Panax  Q,uinquefolium is a high-sounding  title, meaning
little less than that the  plant which bears it is the long sought
universal elixir,  a remedy for  all things.  In Chinese Tartary
the plant has been gathered and employed as an invaluable drug
from time immemorial.  The roots,  which are  said to bear some
resemblance to the human form, are gathered and dried, and
universally used by the Tartars and Chinese. 
PANAX QUINQUEFOLITJM.
   The Asiatic kind is found principally in that country between
39° and 47° north latitude,  in the same kind of localities as in
this country.   The collection of it is a monopoly enjoyed by the
Emperor, who guards the  districts in which it grows with great
vigilance.  •Each  individual who  is  employed to collect it, de-
livers two  catties  of the best roots  gratuitously, and is paid its
weight  in silver for all over this quantity.  This insures the
Emperor about 20,000 catties at about one-fourth  of their  mar-
ket price.
   Notwithstanding that large quantities of this root are exported
from this country to China,  and being there recognized  as the
true Grinseng, and that  most botanists  have declared  that the
plants are  identical, yet it  is now  admitted, by some of the best
authorities, that they are  distinct species, though very  closely
allied.   The mistake  originally arose from the Jesuits, some of
whom becoming acquainted with  the plant in Tartary, thought
that they recognized it in the American  species; and, in conse-
quence,  it was sent to China,  where, although considered an
inferior kind, it met with  a ready  sale.  But the market has
fluctuated  very much, as from a fancied deterioration in the ar-
ticle, or  from some other  cause, it sometimes has not paid the
charges of exportation.
   The following is a description of the American species.  Root
fusiform, whitish and thick,  often branched, fleshy, with trans-
verse wrinkles.  Stem erect,  one to two feet high, round, smooth,
green below, purplish red above, divided at top into three petioles,
having a central peduncle at their base bearing a simple umbel.
Leaves  on round and smooth footstalks.   The petioles  are  long
and commonly furnished with five, but sometimes with three or
seven obovate leaflets.  These are ovate, acuminate, doubly ser-
rate, dark green above, paler beneath, smooth on both sides,  sup-
ported on  partial  footstalks, which,  like  the general ones, arc
tinged with red at their insertion.   The flowers are  small,  yel-
lowish,  on  short pedicles.   The barren ones borne on  separate
plants have larger petals and an entire calyx.   The fertile  ones
are succeeded by berries of a bright  scarlet color.  The fruit is
red, baccate reniform,  with two semi-globose seeds.


 CHEMICAL  AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

   Grinseng has a peculiar and rather pleasant camphorated smell;
the taste is sweet  and pungent, with  a slight degree of aromatic 
PANAX QUINQUEFOLITJM.
bitterness.   It is a fine, gentle and agreeable stimulant, also re-
storative and antispasmodic.  No analysis has been made of it;
but Rafinesque  states that the root owes its active properties to
a peculiar  substance very similar to  eamphor, which he calls
Panacine.   He  says that this is white, pungent, soluble in alco-
hol and water, and more fixed than camphor ; it contains also a
volatile oil, sugar, mucilage, resin, &c.
  According  to  the  Chinese authorities,  the  use of this plant
nourishes and strengthens the body,  clears the judgment,  re-
moves all nervous affections, gives a vigorous tone  to the human
frame, and in short is an effectual remedy in all  complaints.
Osbuk, in his Voyage to China, (8vo. London, 1781,) says that
he never looked into the apothecaries' shops but they were always
selling Grinseng ; that both poor people and those of  the highest
rank made use of it, and that they boil half an ounce in their
tea or soup every morning as a remedy for  consumption  and
other diseases.   Father Jartoux relates that the most eminent
physicians  of  China  have written volumes on  the medicinal
powers of this plant;  asserting  that it gives immediate relief in
extreme  fatigue, either of body or mind, that  it dissolves pitui-
tous humours and  renders respiration easy;  strengthens  the
stomach, promotes appetite, stops vomiting, removes hysterical,
hypcondriacal, and all nervous  affections; gives a  vigorous tone
of body even in extreme old age.   It is given by them in a
variety of forms, and the only ill result that it is capable of pro-
ducing is a tendency to hsemorrhage when it is used in very large
doses.   It may be stated, also, that other persons who have used
the Chinese root are  of opinion that  many of the virtues attri-
buted to it  are real, and that it is a highly valuable remedy.
  On the other hand, the trials made with it, both in this country
and in Europe, show that the American species gives no proof of
such efficacy.  It is merely a gentle stimulant, with some anti-
spasmodic powers, and is of little estimation.  No fair and  ex-
tended trial of it, however, has been made; and as regards the
Chinese kind, it  is difficult to come to any just conclusion,  for
it can scarcely be possible that  any article so long  in use and so
highly prized, can  be wholly worthless; and yet  there is much
reason to believe that its beneficial effects are rather to be as-
cribed to fashion and the effects of imagination, than to any in-
trinsic virtues in the root.
  The French inhabitants of Lower Canada have for many years
used this root for curing the asthma, and as a stomachic. 
 
 
 
                    N°79
         CIMKDIFTIKGrA. MA.(DTBM(DSA.
Black Snalte root. Black  Cohosh, Squaw root Sec, 
I
•
ntivi i-eaieu on the torus 

Aii
M
I   "^1
fc'
 
                RANUICULACE^E.

                   Cro wfo o ts.

                          N°-  79.

               CIMICIFUGA  RACEMOSA.

     Black  Snake Root, Black Cohosh, Squaw Root, Sfc.

         Place—Europe and America.
          Quality—Bitter, nauseous.
         Power—Tonic, stimulating.
         Use—Rheumatism,  affections of the lungs, chorea, &o.

               BOTANICAL  ANALYSIS.

  Natural Order.   Multisilique—L. Ranunculacese,—J.

   Class XIII.  Polyandria.   Order  Di-Pentagijnia.

  Loudon, Ency. PL 476.  Raf. i. 85.   Per. El. Med Mat. ii. 758. Griff. Med. Bot.
92.  Kost. Mat. Med. 232.  T. & G. FL i. 36.  TJ. S. Dis. 211.   Wood C. B. Ul.

                  Genus.  CIMICIFUG-A.
  From the Lat. cimex, a bug, and fugo, to drive away, indicating certain virtues a
species is supposed to possess, or alluding to its offensive odor.
  Synonymes.—Cimicaire  (F.) Das wanzenkraut (Ger.) Wantsdryver(D.) Taeo'eurt
(Dan.)

                THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

  Calyx.   Sepals,  mostly five, sometimes three, four  or  six,
    mostly deciduous, and imbricated in aestivation.
  Corolla.  Petals, three—fifteen, hypogynous,  sometimes  ir-
    regular or wanting.
  Stamens.   Indefinite,  or numerous, distinct,  hypogynous.
    Anthers adnate or innate.
  Ovary.  Indefinite or numerous, rarely  solitary, or few, dis
    rinct seated on the torus 
CIMICIFUGA RACEMOSA.
  Fruit.   Either dry achenia, or baccate or follicular.  Embryo
     minute, at  the  base of  horny or fleshy albumen.
  Seeds.   Numerous.

                 the  secondary  characters.

  Cimicifuga.  Sepals, four—five.   Petals, three—eight, some-
times wanting.   Stamens, indefinite or numerous.  Anthers, in
trorse.  Follicles, one—eight, oblong, many seeded.

  Sepals, four or five- Petals, three to five, concave or unguiculate (sometimes by
abortive growth fewer or none if the genus Macrotrys is included- Carpels, one to
eight, follicle like, many  seeded.

                   THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

    Cimicifuga  Racemosa.   Leaves,   ternately   decompound.
Leaflets, ovate oblong, incisely serrate.   Racemes,  very long.
Petals, two, forked slender.   Style, one.   Capsule, follicular
dry, dehiscent, ovate.
  Leaves, decompound.  Leaflets,  oblong-ovate, gash-toothed.  Racemes, in wand-like
spikes.  Capsules, ovate.

                THE  ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

  Class Polyandria.   Stamens, twenty or more,  arising from
the receptacle (hypogynous).  Order  Di-Pentagynia.   Leaves
never peltate.  Herbs, with acrid, colorless juice.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

  The Black Snake Root is common all over the United States
from Maine to Florida, Louisiana  and Missouri, growing in open
woods and hill sides.  It  flowers in June  and  July,  when its
long, white racemes are very conspicuous.   The plant is of eas1
culture.   It has a heavy,  unpleasant smell when handled,  and a
disagreeable, nauseous taste.
  There are several varieties of  this  genus, but  they are  not
sufficiently distinct to require notice, and they continue to inter-
change their species according to the different views of botanists.
This plant was placed in the  genus  Act.e by Linnaeus, and
removed by Pursh  to Cimicifuga, also a Linnaean genus, in this
he  has  been followed by most modern botanists, although  it
does not  agree with the characters of the latter, better than with 
CIMICIFUGA RACEMOSA.
those of the former.   Rafinesque made it the type of his  <*enus
Macrotrys, and altered the specific name  to Actocoides ; this
generic change was approved in part by De Candolle, who  recoo-.
nized  it  as a  sub-genus of Actjea.   Subsequently,  however,
Rafinesque bestowed an entire new appellation on it, describing
it in his Medical Flora as Botrophis serpentaria.   Much differ-
ence of opinion  after all, exists among  botanists with regard to
the true  limits of this  genus, some rejecting from  it all  the
monogynous species, whilst others include them, merely makino-
of them a separate section.  The genus Botrophis of Rafinesque,
founded on the single pistil, and single dehiscent capsule  would
now be adopted, were it not  that  the  officinal species is still
recognized in the United States Pharmacopoeia, as Cimicifuga, as
well as by many of our best botanical authorities.
  Root perennial, blackish,  large,  with numerous long  fibres-
Stem simple, straight, from three to six feet high, smooth, angular,
furrowed. Leaves few and  alternate, one  nearly radical, is very
large,  decomposed, three  pinnate, the upper one  is bi-pinnate
Leaflets sessile  opposite,  three  to  seven,  dentate  or incised.
Flowers in  a  terminal raceme, from one  to three feet Ion**.
Calyx, four or five leaved, white.  Petals, from four  to  eight,
thickish, sometimes wanting.   Stamina numerous.  Pistils, from
one to five.  Capsule, oblong, many seeded.   Seeds squamous.
  The root,  as found in the shops is composed of a rough tuber-
culated head  and numerous radicals,  seven inches  long, of a
black color  externally,  white internally.   The  radicals are ex-
tremely brittle and liable to be  separated.  The odor is  feeble
and earthy, the taste bitter and astringent, leaving an impression
of acrimony on the palate.   The sensible properties depend upon
the time when the root  is collected, and the mode of drying and
preserving it.   It  should  be  collected  late in  the  summer or
in the autumn.

 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.
  The Cimicifuga  Racemosa has been  frequently  analysed  b)
several  eminent  and  respectable physicians  and  druggists,
according to whom the following substances have been detected.
Fatty matter, gum, starch, resin, tannin, wax, gallic acid,  sugar,
oil,  black coloring matter, green coloring  matter, lignin,  and
salts  of  lime, iron,  magnesia and potassa.   The experiments,
however, led to  no decided  conclusion as to the nature  of the
active principle. 
CIMICIFUGA RACEMOSA.
   The first account we have of the exhibition of this root as a
remedial substance  is given by  the late Professor  Barton who
considered it a valuable astringent.
   Dr. Garden, of Virginia, may be said however  to have  been
the first who particularly drew the attention of the profession to
its properties in phthisis, pulmonalis, and other affections, and he
speaks of the beneficial effects in  the highest  terms.  He has
shown that this medicine, like  digitalis, affected the  brain and
operated powerfully upon the secretory  organs and  absorbent
system.  When exhibited in  large doses it prostrates to  a dis-
tressing  degree, producing nausea, vertigo, anxiety, great rest-
lesness, pains in the extremities, &c.  These effects are, however,
only temporary.
   Dr. N. Chapman states  :—" besides the astringent property of
this root which I have never been able to discover in any degree,
it is  expectorant, narcotic,  anti-spasmodic, diaphoretic, and  in
a large dose, emetic.   Griven so as to effect  sensibly the system,
we find first  some nausea, followed by great freedom of expecto-
ration, and more or  less  relaxation of  the  surface, with  slight
nervous tremors, and vertiginous  affections.   The pulse during
this state is  considerably lowered, and is apt to  remain  so for
some  time."   He moreover adds,  " It is alleged in consumption
to lessen the  frequency of the pulse,  to allay the cough, to  quiet
the mobility of the system, and  particularly to subdue  hectic
fever.   How far this is true my own experience does not enable
me to say."
   Dr. Mears, who tried  the medicine  upon  himself, has pub-
lished a number of cases, tending  to  prove  its  great  efficacy
and utility  in catarrhal  affections  generally, rheumatism and
violent coughs, and that it is also a valuable astringent in  bowel
complaints of children.
   In  chorea  it is strongly recommended.   Dr. Young, several
years ago brought Cimicifuga Racemosa before the  profession
as a good remedy in  this disease, and his results have to a con-
siderable extent  been  verified  by other  physicians.  Professor
Wood found that a case under his care yielded  to it  after  the
failure of purgatives and metallic tonics.  The latter author ex-
hibited it satisfactorily in a case of convulsions occurring period-
ically, and connected  with uterine disorder.  In these cases,
however, the precise  mode of its operation is obscure.
   Black Snake Root may  be given in powder, in doses of half a
drachm two or three times daily. 
 
 
 
               X"? 8 0
     iTIHIEMI\T1E Vrlu-m IR A ,
Balmonv. Snake head. Shell Flower kc 
         •■.•i.nmi<-- •..



Didynaruin.   Oki>:
            —---umy, the three others either rudimen-
tary, or wholly wanting. 
 
             SCHROPTILARIACEJ;.

                   F' i g w o rt s.

                          N0.80.

                  CHELONE  GLABRA.

    Snake Head, Salt Rheum weed, Balmony, Shell-flower.

                Place—North America.
                Quality—Unpleasant, sickening.
                Power—Tonic, laxative.
                Use—Fever, jaundice, debility.

              BOTANICAL  ANALYSIS.

      Class XIV.  Didynamia.   Order  Angiospermia.

   Natural  Order.  Personatse.—L. Schropulariacese,—J.

  Loudon, Ency. PL 516.  Linn. Sp. PL 748.  Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 117.  Per. Mat.
Med.   Griff. Med. Bot. 519.   Kost. Mat. Med. 456.  T. Flor. 243.  Wood C.
B. 400.

                   Genus.   CHELONE.
  From the Greek yXcoi/i?, a tortoise, to the back of which the helmet of the present
genus has been fancifully compared.
  Synonymes.—Galane or tortue (F.)   Die schildblume  (Ger.)  Schildbloem (D.)
Skiolblomster (Dan.)  Skoldblomster (Swed.)

                 THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Sepals, four  or five, unequal, more or less  united at
    base, inferior, persistent.
Corolla.  Bilabiate, personate or otherwise irregular, the lobes
    imbricate in aestivation.
Stamens.  Four—didynamous rarely  with the rudiment of the
    fifth, sometimes two only, the three others either  rudimen-
    tary, or  wholly wanting. 
CHELONE GLABRA.
Ovary.  Free—two-colled, many-seeded. Style simple. Stigm
     two-lobed.
Fruit.   Capsule two-celled, two-valved, with central placent;r
Seeds.   Indefinite, albuminous.  Embryo straight.

                 THE  SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Chelone.   Calyx  deeply  five-parted, with three  bracts  at
base.  Corolla  inflated,  bilabiate, the  fifth filament abortive,
smooth above, shorter  than the  rest.  Anthers woolly.   Cap-
sule valves entire.  Seeds broadly membranacious, winged.
  Calyx five-cleft or five-sepalled. three-bracted.  Corol. Ringent, inflated, the
upper lip emarginate-obtuse, under lip slightly three-cleft. The  rudiment of a
smooth filament, between and shorter than the two tallest stamens.  Anthers woolly.
Capsule two-celled, two-valved.  Seeds with membranaceous margins.

                   THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Chelone  Glabra.   Smooth.   Leaves  opposite,   oblong-lan-
ceolate, acuminate, serrate.   Flowers densely spiked.
  Leaves, opposite, lance-oblong, acuminate, serrate.  Spikes, terminal, densely-flow-
ered.
                 THE  ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class Didynamia.   Stamens four, two of them longer  than
the other two.   Order Angiospermia.   Seeds  in   a pericarp.
Calyx inferior,  Herbs.   Herbage green.  Seeds many.  Calyx
imbricate in aestivation.

                   NATURAL  HISTORY.
   Chelone  is a North  American genus, consisting  of but few
species, all  herbaceous plants with opposite leaves,  and sub-
'mbricately  spiked, terminal flowers having the lower lip of the
corolla bearded internally.   They differ in the form and insertion
of the leaves and in the color of the flowers, which vary from pure
white to purplish.  They are  all handsome plants, with singular
ornamental  and large blossoms, but inodorous, and shaped  much
like the head of  a snake, the mouth  open and tongue extended.
They abound in most parts of the United States in wet situations,
near brooks  and waters, and  blossom from July until late in the
Autumn.   They are of easy  culture in loamy soil,  or loam and
a little peat, and propagated by cuttings or by dividing the root.
   The root  of the Chelone Glabra is  perennial.   Stem er^ct
from two to four  feet, high,  somewhat quadrangular.  Le-ives 
CHELONE  GLABRA.
 opposite, of a  dark and  shining  green  above, with irregular
 serratures  and sessible or nearly so.  Flowers terminal in  a
 dense short spike. . Each flower sessile, and furnished with three
 bracts, which are ovate,  acute, and entire.  Calyx  with five
 unequal imbricated segments, oblong and obtuse.  Corolla white,
 often tinged with red, inflated, contracted  at  the  mouth, with
 short gaping lips.  Filaments hairy.   Style long, exsert, bending
 downwards.
   For medical purposes, the plant  should be collected in  clear,
 dry weather, and as soon as it  is  in bloom, as the  leaves fre-
 quently become  mildewed after  that time.  It should bo dried
 in the sun,  or in a warm chamber,  or loft, and carefully guarded
 from a moist, or  damp  atmosphere, or it will acquire a dark  or
 black color.

  CHEMICAL  AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   The  best detailed account of the  properties of Chilone Glabar
 is given by Rafinesque, who appears to have been the first also
 who introduced this plant  into notice.  He was indebted to Dr.
 Lawrence  of  New Lebanon, and the Doctor to the Indians and
 Shakers.
   The whole  plant  may be used, but the leaves only are pre-
 ferred ; these are extensively bitter, and furnish one of  the most
 important and strongest ingredients to the best bitters, without
 any aromatic  smell, and very little astringency.  They are said
 to be  tonic, cathartic, and  hepatic, but no  certain information
 has been afforded on the  subject.   No analy.-is has been  made
 of them,  but  they  appear to contain gallic  acid, a  peculiar
 resinous substance, similar topierine  and aloes, of a black color,
 and  very bitter  taste, lignine, &c.   They  communicate their
 properties to both water and alcohol.   "Wine  is the best men-
 strum, but it becomes intolerably bitter.
   Snakehead is useful in many diseases, fevers, jaundice, hepa-
 titis, eruptions of the skin, &c.  In small doses it is  laxative,
 but  in  full  doses, it  purges  actively, acting powerfully on the
 liver, and removing the yellowness of the skin  in  jaundice and
 liver diseases.   The  dose is a drachm  of  the  powdered  leaves
 three times a day.  The wine of  it in small repeated doses has
 nearly the same effect, although neither so speedily or violently.
 The  Indians use a strong decoction  of the whole plant  in  a
variety  of comolaints, and it is held in much esteem by them. 
chelone  glabra.
   The leaves make a vermifuge,  which is safe in common cases.
It should be administered in infusion, continued for a time, and
followed by a suitable purge.   An  ounce of  the dried leaves is
sufficient in most cases for children.
   "As  I have  discovered," says Dr.  Curtis of Ohio, "in  the
snakehead no tendency either to open  or constipate the bowels,
I call it a pure,  neutral bitter.  As bitterness is in  its  nature
stimulant, it is of course deobstruent, and finally restorative.   It
should therefore  be used  freely as  a  general equalizer  of  the
circulation and purifier of the blood."
   The following formula is highly recommended :—
   Take of pulverized poplar-bark  six pounds, golden seal,  cloves,
ginger, and prickly-ash bark, each  a pound  and  a half,  snake-
head a pound, cayenne three  quarters of a  pound, and  sugar
seven pounds.   Mix thoroughly and sift. If the prickly-ash  is
omitted, the quantity  of cayenne may be somewhat increased.
It is usual to  add about  one-twentieth  part of cayenne to the
tonic or restorative preparation.
   The above preparation is found to be one of the best medicines
in use for restoring the tone of the digestive organs.  It is an
excellent remedy in  jaundice, dyspepsia,  worms, flatulency,
piles, headache, giddiness,  pains in  the stomach and bowels,
diarrhea, gravelly complaints, strangury, gonorrhaea, fluor albus,
heart-burn, rickets, mercurial salivation, consumption, and the
whole train  of chronic diseases.   It is  a laxative, and  keeps the
bowels open, unless they are obstinately  costive.  Its use would
be improper during  the  continuance of a  violent  febrile or in-
flammatory  affection, but as soon as the disease is subdued  it
may be freely and beneficially employed.  In the form of a weak
tea well sweetened, it  is a refreshing  drink  for weak  patients,
and is grateful also to  those in health during the hot weather of
summer.  If food occasions  distress, a dose  of it will generally
afford relief.
   The proper time to take these bitters is about a quarter of an
hour before each meal.   Take a moderately heaped tea-spoonful
of the  powder,  and double the  quantity  of sugar, stir them
together, add a  tea-cupful of boiling water,  and drink the  tea
when sufficiently cool,  If the patient is obliged to be  in the
open  air, a tea-spoonful of the powder,  with sugar to suit the
taste, should be  mixed in  half  a  wine-glass of cold, or milk-
warm water, and taken  in  substance.  The  medicine need not
be used after the appetite is fully restored. 
 
 
 
                   N° 61.
~H T PIE ]R 1 £ TTiVi  jPEHJJpffi ivTPTLT MT
        Commoji S* John's-wort. 
 

 
                 HYPERICACEAE.

             St.  John's-wo rts.

                          No.  81.

             HYPERICUM PERFORATUM.

                   Common St. John's-wort.

         Place—Europe.
         Quality—Balsamic.
         Power—Astringent, anthelminthic.
         Use—Hamoptysis,  hypochondriasis, phthisis, and ul-
           cers, tumors, &c.

               BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

    Natural  Order.   Rotacese.—L Hypericaceae.—J.

    Class XVIII. Polyadelphia.   Okder Polyandria.

  Linn. Sp. PL 1105. Willd. Sp. PL iii. 1453.  Cullen. Mat. Med. 173. Loud. Ency.
PL 658.  Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 229. TJ. S. Disp. 1263. T. and G. Flor. i. 160.  Griff.
Med. Bot. 156. Beach. Fam. Ph. 682.  Lind. Flor- Med. 117.   Pursh. Flor. M. A.
ii. 377. Wood, Class Book, 184.

                 Genus.  HYPERICUM.

  A name of unknown meaning. YwripiKov, Dioscorides.
  Synonymes.—Le millepertuis (Fr.)  Das Johannis Kraut (Ger.)   St. Jans Kruid
(Dutch.)   Pilatro (/)   Corazoncillo (Sp.) Melfurade (Port.)  Sweioboi (Russ.)

                 THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Sepals,  four—five,  distinct  or  cohering,  persistent,
    unequal, dotted.
Corolla.   Petals four—five, hypogynous, aestivation twisted,
    veins oblique,  dotted.
Stamens.  Hypogynous,  indefinite  in  three or  more parcels.
    Anthers versatile.
Ovary.  Single, superior.  Style slender.   Stigma simple. 
HYPERICUM PERFORATUM.
Fruit.   A capsule or berry, many seeded
Seeds.   Indefinite, minute.

                 the secondary characters.

   Hypericum.  Sepals five, connected at base, subequal, leaf-like.
Petals five, oblique.   Stamens indefinite, or numerous (sometimes
few) united at base into three—five parcels with no glands between
them.   Styles three—five,  distinct or united at base, persistent.

  Calyx five—parted, divisions equal, subovate.  Corol five—petalled.  Filaments often
united at the base in three or five sets.  Styles two—five.  Capsule membranaceous,
roundish, with a number of cells equal to the  number of  styles.  The bases of the
filaments are often in groups, when they are not united.

                   THE  SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.

   Hypericum  Perforatum.  Flowers with three styles.   Stem
two-edged,  branched.   Leaves  elliptical,  with pellucid dots.
Sepals lanceolate1, half as long as the petals.    Segments of the
calyx lanceolate.

  Erect, branching.  Stem two edged.  Leaves oblong, obtuse, transparently punctate.
Paniele terminal brachiate, leafy. Petals longer than the acute, lanceolate calyx.

                 THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class Polyadelphia.   Stamens united  by their filaments into
more  than  two  sets.   Order  Polyandria.  Leaves opposite
punctate.  Flowers yellow.   Fruit a membranaceous capsule.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   This  extensive Gfenus  Hypericum, contains  herbaceous, or
shrubby  species, found in all parts  of the  world, and of  which
between thirty to forty are natives of North America.  They all
possess medicinal  properties in a greater or less  degree, propor-
tionate to the  abundance or otherwise of the oil, bearing glands
of the flowers   and leaves.   Certain species  having a berry in-
stead of a capsular fruit, have been  separated under the generic
name of  Vismia.   These  are  principally  natives  of  tropical
climates, and furnish a yellow product very analogous to gamboge.
   Hypericum  Perforatum is a  hardy plant, a native of Europe,
but has  been   introduced  on this continent,  prevailing almost
everywhere on  pastures and  dry  soils  both in  Canada  and
throughout the United States, much to the annoyance of farmers, 
HYPERICUM  PERFORATUM.
as it has become very abundant, and is not only very difficult to
eradicate, but extremely exhausting  to the ground.  It has a
peculiar balsamic odor.  Its taste is bitter, resinous and somewhat
astringent. The root is perennial, fusiform and tortuous. The stem
is  ancipital, about eighteen inches in height, much branched,
curved below, and erect above.   The leaves are closely sessile, of
an ovate elliptical shape, of a light green color, and conspiciously
marked with numerous pellucid dots.   The flowers are of a bright
yellow color, arranged in a terminal corymb.   The calyx is per-
sistent, and is composed of five acute-lanceolate sepals, united at
base.   The corolla is of five-ovate, obtuse, sessile petals,  much
longer than the sepals, of a yellow color, with numerous dark
glandular spots at  the edges.   The stamens are numerous, and
divided into three sets.  The anthers  are small.   The  styles
are three with very small'stigmas.  The  fruit  is  a somewhat
globose capsule, with three cells, and opening naturally by three
valves.   Seeds  numerous, very small.
   Everlasting John's-wort is apt to flourish undisturbed and fill
the earth with seeds or roots, in readiness to spread and grow
whenever the earth is moved for their reception.   This plant has
taxed the ingenuity of vigilant farmers  in effecting its removal.
It should  never be allowed  to perfect its seeds, and if they are
ever so permitted, the farmer  has suffered an enemy to steal a
march upon him, which may  require much time and labor to
subdue.

 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   No complete  analysis of the Hypericum Perforatum has ever
yet been  made, but from  the experiments of Mr. Blair {Am.
Jour. Pharm. ii. 23.)  its active constituents appear to be an
acrid, resinous  substance, pervading  the whole plant, a red oil,
furnished  by the gland on the  petals, and some tannin.   Hy-
pericum is not recognized as officinal by the United States Phar-
macopoeia, but is so by many of the European authorities as a
constituent of a variety of syrups, tinctures, &c.
   The St. John's-wort was, notwithstanding, held in high esti-
mation  by the  earlier  writers on  the Materia  Medica, and
numerous virtues attributed to it particularly as a febrifuge and
anthelmintic.   " The leaves,  flowers, and seeds  stamped  {says
Gerard, 1590), and  put into  a glass with olive oil, and set in
the warm sun for several weeks together, and then strained from 
HYPERICUM PERFORATUM.
 fhose herbs, and the like quantity now put in and sunned in like
 manner, doth make an oil of the color of blood, which is a most
 precious remedy for deep wounds and  sores, and those that are
 through the  body,  for sinews that aro pricked, or  any wound
 made with  a venomed  weapon.   I am accustomed  {continues
 Gerard), to make a compound oil hereof,  the making of which,
 any one shall receive at  my hands, because that I know in the
 world there is not a better, no, not natural balsam  itself, for I
 dare undertake  to cure  any  such  wound as absolutely in each
 respect, if  not sooner and  better, as any  man whatsoever, shall
 or may with natural balsam."
   The  plant  still enjoys much reputation in  some  parts  of
 Europe  in the  treatment  of many diseases, hysteria, mania,
 intermittent  fever, dysentery, gravel, hemorrhages, pectoral com-
 plaints, worms,  and  jaundice.   It  was also  formerly held in
 high estimation  for the cure of demoniacs, and  the superstition
 still lingers among the vulgar in some countries.  At present the
 plant is scarcely used except as a domestic remedy.   The  flow-
 ering summits  are the parts employed, though  the  unripe
 capsules are  possessed of the same  virtues, in an equal degree,
 and the seeds are  said  to be  even stronger.   It is difficult to
 ascertain its exact value as a remedy, but from  its  sensible
 properties, and from the character of the complaints in which it
 has been thought useful, it may be considered independently of
 its astringency, as somewhat analogous in medicinal power, to
 the turpentines.   Whatever may be the real value of  this plant
 however, as a medicinal  agent, it deserves attention, and that a
 fair trial should be made of it, the testimonies in its favor are so
 strong that it can scarcely be as inert as  is now supposed, and
 as is observed by Cullen {Mat. Med., 173), " we should not be
 so audacious as  to neglect it, for  by  the sensible qualities it
 appears active, and there are many  well vouched testimonies of
 its virtues, particularly of its diuretic powers."
  St. John's-wort is said to exercise an injurious effect on cattle
by  inflaming  the skin wherever the  hair is white.   Although
this belief is very general, it  is by no  means  certain, that the
injury is owing to this plant.   Is it  not rather  attributable to a
species of Euphorbia which in almost all cases is found  growing
 where  the Hypericum  abounds, the  acrid juice of the former
 plant being fully capable of  causing inflammation, whilst the
oil furnished by the glands  of the latter, and which is the active
principle of the plant, is  celebrated  for its vulnerary powers. 
/ 
 
 
                N? 82
UlUAJA(DTJIMl   ©IPIF]i'PlliYAI. TS
      Lionutn vita?, Guaiacum 
.uulUUS, 
ft [JaaP^

\1
 
                     RUTACE^.

                   Rueworts.
                             N°82.

                GUAIACUM  OFFICINALE.
                   Lignum-vit^:, Guaiacum.
         Place—Jamaica,  Hispaniola.
          Quality—Drying, somewhat acrid.
         Power—Aperient, purifying,  sternutatory.
          Use—The bark and resin in syphilis, leucorrhcea, gout,
            scabies.

               BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

      Natural  Order.   Gruinales—L.   Rutacese,—J.

        Class X. Decandria  Order Monogynia.

  Linr.. Sp. PL 546.  Willd. Sp. PL ii. 538.  Woodv. i. 43. Lind. Flor. Med. 214.
Stokes ii. 486.  Stephenson and Churchill ii. 90.  Loudon, Ency. PL 352.  Raf. Med.
Flor. ii. 225.  U. S. Dis. 359.  Griff. Med. Bot. 203.  Per. El. Mat. Med. ii. 634.
Beach Fam. Phy. 656. Kosts. Mat. Med. 528.

                    Genus.   GUAIACUM.
  From Guaiac, the name given to the tree by the natives of Guiana.
  Synonymes.—Gayac,  Gomme-resin de Gayac (F.)  Gemeiner Franzosenholz,
Guajak-gummi (G.)  Pokhout  (Dutch.)  Franzostrace  (Dan.)   Franzosenholts
(Swed.)  Guajaco, Gommo-resina di Guajaco (I.)  Guayaco (S.)  Guajaco (Port.)

                 THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.
  Calyx.   Sepals, four—five.
  Corolla.  Petals,  four—five, rarely wanting, or none.
  Stamens.  As many, or twice or thrice as many as petals
     inserted on the outside of a cup-like disk.
  Ovary.  Three—five lobed, three- —five celled.    Styles united
     or distinct  only at base.
  Fruit.   Uusually separating into its component, few-seeded
     carpels.
  Seeds.   Not numerous. 
GUAIACUM OFFICINALE.
                   THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.
    Guaiacum.   Calyx five—partite, obtuse.   Petals, five.   Sta-
 mens, ten, with filaments naked or sub-appendiculated. Style and
 Stigma one.   Capsule substipitate, five—celled,  five—angled,
 or from abortion two to three—celled.  Seeds solitary, fixed to the
 axis pendulous.   Albumen  cartilaginous, rimulose.  Cotyledons
 thickish.
   Sepals five, obtuse, unequal.  Petals five, equal.   Stamens ten.  Filaments naked.
 Style and  Stigma united.   Capsule  angled,  two—five  celled.   Leaves  abruptly
 pinnate.
                   THE SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.
    Guaiacum Officinale.  Leaves, opposite.   Peduncles axillary
 one to three  together, one flowered, filiform, minutely puberu-
 lous.   Sepals five.  Petals, five thrice the length of the sepals,
 oblong,  bluntish,  blue, hairy.  Filaments, ten.   Anthers,  bifid
 at the base,  arcuate, yellow.  Fruit, a  fleshy capsule.

   Leaves- bijugate.  Leaflets sessile, more or less obovate, rounded at the apex, nerved,
 glabrous.  The common petioe terete, channelled above.  Peduncles axillary, one to
 three together, germinate.
                 THE  ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.
   Class  Decandria.—Stamens ten.  Order  Monogynia.  Fruit,
 not a legume.   Leaves not sensitive.  Calyx five—cleft, unequal.
 Petals five, inserted into the calyx.   Capsule  angular, three or
 five celled.
                   NATURAL HISTORY.
   The Guaiacum is a native of the West India islands, growing in
 Cuba, St. Domingo, Jamaica and the warmer parts of America.
 It  rises from  forty to sixty feet high, and is four or five in cir-
 cumference with  crowded  flexuose branches.    The bark is
 thick and smooth, and  of a grayish color.  The wood is exceed-
 ingly hard.  It is known as  the Lignum-vitaoi commerce, used
 by turners in  the fabrication of articles  requiring  density  and
 strength.  The leaves are abruptly pinnate, consisting of two or
 three pairs  of smooth, shining,  veined,  obovate,  dark  green
leaflets, almost sessile.  The  flowers are peduncled in a  kind
of  umbels which spring from the divisions  of the smaller branches.
The calyx consists of five  concave, oblong, blunt, spreading,
unequal, deciduous leaves.   The petals are five, of a blue color,
elliptical, concave,  and spreading.  The  stamens  are erect and
villous, with  yellowish hooked anthers.    The germen is oval,
with a short style and  simple stigma.   The  capsule is subtur* 
GUAIACUM OFFICINALE.
binate,  on a  short pedicel, smooth, and of a  pale  ferruginous
hue, pentagonous, with ribbed angles, and five—Celled, but two
or three of the cells are often abortive.  The seeds are solitary.
   All the parts of this tree possess medicinal qualities, but the
wood and  the peculiar  substance  afforded by it, are the only
parts used.  The virtues of the wood depend  altogether on the
peculiar matter it contains.  This is spontaneously exuded from
the tree, and is called native gum, it concretes in tears,  which
are semi-pellucid  and very pure, but  the  greater part of it  is
obtained by making incisions  into the trunk, or as it is termed,
jagging the tree.   This operation is performed in May, and the
juice which flows  copiously is concreted by the sun.   It is  aiso
obtained by sawing  the wood into billets, and  boring  a hole
longitudinally through them, so that when one end of a billet is
laid  on a fire,  the guaiac, melting runs through the hole from the
opposite end, and is collected in a calabash.  Boiling the chips
or raspings in  salt and water, also separates  the guaiac,  which
as it rises to the surface may be collected by skimming.
   The wood is brought to  market either  in large solid  pieces
which weigh  from four to  five cwt. each, and  are covered with
a yellowish alburnum, or it is already rasped.
   The guaiac, or  gum as  it  is  improperly  termed, arrives in
casks and mats, the  former containing from one to  four cwt.,
the latter  generally less than one cwt.  each.

  CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   The wood of Guaiacum is in-oderous, hut when heated it emits
an aromatic odor, and the taste is bitterish,  sub-acrid, and biting.
It is heavier than water, its specific gravity is 1,333, externally
yellowish and internally of a  blackish brown  color mixed with
green streaks.   Its goodness may be ascertained by exposing it to
the fumes of nitrous acid, which give it a bluish green color, if it be
good, yet the decoction is not affected by nitrous acid.   The resin
or guaiac has a fragrant odor, with scarcely any taste, but occa-
sions, when swallowed, a sensation of heat in the throat. It has a
resinous aspect, is of a greenish brown color, externally and inter-
nally presents a mixture of greenish, reddish, and brownish tints.
It is somewhat translucent, breaks with a vitreous fracture, and
is easily reduced to a powder which is grey at first, but becomes
green in a short time when it is exposed to the air and light, a
change which appears  to depend  on  the  absorption of oxygen. 
GUAIACUM OFFICINALE.
 The specific gravity of guaiac is 1,2289.   It is sometimes adul-
 terated with  common resin  and manchinal gum.   The  former
 is detected by the turpentine emitted when the suspected  guaiac
 is thrown on hot coals ;  and the latter  by adding to the alco-
 holic solution a few drops  of sweet spirit of nitre, and diluting
 with water the guaiac is precipitated, but the adulteration floats
 in white striae.
   Both the wood  and the guaiac are  stimulant, diaphoretic,
 diuretic, and purgative.  The wood was introduced into Europe
 by the Spaniards,  as a remedy for lues  venera, in 1508, by
 Gonsalvo Ferrand, and  gained  much  celebrity from  curing
 Ulrich Van Hutten, but it had long before been used for the same
 purpose by the natives of St. Domingo, and it is not certain that
 Van Hutten's case  was one of pure syphilis, as he had been suf-
 fering  from the disease from the age of nine years.   It obtained
 so much reputation, however, that the exhibition of mercury was
 discontinued for a considerable time, and even in  the eighteenth
 century its specific powers  over  this disease were  maintained
 by Boerhaave, but  frequent disappointments, and more correct
 observations have shown that it  possesses no powers  of  eradi-
 cating the venereal virus, and that it is useful only after a suc-
 cessful mercurial course, for repairing the  strength and vigor  of
 the system,  " and where  a thickened state of the ligaments, or
 of the  periosteum,  remains, or where there are foul, indolent
 ulcers, or in suspending the progress of some  of  the secondary
 symptoms for a short time, as ulcers  of  the tonsils, erruptions
 and  nodes.  The decoction of the wood  has been  found  more
 useful  in cutaneous diseases, scrofulous affections of the  mem-
 branes and ligaments, and  in ozsena.  The guaiac itself  is  an
 efficacious remedy in chronic rheumatism, and arthritic  affec-
 tions, as well  as those diseases  for which the decoction  of the
 wood is usually given, and in every respeot it may be regarded
 as the active ingredient of the wood.  Its sensible effects  are a
grateful sense  of warmth in the stomach, dryness  of  the mouth,
and  thirst, with a  copious  flow  of sweat, if the  body be kept
externally warm, or if the  guaiac  be united with  opium and
antimonials, but when the  body is freely exposed, instead  of
producing diaphoresis, it augments considerably the secretion of
urine.   It may be exhibited  either in substance  or  in tincture.
 This dose is from ten grains  to half  a drachm, in the form of
 pills, or of bolus, or made into an emulsion with water  by means
of mucilage  or yolk of egg.   Larger doses purge. 
 
 
 
         N"? 33






■'at'sv-. common tanj,y\ 
/
'.  >rvm-
(JWJSJSWO. 
*::.  -I
i  V- fas/  ':
£0?
*
. ;t <; s v -. common  tans,^-. 
                     COMPOSITE.


                  Jls terworts.


                           N°- 83.


                TANACETUM VULGARE.


                    Tansy, Common Tansy.


          Place—Europe.

          Qztality—Bitter.

          Power—Tonic, stomachic, anthelmintic.

          Use—Dyspepsia, hysterics, intermittents, worms, gout.

            &c.


               BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


   Natural  Order.   Compositae  Discoideae.—L. Corym-

 biferse—J.


 Class XIX.  Syngenesia.   Ordeu  Polygamia  superflua.


  Linn. Sp. PL 1184.  Willd Sp. PL iii. 1814. Wood v. i. 115.  Stephenson  &
 Churchill ii. 96. Cullen Mat. Med. ii.  Loudon. Ency. PL 696.  Raf. Med. Flor.  ii.
 266.  U. S. Dis. 703. T. & G. Flor. ii. 414 Griff. Med. Bot. 407.  Per. El. Med.
 Bot. 407. Beach. Fam. Ph. 675.  Wood. U. B. 350.


                   Genus.  TANACETUM.


  An alteration or corruption of a privative and J u\itos death, a plant which does not
 perish, or possess durable flowers.


  Synonymks.—Tanassie (F.)  Rheinfarn (G.)   Worm Kruid. (Dutch.)  RhreinJan
 iDan-)  Renfana (Swed.)  Kiviat wrotyczowy  (Pol.)  Tanaceto (I.)  Atanasia (>'.)
Tanasia (Port.)  Dikajariabina (Russ.)


                 THE  ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS


Calyx.  Closely adherent to the ovary.   The limb wanting, or

     membranaceous, and divided into bristles, hairs,  &c, callo '

     pappus. 
TANACETUM VULGARE.
 Corolla.  Superior, consisting of five united petals, either ligunate
      or tubular.
 Stamens.   Five alternate with the lobes of the corolla.   Anthers
      cohering into a cylinder.
 Ovary.   Inferior,  one-celled, one-ovuled.   Style two-cleft,  the
      inner margins of the branches occupied by the stigmas.
 Fruit.  An achenia, dry, indehiscent, one-seeded, crowned with
      the pappus.
 Seeds.  Numerous.

                  THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Tanacetum.  Involucre hemispherical, imbricate, the scales all
 minute.  Receptacle convex, naked.   Pappus  a  slight  mem-
 braneous border.   Achenia with a large epigynous disk.

  Involucre imbricate, hemispheric.   Scales acuminate.  Rays obsolete, three-cleft.
 Egret somewhat marginal. Receptacle naked.    t

                   THE  SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.

   Tanacetum Vulgare.   Leaves pinnately divided.  Segments
 oblong—lanceolate, pinnatifid  and incisely  serrate.   Heads
 fastigiate—corymbose.

  Leaves, doubly pinnate, gash—serrate. In the variety Tanaceium Crispum, double
 tansy.  The leaves are crisped and dense.

                  THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class Syngenesia.   Stamens  five, cohering  by the tips of
 their anthers.  Order Polygamia Superflua.  Herbaceous plants.
 Flowers, or florets, collected into dense heads (compound flowers).
 Corollas monopetalous of various forms.

                   NATURAL HISTORY

  Tansy is  a native of Europe, and was  a favorite  plant with
old King Charlemagne, who took considerable pains that it should
be cultivated in his domains.   It  is, however,  naturalized  in
many parts of the United States, and grows wild on hills, and by
the sides of roads and hedges, and in old fields.  It flowers from
July to September.   It  is also cultivated in gardens  as well  for
medicinal and culinary, as oramental purposes.   There are three
varieties, the common, which answers best for the first of the 
TANACETUM  VULGARE.
 above  purposes, the curled which is  generally preferred for the
 second, and the variegated which is chiefly used for ornament.
    Tansy may be propagated in spring or autumn by rooted slips,
 or by dividing  the  roots into several  sets, plant  them  in  any
 compartment of the kitchen or  physic garden, from twelve to
 eighteen inches asunder.  The plant continues for  several years,
 producing abundant tufts of leaves annually.  As they run up
 in strong stalks in summer, these should be cut down to encour-
 age a production of young leaves low on the  stem.
    Tanacetum Vulgare  is a perrenial  herbaceous plant, the root
 is  creeping,  sending up stiff,  erect  stems,  about two  feet in
 height, leafy, obscurely hexagonal and striated, with alternate
 leaves, doubly pinnatifid, acutely cleft, somewhat  downy on the
 under  side, cased at the  base, and embracing the stem.  The
 flowers are in terminal,  dense, corymbs of a bright  yellow color,
 and flatfish.  The leaflets of the calyx are obtuse, with a  dry
 scaly margin.   The florets are numerous, those of the disc her-
 maphrodite  and five-cleft,  those  of  the margin female and
 trifid.    The seeds   are small,  uniform,  inversely  pyramidal,
 pentagonal, ribbed, of an ash color, and crowned with a narrow
 marginate, membranaceous pappus.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

   Tansy has a strong disagreeable, peculiar, fragrant odor, and
 a warm acrid bitterish taste, somewhat resembling that of cam-
 phor.   The leaves and flowers are used ; they  yield  their peculiar
 qualities  to water and  aloohol,  and  in distillation with water
 thev afford  a greenish-yellow essential oil, which has in perfec-
 tion the odor and taste of the plant.  This oil {oleum tanaceti) is
 yellow, sometimes green, and  its specific gravity is 0.952.   The
 leaves and flowers contain also a peculiar acid which has been
 called tanacetic, volatile-oil, bitter resin, fatty oil, wax, &c.  They
 have been analyzed by Fromherz, and  by Peschier,  and the con-
 stituents are  as already mentioned.   Their  medical properties
 are owing to the oil and bitter resin.  The tanacetic acid is crys-
 tallizable.  It precipitates lyme, baryta, and oxide of lead.  With
 a solution of acetate  of copper it causes a precipitate.
  Tansy produces the usual effects of the aromatic  bitter tonics,
 which  by continued administration in debilitated and relaxed
conditions of the body, increase  gradually  the tenacity  of the
whole system,  and  thereby  render  the fibres more  tense  and 
TANACETUM  VULGARE.
 strong, and give better firmness and density to all the tissues and
 organs.
   The  leaves and  flowers of Tansy are  tonic, stomachic, and
 anthelmintic.   They were formerly regaided as a  powerful
 remedy in intermittents, dropsy, hysteria, and obstructed men-
 struation.  There is a common belief that  it  acts  specially on
 the  uterus, and hence the  oil has frequently been resorted to for
 the  production of abortion, and several  cases of death  have en-
 sued from the practice.   A fatal case of poisoning with half an
 ounce of oil of tansy is recorded in the Medical Magazine for Nov.
 1834.   Frequent and violent clonic  spasms were experienced,
 with much disturbance of respiration, and the action of the heart
 gradually became weaker till death took place  from its  entire
 suspension.—{U. S. Dis. from Am.  Jour,  of  Med. Sciences,
 XVI. 256).
   In medicine, the plant is rarely employed by the regular prac-
 titioner.  Experience and the knowledge of better remedies have
 in a great measure set aside its use.  An  infusion of the whole
 herb in boiling water  has been  recommended as a  preventative
 of the return  of gout.  It is also said that if fresh meat be rubbed
 with it, the flesh-fly will not injure it.
   As a vermifuge the plant certainly possesses some pretensions,
 rather, however, as  a preventative of  the generation of worms,
 than as an agent for their removal when  they  have become  a
 source of annoyance.  In the investigation of the pathology of
 the existence of worms,  various  plausible  abnormal conditions
 of the intestines have been invoked for evidence in favor of  a
 theory which contemplates the  cold slime or  mucous accumula-
 tion  of the intestines as the essential elements of their existence,
 and  which  supposes that without this nourishment the worms
 could not  find  means of subsistence, and that  by consequence
 their being would be ephemeral, or at least very contingent. The
 prophylactic  power of Tanacetum  Vulgare  against worms is
 therefore chiefly to be ascribed to its power of improving the
 physilogical condition of the  intestines, so  as to  change their
secretions, and thus remove these parasites.
  Tansy tea (prepared  by infusing  two  ounces of  the  herb in
one pint of boiling water), may be taken in doses  of from  one
to three fluid  ounces.  A  drop or two of the oil may be added to
 vermifuge powders and pills.   The dose of the  powder is  from
 thirty grains  to a drachm, two or three times a day.   The seeds
 are most effectual as a vermifuge.
                             D 
 
 
 
                 N"? 8 4
IYTT TJ TO IPJT A WAV 1F/\ IB A\ T m -y 
fj ht,: h -a ,/,
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the
ing 
'
84 
                   S0LANACEJ1.

                Nights hades.

                           N°- 84.
                 NICOTIANA TABACUM.

                 Tobacco,  Virginia  Tobacco.

          Place—America.
          Quality—Nauseous,  poisonous.
          Power—Anodyne, antispasmodic, narcotic, errhine.
          Use—The leaf in wounds, scabies, tinea, cough ;  the
            smoke in constipation  of  the  bowels ; the syrup in
            asthma, colic, hysterics, dysentery, jaundice, dropsy.

                BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

     Natural  Order.   Luridse.—L.  Solanaceee.—J.

       Class V.  Pentandria.   Order  Monogynia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 258. Willd. Sp. PL i. 1014.  Woodv. ii. 208.  Stokes i. 390.  Ste-
Shenson & Churchill i- 37.  Loud. Ency. PL 136.  Bigelow Am. Med. Bot. ii. 171.
 :af. Med. Flor. ii. 24.-5.  U.  S. Dis  697.  Griff. Med. Bot. 493.  Per. EL Med.
Bot. ii. 322.  Beach. Fam. Ph. 67. Wood, Class Book, 445.

                 Genus.  NICOTIANA.
  Named from John Nicot of jVismes, in Languedoc who introduced it into Europe.
  Synonymes.—Le tahac (Fr.) ' Deztabak (Ger.)  Tebak  (Dutch.)  Tobacco (/.)
Tabaco (Sp.)  Petume (Brazil.)  Tamaka (Indian.) Tabar (Russ., Pol, fyc.)

                 THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Sepals, four—five, more  or less  united, mostly  per-
     sistent.
Corolla.   Regular.   Limb four—five, cleft, plaited in aestiva-
     tion,  deciduous.
Stamens,   four—five (sometimes one abortive), inserted on  the
    corolla, alternate with its segments:.   Anthers  bursting
    longitudinally, rarely by terminal pores. 
NICOTIANA  TOBACUM.
Ovary.   Free, (superior), two-celled (four-celled in Datura) with
     the placenta in the axis.   Styles and stigmas united.
Fruit.  A capsule or berry.
Seeds.  Numerous.  Embryo curved, lying in fleshy albumen.

                 THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Nicotiana.  Calyx urceolate,  five—cleft.    Corolla  infundi-
buliform,  regular.  Limb five—lobed.   Stamens five.   Stigma
emarginate.  Capsule two-celled, two—four valved.

  Calyx urceolate, sub-tubular, five—cleft.  Corol funnel—form, five—cleft. Limb
plaited.  Stigma notched, capitate.  Stamens inclined.  Capsule two-celled, two to
four-valved.

                  THE  SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.

  Nicotiana Tabacum.   Viscid—pubescent.  Leaves lanceolate,
sessile, decurrent.  Tube of the corolla inflated  at the throat.
Lobes acute.

  Leaves lance-ovate, sessile, decurrent.  Flowers acute.

                 THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class Pentandria.  Stamens five.  Order Monogynia. Mono-
petalous.   Flowers  inferior.   Corolla  regular.   Herbs  (rarely
shrubby).   Stamens  alternate with petals.    Fruit  capsule or
berry,   Cells with many seeds.   Cells two.  Estivation plicate.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

  The only plants cultivated as Tobacco are  the species Nico-
tiana Tabacum and Nicotiana Rustica, the  former greatly pre-
ferred.  The popular narcotic which it furnishes is probably in
more extensive use than any other, and its only rival is  the Betel
of the east.  According to  Linnaeus,  Tobacco  was known in
Europe from 1560.  It was brought to England from Tobajo in
the  West Indies, or Tobasco in Mexico (and hence the name) by
Ralph Lane, in 1586, but  only  the herb for  smoking.   After-
wards,  according to Hakluyt, seeds were introduced  from  the
same quarter.   Sir  Walter  Raleigh first introduced  smoking,
which has consequently been common  in Europe for more than
two hundred years.   Tobacco as used by man, says Du Tour,
gives pleasure to the savage and  the philosopher, to the inhabi-
tant of the burning desert and frozen  zone.   Its  use  either in 
NICOTIANA TABACUM.
powder, to chew, or to smoke is universal, and for no other reason
than a sort of convulsive motion  (sneezing),  produced by  the
first, and  a degree of intoxication by  the two  last modes of
usage. - A hundred volumes have  been  written  against it, of
which a German has preserved the titles.   Among these books
is that of  James Stuart, King of England, who violently opposed
it as injurious to health,  and absolutely poisonous.  The royal
author styles it " a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to  the
nose, harmfull to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and  in the
black  stinking  fume thereof,  nearest  resembling the horrible
Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless."   Notwithstanding,
however,  such  opposition,  smoking together with the use of
snuff, has spread not only  through civilized, but  among savage
nations, and  there is now  probably no single product  of  the
vegetable kingdom which  is so extensively employed.   All the
sovereigns of  Europe, and  most of those of other parts  of  the
world, derive  a considerable part of their revenue from tobacco.

 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES  AND USES.

  The recent leaves of Tobacco possess very little odor or taste,
but when dried their odor is  strong,  narcotic,  and somewhat
foetid, their taste bitter and extremely  acrid.  When well cured,
their color is yellowish green.   They emit sparks in burning,  and
give out a suffocating smoke, and when distilled, yield  an essen-
tial oil of a green color, on  which their medicinal properties arc
supposed  to depend, and which is said to be  a virulent  poison.
This oil is dissipated by the long coction of tobacco with  water ;
yet in distillation with  ether, water or alcohol,  no  oil comes
over.   By infusion, however, it yields  its active principles to all
of these fluids.  Its deflagration shows the presence of nitrate of
potassa,  and  muriate of  potassa has been discovered in  its in-
spissated  juice.  According to  Yanquelin,  tobacco appears to
contain albumen or  gluten, supermalate  of lime, acetic acid,
nitrate and muriate of potassa, muriate of ammonia, a red matter,
soluble in alcohol  and water, a green fecula,  and  a peculiar
substance, on which the properties of the plant appear to depend,
and which has been therefore named nicotin.  This substance  is
colorless,  acrid, has  the odor of tobacco, and like it  occasions
violent sneezing.  It is  volatile, poisonous, and  produces color-
less solutions  with alcohol and water, from which it is thrown
down by tincture of nutgalls. 
NICOTIANA  TABACUM.
   Tobacco is narcotic, sedative, emetic, diuretic, cathartio, and
 errhine, whether  it be taken  into  the stomach, or  externally
 applied.   The three first  mentioned properties  are  sufficiently
 obvious, even from  the effects which  smoking or chewing  it
 produces on persons unaccustomed to its use.   From Mr. Brodie's
 experiments, the infusion of tobacco produces its effect  in the
 heart  through the medium of the nerves.   The symptoms are
 very severe, sickness, headache, extreme debility, cold sweats,
 and sometimes even  convulsions.  The  production of such  a
 state of the habit, however, being  useful for relieving violent
 spasmodic  constriction, tobacco  is advantageously employed in
 obstinate  constipation, ileus,  suppression  of urine, and incar-
 cerated hernia, when other remedies fail of affording relief.   The
 smoke is either  thrown into the rectum  by means  of a pair of
 bellows of peculiar construction, or an  infusion of the leaves is
 exhibited in the form  of  enema.  From its narcotic power also,
 the smoking or chewing tobacco  has been found  useful in allay-
 ing  the  pain  of toothache ; and smoking is  sometimes found
 useful in shortening and  rendering more  supportable the parox-
 ysm of spasmodic asthma.  The infusion has  been  used  as an
 emetic, but the practice cannot  be recommended, and notwith-
 standing the success of some practitioners,  who employ  it in
 dropsy and dysuria, its general effects are too violent for internal
 exhibition, and it  is not equal as a diuretic, either  to squill or
 foxglove, which are more  manageable remedies.  In dysuria,
 however, its antispasmodic properties are of advantage, and con-
 sequently its use in that  complaint is  less  objectionable.   The
 external application of a strong infusion of tobacco, or of a  cata-
 plasm  of the moistened leaves themselves is sometimes employed
 as a local stimulant in porrigo, scabies and some other cutaneous
 eruptions,  but even in this  mode of using it, tobacco is  apt to
 induce the same effect as when internally administered.
   Tobacco, as  a sternutatory is  the basis of all the  kinds of
 snuff  generally used.   The powdered  leaves snuffed up the
 nostrils, excite vehement sneezing, and  promote  a co  eiderable
 discharge from the nostrils, answering all the purposes  for which
 errhines  are employed.   As a luxury, snuff has  been used  for
 more than two  hundred years  in Britain, in great  quantities.
After the use of it has become habitual, it cannot be relinquished
without  considerable risk, arising from the  suspension of the
artificial discharge it produces, as Dr. Cullen observed   from his
own  experience. 
/ 
 
 
R III te r :»n  ~p& i tk;v? v ;/!
         Rhubii rb 
several. 
/'

Rhubarb 
              POLYGONACE.E.

                Buckwheat s.

                         N°- 85

                 RHEUM  PALMATUM.

               Palmated Rhubarb, Rhubarb.

   Place—Thrace, Scythia, Mongal, on the borders of China
   Quality—Styptic, bitter, nauseous.
   Power—Purging, astringent, stomachic.
   Use—The root  in  diarrhoea,  leucorrhcea, debility of the
     stomach, hypochondriasis, and vermifuge.

               BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

   Natural Order.   Oleraceae.—L.  Polygonacese.—J.

       Class IX.  JEnneandria.   Order Trigynia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 531.  Willd. Sp. PL ii. 489.  Woodv. Med. Bot. 662- Stephenson &
Churchill 25.  Loud.  Ency. PL 334.  Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 256.  U. S. Dis. 587.
Griff.  Med. Bot. 543.  Per. EL Mat Med. ii. 272-  Beach. Fam. Ph. 671.   Kost.
Mat. Med. 129. Wood, Class Book, 473.  Lind. Flor. Med.  358.

                   Genus.   RHEUM.

  This name was ingeniously supposed by Linmeus to have been derived from pi^,
to flow, becnuse the root causes a discharge of bile.  It nevertheless was formed from
Rha the ancient name of the Volga.

                 THE  ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Sepals united at base, imbricate in  sestivation.
Corolla.   None.
Stamens.   Definite, inserted  on the calyx near the base.
Ovary.  Free,  with a single erect  ovule.  Styles  or stigmas
       several. 
RHEUM PALMATUM.
Fruit.  Achenium, usually triangular.
Seeds.  Embryo generally on one side of farinaceous albumen.

                 THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Rheum.   Calyx  colored, six—sepaled,  persistent.   Stamens
nine.   Styles  three.   Stigmas multifid,  reflexed.    Achenia
three-angled, the angles margined.

  Calyx none Corol six-cleft permanent.  Nut one, three-sided.

                   THE  SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Rheum  Palmatum.  Leaves roundish cordate, half palmate.
  Petiole long, channelled, green, with purple ribs.

  Leaves palmate, acuminate.

                 THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class Enneandria.  Stamens nine.   Order Trigynia.  Herbs
with alternate leaves and stipular sheaths.   Calyx colored.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

This species, Rheum Palmatum, is a native of Central Asia.   It
grows on  the snowy mountains of Boutan and of Dauria, and
arrives  at considerable  perfection when  cultivated  either  in
England or the United States.   The plant  is of easy culture by
cuttings, or by seed.  The soil best suited is one that is  light,
rich, deep, and moderately moist.
  The root is perennial, thick, oval, branched, externally brown,
and internally of a deep  yellow color.   The stem, which rises
eight  or ten feet in height, is erect, round, hollow, jointed, very
slightly furrowed, and maculated with small oblong purple streaks,
the lower  leaves stand upon long smooth petioles, are numerous,
large, divided into five  segments, which  are  deeply sinuated,
toothed, and strongly ribbed ;  the petiole being divided at its
apex into  the five midribs of the segments, of a deep green color,
rough above,  and pale  and villous below :  those of  the  stem
spring from the joints,  are also  petiolate, and gradually lessen
in size towards the top of the stem.  There is a  sheathing sti-
pule, or ochrea at the base of each stem  leaf.  The flowers spring
from the axilla of the base in numerous panicled clusters ; they 
RHEUM PALMATUM.
 appear in May.  The corolla is divided into six obtuse segments
 of a greenish white color, tinted with light pinkish purple.  The
 filaments are nine,  slender, the length of the  corolla, and fur-
 nished with oblong double anthers.  The style is short, with three
 reflected capitate stigmas.   The germen is a triangular seed en-
 closed in a capsule with three membranous reddish margins or alae.
   Most of the information that has  been collected with respect
 to the cultivation, preparation, &c. of rhubarb  is derived from
 thjs  Bucharians,  the family of Tartars who deal in  the article,
 and no European has been  enabled  to verify  it.   The Russian
 variety grows  naturally in  the mountainous districts, either on
 the  sides of  the mountains, or on their summits in soils of dif-
 ferent kind.   It  prefers, however, light and  sandy loose earth.
 The most vigorous  plants are  those which grow  in the  shade.
 The Siberian variety, on the contrary, thrives  best in the sun.
 The  roots are collected twice  annually in the spring and the
 autumn.  The age  of the  root  before being removed from the
 earth  should be  at least six  years and sometimes even more.
 When taken up it is immediately cleansed, deprived of  its bark,
 and dried under cover in the shade, but exposed to the air—this
 may be done artificially.  The drying process  is the most diffi-
 cult, and  at the same time, the most important in the prepara-
 tion of rhubarb.  There is a difference in the appearance of the
 two articles mentioned, which is owing to the preparation.  The
 Russian is angulated by the removal of the exterior with a sharp
 instrument—it is simply perforated for inspection.   The Chinese
 is in rounded  masses, smooth from  attrition,  which is accom-
 plished in a barrel  and perforated to be suspended  on cords to
 dry.

  CHEMICAL  AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND  USES.

   Good Russian  or  Turkey rhubarb  has  a peculiar, somewhat
 aromatic  odor, and  a bitter slightly astringent, subacid  taste,
 feels  gritty  between the teeth when chewed, and tinges the
 saliva  of a  bright  yellow  color.  It breaks with  a rough,
 hackly fracture, is  easily pulverized,  and  affords a powder of a
 bright buff yellow color.  It  should  not be porous but  rather
 compact and heavy.   Water at 212° takes up twenty-four parts
 in sixty, forming  an infusion of a brown color, nearly clear, and
reddening litmus paper.  Alcohol extracts two seven tenths from
ten parts, and gives a tincture of a  rich golden color, which 
RHEUM PALMATUM.
 reddens tincture of litmus, is not altered in its transparency by
 the addition of  water, and strikes  a blackish olive  hue  with
 solution of  sulphate of iron, but  no immediate precipitate  falls.
 Sulphuric ether takes up 1.5 in 10 parts of  this rhubarb.  The
 tincture is  of a  golden  yellow  hue, and when  evaporated in
 water, leaves a  thin  pellicle of yellow resin and  abundance of
 extractive dissolved in the water, combined however with tannin.
 According to the analysis of  M. Henry, it  contains  a  yellow
 coloring matter,  a bland  oil, feoula, a  small  quantity of gum,
 tannin, lignine, oxalate   of  lime,  supermalate  of lime,  sul-
 phate  of  lime,   a salt of potassa,  and  oxide of  iron.   East
 India or Chinese rhubarb has a strong odor, and is more nauseous
 to the  taste than the Turkey, breaks with a more compact and
 smoother  fracture, and  affords  a  powder  of a  redder  shade.
 Water takes up thirty parts in sixty, the infusion is not so  deep
 colored as that of Russian rhubarb,  is more  turbid,  and reddens
 also  litmus  paper.  Alcohol extracts four parts  in ten.   The
 tincture is of a  much deeper color,  and brownish, and gives  a
 deeper red to  litmus tincture, is rendered slightly turbid  by the
 addition of  water, and strikes a green, not  blackish olive with
 sulphate of iron, which it also quickly and copiously  precipitates.
 Ether takes up  two parts in ten, the tincture  is deeper colored,
 and when evaporated on  water, affords the same  results  except
 that the compound of tannin and extractive is more soluble.
   Rhubarb  is a  mild purgative, and  may  be  given to  the
 youngest infants.  Its operation is  quickened by the addition
 of neutral salts  and calomel, the  purgative  powers  of which it
 also reciprocally  augments, so that a compound, formed of small
 portions of rhubarb and a neutral salt or calomel, acts with more
 certainty and quicker than large  doses  of either separately
 taken.   Rhubarb  is  particularly  adapted  for  the majority of
 cases of diarrhoea, as it evacuates  any acrid  matter that  may
 be offending the bowels, before it acts as an astringent.  Exter-
 nally it has been applied  by friction to  produce  its  purgative
 effects, and  its  powder is sometimes  sprinkled over ulcers to
 assist their granulation and healing.   It colors the urine  in the
space of twenty minutes after it is taken, and may be detected
by the aid of  an alkali.  It disappears  after  an  hour or  two,
 but re-appcars owing to   a second  absorption from the  colon.
Bradner Staart also affirms that it can be detected  in the urine
after  using  a bath impregnated  with it.   The Chinese  use it
 medicinally, but  chiefly  to color a spirituous liquor. 
 
 
 
      X° 8 6






Tea, The tea plant. 
 
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Tea,  The tea plant. 
            temstrcemiacej:.

                 T eaworts.
                        No. 86.

                  THIA CHINENSIS.

                   Tea,  The Tea Plant.

         Place—Asia.
         Quality—Styptic.
         Power—Strengthening, drying, diuretic.
         Use—The leaves in drowsiness, convulsions, calculus,
           obesity.  Hurtful to weak  stomachs.

              BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

Natural Order.  Missellaneae.—L.  Ternstroemiacese.—J.

    Class XIII.   Polyandria  Order Monogynia.

  Linn- Sp. PL 735. Woodv.  Med. Bot. 116.  Raf. Med. Flor. ii. 267. U. S.
Disp. 1299. Griff. Med. Bot. 149.  Per. El. Mat. Med ii. 664. Lind Flor. Med.
120. Wood, C. B. 205.

                   Genus.  THEA.
  From the Greek dta, originating in the  Chinese Tcha or Tsja, their name for
Tea.
  Sykonymes Thi  (F.) Der, Thee [Ger.] The [#.]

                THE  ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Sepals, five or seven, concave,  coriaceous, deciduous,
      the inner often  the largest.
Corclla.  Petals, Five—six, or nine, not equal in number to the
      sepals.
Stamens.   Indefinite  or   numerous,  hypogynous.   Filaments,
      distinct or united into one or more setts.
0\'ary.   Superior, or with several  cells.    Styles three—seven
      more or less combined.
Fruit.   Two—seven-celled,  capsular.
Seeds.   Large, few attached to the axis. 
THIA CHINENSIS.
                 the secondary characters.

  The a.    Sepals,  five-six  rounded.   Petals,  six-nine  ses-
sile.   Stamens, numerous.  Capsule, three-celled, seven-valved,
each cell  containing one to two seeds, and opening at the upper
part.
  Calyx, five or six-leaved. Corol., six or nine petalled.  Capsule, three-seeded.

                   THE  SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Thea Chinensis.   Leaves,  alternate, smooth,  ovate-oblong.
Flowers, axillary, either single or aggregated on short glabrous
peduncles.

  Corolla, larger than the Calyx.  Stamens numerous. Flowers, six-petalled. Leaves,
ohlong-oval, rugose.

                  THE ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

  Class Polyandria.  Stamens twenty  or more, arising from the
receptacle  (hypogynous.)   Order Monogynia.  Calyx imbricate
in aestivation.  Trees.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

  This genus  derives  its name  from  its Chinese appellation,
and, in a commercial  point  of view,  is  one  of  the most im-
portant of the vegetable kingdom.  But, notwithstanding this
importance, and  the numerous notices  of it and its cultivation,
no  little  uncertainty exists whether it contains one  or more
species, or in other words, whether the black and the green teas
are the product of the  same or of different species : many mod-
ern botanists, however, are of opinion that  all are but varieties
of one species, which is  therefore named Thea Chinensis.
  Notwithstanding the many  different kinds of Tea  exported
from China, there is good reason to believe that they are all the
produce of one species (as has already been hinted), and that the
differences of quality are the result of  variations in the charac-
ter of the  plant, which  are  induced by differences of soil, cli-
mate &c, in the extensive tract over which it is grown,—and of
variations  in  the age  of the  trees, the time of gathering the
leaves, and in the mode of preparing them.   The tea districts of 
THIA  CHINENSIS.
China extend from about the 27th to the 33rd degree of north
latitude, but the plant may be cultivated in regions more dis-
tant from the equator, if the climate be mild and equable.  The
plant is raised from seed, and the first crop of leaves is gathered
in the third year.  After the shrubs have attained the age of six
or seven years, their  produce becomes so inferior that they are
removed to make room  for a fresh succession.  The leaves are
gathered from one to four times during the year, according to the
age  of  the tree.  Most  commonly there are  three periods  of
gathering: the first commences about the middle of April, the
second at midsummer, and the last in August.  The leaves that
are earliest gathered are of the most delicate color and most aro-
matic flavor, with the least portion of either fibre or bitterness.
Leaves  of the second gathering are  of  a  dull green color, and
have less valuable qualities than the former, whilst those which
are last collected are of a dark green and  of inferior value.  The
quality is further influenced  by the age of the wood on which
the  leaves are borne, and by the degree of  exposure to which
they have been accustomed.  Leaves from  young wood, and
those most exposed  are always the best, as  is readily understood
on  physiological principles.   The leaves when gathered are
partly dried by the  air and  sun, and partly by artificial heat,
and  are carefully  rolled up by  the hand.  It is commonly be-
lieved that the distinctive character of green tea is imparted to
it by being  dried upon  sheets of  copper.  For this belief, how-
ever, there is no foundation in fact, since copper is not used for
the purpose, and the  most careful application of chemical tests
fails to discover any such impregnation.
   The history of commerce does not furnish any parallel to the
circumstances which have attended the introduction of Tea into
Great  Britain.   The leaf  was first imported by the Dutch
East India Company, in the early part of the seventeenth cen-
tury, but it  does not appear  to have found its way to England
until about the year 1650.  The first historical notice of it is in
an Act  of Parliament of the year 1660, in which it was enumer-
ated  as one of  the  beverages sold in coffee-houses, on which a
duty was  to be paid.  That  it  was not  then  a common drink
is evident from an entry in  the private journal of Mr. Pepys,
Secretary to the x^dmiralty, who says, 25th Sep. 1661 :  " I sent
for a cup of tea (a China drink)  of which I had never drunk be-
fore."   In 1664 the British East  India Company  sent two
pounds of tea as a  present to the  King.   In  1667 the Company 
THIA  CHINENSIS.
imported  100 lbs.   Since then the consumption has gone on re-
gularly increasing.  In 1734 the quantity imported was about
632,000 lbs., in 1768 it was nearly seven million pounds.   In
1800 it was  twenty millions, and during the last four years of
the East India Company's charter, the average quantity import-
ed was over thirty-one millions.   Since the abolition of the  mo-
nopoly, the consumption has  increased more rapidly, the amount
imported  having nearly reached fifty million pounds.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

  Volumes  have  been written for and  against  this article.
Some  authors attributing to it the  most  pernicious qualities,
such  as  inducing nervous  tremors,  dyspepsia,  dropsy, &c,
whilst others  again have been as lavish in its praise.  That  the
use of  tea  may be abused, there can be no  doubt;  but it is
equally certain that a moderate employment of it, and especially
of the better kinds of black tea (which, it may be noticed, is  the
only kind  used by  the Chinese) far from being prejudicial, has a
positive power in calming nervous irritation, and aiding the di-
gestive functions, and giving, after fatigue, a new life and tone
to the system.   The green tea is very apt to affect the nervous
system  of those unaccustomed to its use, but at the  same
time it does not  appear that its constant employment is attended
with any ill effects.
  Tea is  often  administered warm, to aid in the production of
diaphoresis, but  does not seem to have any greater power than
any other mild  infusion.  From several analyses made of it, it
is shown to consist of a bitter extractive, mucilage, resin, gallic
acid,  and tannin,  and  a peculiar principle called Theine, on
which its properties depend.   This substance, which is  also
found in coffee and chocolate, as well as in the Mate, is a highly
azotized principle, and has probably a  much greater influence on
the  system in aiding the assimilation of food than is generally
supposed ; and hence the great use made of the various plants
containing it, by almost all nations.
  The properties of tea are not of  so  decided a character as to
render it  capable of very extensive application as a  medicine,
and  its almost  exclusive use is as a  grateful beverage at the
evening and morning meals.  As a medicine, however, tea may
sometimes be  given  advantageously in diarrhsea,  and  a strong
infusion will often  be found to relieve  nervous headache. 
 
 
 
                 X? 87
 IP M A S E H f,  fvi IR. 03 ;l ] ;y ^, k 551 -
American Columbo Indian ltthuc, v, 
« 
'
-v33 
                GENTIANACE^.

         The  Gentian  Tribe.

                          No  87.

               FRASERA CAROLINENSIS.

           American Columbo, Indian Lettuce, 8fC.

         Place—United States.
         Quality—Bitter.
         Power—{when fresh)  Emetic, cathartic, {when dry)
           Tonic, antiseptic, febrifuge.
         Use—Consumption, dyspepsia, jaundice, scurvy, &c.

              BOTANICAL  ANALYSIS.

    Natural Order.  Stellatae.—L.  Gentianacese.—J.

     Class IV.   Tetrandria.   Order Monogynia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 735. Woodv. Med. Bot.  116. Raf. Med Flor. i. 196  U S Dis
336.  Griff. Med. Bot. 462. Per. El. Mat. Med. ii. 354.  Beach. Fam. Ph. 662.
Kosts. Mat. Med. 452. Barton. Veg. Mat. Med. ii. 103.  Wood. C. B 205. Lind.
Flor. Med. 120.
                    Genus FRASERA.
In honor of John Fraser, an American cultivator of exotics, to whose exertions the
gardens, particularly of London, arc indebted for many rare American plants.
  Stnontmes.—Frasera Colombo, [F.] Colombo Wurzel [Ger.]

                THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.  Sepals, four—five—ten, united at base, persistent.
Corolla.   Usually regular.  Limb divided into as many lobes
    as there are sepals, mostly twisted in aestivation.
Stamens.   Issuing  from the tube of the corolla, as many as its
    lobes, and alternate with them.
Ovary.  One celled,  sometimes  rendered apparently  two-celled
    by  the introflexed placentae.   Style,  united into one, or
    wanting  Stigmas one—two.
Fruit.   Capsule many-seeded.
Seeds   Small.  Embryo straight, with fleshly albumen. 
FRASERA  CAROLIXENSIS.
                  THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

    Frasera.   Flowers, mostly  tetramerous.   Petals united  at
 base, oval, spreading, deciduous, each  with one or two bearded
 or bicular glands in the middle.    Style one.   Stigmas two, dis-
 tinct.   Capsule  compressed, one-celled.   Seeds few, imbricate,
 large, elliptic, margined.

   Calyx deeply four-parted. Corol. four-parted, spreading.  Segments with bearded
 glands in  the middle.  Capsule compressed, sub-margined,  one-celled, two-valved.
 Seeds few, imbricated, oval, with a membranaceous margin.

                    THE SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.
    Frasera  CAROLiNENsrs   Stem tall,  erect, glabrous, branched
 above.  Leaves verticillate, oblong-lanceolate, acutish,  sessile,
 feather-veined, entire or wavy.   Panicle compound, pyramidal,
 leafy, verticillate.   Calyx  segments acute, shorter than the ob-
 long, obtusish petals.  Gland solitary,  oval orbicular.
   Leaves whorled, or opposite.  Flowers in clusters.
                   THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.
 Class Tetrandria.   Stamens four.  Order  Monogynia.   Mono-
 petalous.  Floioers inferior.   Corolla regular.   Herbs  (rarely
 shrubby.)    Stamens  alternate,   with petals.    Fruit  capsule.
 Capsule one-celled, many-seeded.

                    NATURAL   HISTORY.
   The American  Columbo is found in great-  abundance  in the
 rich  glades of the Western States, where it grows  most luxuri-
 antly, sometimes  attaining  the  height  of ten  feet.   It is  one of
 the tallest and handsomest of our native herbaceous plants, hav-
 ing a large pyramid of crowded  flowers, sometimes three or four
 feet in length.  It is a true triennial, the stalk and flowers not
 shooting up till the third year.   There is, however, some  differ-
 ence  of  opinion as to its duration, Rafinesque  stating that it is
 strictly a triennial, whilst other botanists agree in considering it
 to be a biennial.   It was first discovered by Wm. Bartram, who
 speaks of it in his travels under the name of Indian lettuce.  The
 habitation of this  plant is variously described by different bota-
 nists.  Michaux has  observed it in wet  or swampy places,  in
 " Paludosis Carolinae."  Pursh says it is found " in the swamps
of Lower  Carolina, and on the borders  of the  lakes of Pennsyl- 
FRASERA CAROLINENSIS.
 vania and New York."  Mr. Nutall says,  " in the dry and open
 woods of Pennsylvania and New York, in certain localities, it is
 abundant."   Dr. Wm. Short says, " it grows in the  barrens  or
 prairies of Kentucky."   The late Dr. Barton observed  it growing
 in great abundance on the west side of the G-enesee river in the
 State of New York. It is said to be common in some parts of Upper
 Canada, but the States of Kentucky and  Tennessee  yield it in
 profusion.  From the abundance which grows in the neighbor-
 hood of Marietta, in  Ohio, it is sometimes  called  Marietta  Co-
 lumbo.   According to Walter,  Michaux, Mr. Wm.  Bartram, and
 Mr. Elliott, it grows  in Carolina and Greorgia.   The  latter gen-
 tleman  mentions that it has been found in Fairfield district and
 in Abbeville.
   The  root  is large, yellow, tuberose, hard, horizontal, spindle-
 shaped, sometimes two feet long, with few fibres.  The whole
 plant is perfectly smooth.   The stem  from five to  ten feet high,
 round, erect,  solid, with few branches except at the  top, where
 they form a pyramid of flowers.   Leaves in whorls;  the radical
 or root  leaves form a star spread upon the ground, from five to
 twelve  in number, from ten to eighteen inches long, and from
 three to five broad, constituting the whole  plant in the first two
 years, or before the stem  grows.   The stem leaves are whorls,
from  four to eight,  smaller than the radical leaves.  Flowers
yellowish white, numerous, forming a large  pyramidal panicle,
 peduncles leafy or bracteate.   Calyx deeply four cleft, spreading,
 segments  lanceolate,  acute, persistent,  nearly as long  as the
corolla.   Corolla with four elliptic segments flat and  spreading,
margin  somewhat inflexed, a fimbriated pit in the centre of each.
 Stamens four, alternate, with the segments,  filaments short,
subulate,  anthers  oval, oblong.   Ovary compressed, bearing a
6hort style with  two short stigmas.   Capsule yellowish,  oval,
acuminate, compressed, margin thin, two-valved,  one-seeded.
Seeds flat, elliptical winged.   The seeds grow  in pods, shaped
like a horse-bean, and are  much  like parsnip seeds.

 CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

  The American  Colombo has been  thought  to  resemble the
foreign  article, both  in medical properties as well as  in appear-
ance, but experience  has not confirmed the high estimate which
was  at  one time formed of its virtues, and though perhaps it is
still much employed  both  in regular and  domestic  practice  in 
FRASERA  CAROLINENSIS.
some parts of the country by several eminent practitioners,  yet
it has failed entirely to supplant the tonic of Mozambique.
   The  part  that  is officinal are the roots, and these in a fresh
state often weigh several pounds.   As found  in the shops, they
are in slices, somewhat resembling those of the Colombo, having
a thick yellow bark, and a yellowish spongy meditullium.   The
taste is pure  bitter, without any aroma.   They may be distin-
guished  from Colombo  by their lighter color, and  by affording
a  dark green precipitate with the salts  of  iron.  A chemical
examination has been made of this root  by Mr. Douglass {Am.
Jour. Pharm. vi.  177), and it was found to  contain bitter  ex-
tractive  gum, tannin, gallic acid, resin, a fatty matter, sugar,
&c.  &c.   Water and diluted alcohol extract its virtues, and  the
tincture throws  down a precipitate  upon  the addition of water,
but  is  not  disturbed by tincture of galls, thus affording addi-
tional means of  distinguishing the root from Colombo.
   Colombo Root is emetic and cathartic when fresh, tonic,  anti-
septic and febrifuge when dry.  It has a sweetish bitter  taste
like  gentian.  The leaves are also bitter.   It yields its bitterness
to water, but proof spirits is  its proper  menstruum.  It  may
be given in powder or infusion.  The dose of the former is from
thirty grains to  a drachm, that  of an infusion made  in the pro-
portion of an ounce  of the bruised  roots to  a  pint  of  boiling
water, is one or  two  fluid ounces, to  be repeated several times a
day.   The root  should  be collected  from  the fall of  the second
year to the spring of the third year of its growth.
   The root is used with considerable success in diseases of the
stomach and debility.   It avails in intermittents, like other pure
bitters, and is extensively used  in the Western  States in fevers,
colics, griping, nausea, relaxed stomach and bowels, indigestion,
&c.   As a  purgative it  is substituted  for  rhubarb  in  many
cases, particularly for children and women enceinte.   Cold water
is said to add to its efficacy and prevent  nausea, and vomiting.
A teaspoonful of the powder in hot water and sugar will give im-
mediate relief in case of heavy loading a weak stomach.  It is a
good corrector of the bile, alone or united with other bitters.
   The Colombo  leaves  occasion sweat copiously when  laid on
the forehead, and will commonly relieve headache.   This will
also  apply to any kind of inflammation, rheumatism,  &c.   Such
is the  efficacy of this root, says Peter Smith, that when  they
who  take it  recover, they are indeed well  and  need no  other
medicine. 
 
 
 
        X"? 88





Jerspr-tea, red-root. 
.....u  iiunir-i uus. 

 
                RHAMNACEiE.

                Bucht horns.

                         N°-  88.

             CEANOTHUS AMERICANUS.

                   Jersey tea, Red-root.
       Place—United States.
       Quality—Diuretic.
       Power—Purifying, purgative.
       Use—Dysentery, syphilitic complaints.

               BOTANICAL  ANALYSIS.

    Natural Order.   Dumocse.—L.  Rhamnacece.—J.

       Class V. Pentandria.  Order Monogynia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 284. Loud. Ency. PL 178. Raff. Med. Flor. ii. 205.  TJ. S. Dis. 1240.
f. & G. i. 264.  Griff. Med. Bot. 218.  Per. EL Mat. Med. 354.  Beach. Fam. Ph.
662.  Kost. Mat. Med. 485.  Wood, Class Book, 217.

                Genus.  CEANOTHUS.

  KeavuQos is a name used hy Theophratus to designate a prickly plant, from kcv,
to prick, because it pricks at the extreme parts.
  Synonymes.

                THE  ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Sepals four or five, united  at base, valvate  in aestiva-
       tion.
Corolla.  Petals four  or five distinct,  cucullate  or  convolute,
       inserted into the orifice of the calyx.  Sometimes wanting
       or none.
Stamens.  Opposite the petals, four or five.
Ovary.   Superior, or half superior, with an  erect ovale in each
       cell.
Fruit.   A capsule, drupe or berry.
Seeds.   Not  numerous. 
CEANOTHUS  AMERICANUS.
                  THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Ceaxothus.    Calyx  tubular, campanulate, five-cleft,  sepa-
 rating transversly after  flowering.   Petals five, saccate-arched,
 with long  claws.   Stamens, mostly  exserted.   Style, mostly
 three-cleft.   Capsule  obtusely  triangular,  three-celled,  three
 seeded, surrounded at base by the persistent tube of the calyx.

  Petals scnle-like, vaulted- Claws long standing in the five-cleft, cup-form, calyx.
 Stigmas three.   Berry or capsule dry, three-grained, three-celled, three-seeded, three-
 parted, opening on the inner side.

                   THE  SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.

   Ceanothus Americanus.  Leaves oblong-ovate, serrate,  three
 veined.  Panicles axillary, elongated,

  Leaves  ovate, acuminate, serrate,  three-nerved,  pubescent beneath.  Panicles
 axillary, long-peduncled, sub-corymbed.

                  THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class Pentandria.  Stamens five.  Order  Monogynia.   Poly-
 petalous.  Flowers inferior, regular.   Stamens opposite to the
 petals.   Shrubs.  Stem thorny.   Calyx four-five cleft.

                   NATURAL  HISTORY.

   This  almost American  genus  consists of  shrubs or shrubby
 plants.   The roots of the whole  of them are  large, reddish, and
 astringent.   The leaves  are alternate, usually ovate or elliptical,
 serrate or entire, persistent or deciduous.   The flowers are white,
 blue, or yellowish in  umbellike fascicles, which are  aggregated
 at the extremity of the  branches.  There  are several  varieties,
 differing principally in the form of the leaves.  It is  probable
 that the  medical properties of all the species are very much the
 same, though one only has attracted attention.   The New Jersey
tea is found in all parts of the United States,  in copses and dry-
 woods, and  very abundant on the barrens at the west.  The
plant flowers from June  until September, is of very easy culture,
 and of very little beauty.
   The root of the Ceanothus Americanus is large and  dark red.
 The stem is shrubby, suffruticose,  from  two  to four feet  hi°-h,
!■ lender,  with many  round, smooth branches, the  younger of
which aro pubescent.  The leaves  are three-nerved, rounded, or 
CEANOTHUS AMERICANUS.
a  little  cordate  at  base,  ovate  or  oblong-ovate,  somewhat
acuminate at  the  apex, serrate,  nearly smooth  above, and
whitish,  tomentose beneath, the pubescence of the  veins and
petioles  somewhat reddish, they are thrice  as  long as broad,
verv  downy,  with soft hairs  beneath.  Flowers  minute,  in
crowded  panicles from the axils of the upper leaves.   The calyx
is  white, five-cleft, and  the  upper portion  separates  by a trans-
verse line, leaving the tube adhering to the fruit.   The corolla
is  formed of five saccate, arched petals, which are  longer than
the calyx, and with filiform claws at  base.  The  stamens  are
five, enclosed  in  the  curiously  vaulted  corolla,  exserted and
bearing  ovate, two-celled anthers.   The ovary is  three-angled,
and surrounded with  a  ten-toothed disk.  The styles are  three,
united to the middle, but diverging above.  The fruit is dry and
coriaceous, obtusely triangular, three-celled and  three-seeded.
The seeds are  convex  externally, and concave within, the cavity
marked with a longitudinal  line.

 CHEMICAL  AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND  USES.

   The Ceanothus Americanus  is a well-known plant  and  is
considerably celebrated  for having been much used during the
Revolutionary war of  the United States, as  a substitute for  the
Chinese  tea,  whence  its  common name.  The  leaves  when
dried have an odor very much resembling that of  the black tea
of commerce, and are said to form an excellent substitute for it.
   The leaves of the Jersey tea plant  are  slightly bitter, and
somewhat astringent.   The root is much  more active, and was
very highly  esteemed  among  the  Indians  who used it  as  an
astringent and febrifuge.   It  was  afterwards very  much em-
ployed also as  a remedy in gonorrhoea, and  even syphilis.   In
the first of these complaints, it is stated by Ferrien that a cure
is effected in two or three days, and in the  latter, even inveterate
cases yield to  it in fifteen.   It is given  in the form of decoction
made in  the proportion  of two drachms of the root to a pint of
water.  Adamson  also observes that he has employed it in these
diseases  with  considerable success.   These statements  receive
confirmation, in part at least, from the success that has attended
this method of cure in private and domestic practice, as well as
by several physicians and practitioners of  the country.
   In  a  communication to  the Boston Medical  and Surgical
Journal (Sept., 1835), Dr. Hubbard  speaks  in very high terms 
CEANOTHUS AMERICANUS.
of a decoction of the leaves as a wash and gargle in the aphthoe
of children, and in those cases of sore mouth subsequent to fever,
and states that he was successful with it even where all  other
means had  failed.  He  also found  it very beneficial in  those
cases of ulceration  of the fauces attendant on  scarlatina,  in
these he used it in combination with Mayweed, Maruta cotula,
and borax.   He further adds that as an astringent in dysentery,
he found it fully as efficacious as the Hardack, spirea tomentosa,
It may be used in diarrhoea, cholera infantum, and other  com-
plaints in which astringents are indicated.
   With  this  testimony  in its favor, Ceanothus  Americanus
certainly deserves a  more extended trial, and should it be found
to merit, even in  part, what has been said of it, it will rank as
an important article  of our native Materia Medica.
   It may be  proper  to mention that the  Ceanothus caruleus is
considered as a  powerful  febrifuge in  Mexico, and that the
Ceanothus decolor is employed in dysentery in Senegal.
   Men of observation and science ought to  be employed to ex-
plore the country with  a  view   to  its  geology,  mineralogy,
botany, zoology,  and  agriculture.  They ought  mot only  to
examine with their own eyes, but to avail  themselves of  local
information to be  derived from intelligent men in every part  of
the State.  By these means a mass of valuable and authentic
information may  be  obtained which can  in  most  cases  be ac-
quired in no other way.
   The celebrated Linnaeus  often expressed a wish to  visit
America,  in  order to explore  its  vegetable productions.  His
disciple,  Kalm, travelled  through   this country in 1748 for that
purpose.   Since the revolutionary war several European princes
have sent scientific men here to make collections  and observa-
tions on our  natural  history.  In fact,  several  of the  most
valuable and interesting observations we possess, were made  by
them, who devoted themselves almost exclusively to this special
object—the unfolding the bright  volume of  Creation, the pages
of which are  daily and hourly exhibited, " written," to use the
impressive words  of  Lord Bacon,  " in the only language which
hath gone forth to the ends of the world, unaffected by the con-
fusion of Babel."
  It may be safely  affirmed that Botany is capable of afford-
ing more to interest and instruct, more  to refresh  and relax the
well-disposed mind,  than any other pursuit.   It is therefore im-
portant to encourage and promote this pleasure. 
 
 
 
           TST<? 89.
ID) EIBUT S  "WOnTlE MI
       "WiiLter's  B ark . 
Oiim

Mat. S-,
  "•'■    -■r.y-i'M.  CHARACi"

uree—six, deciduous, c. '
*ix—twelve, hypogyn.-h
■'•T-*ivKtion.
■ 178 
 
                MAGNOLIACEA

                Magnoliads.

                         No. 89.

                  DRIMYS  WINTERI.

                     Winter's  Bark.

         Place—South America.
         Quality—Aromatic.
         Power—Stimulant, tonic.
         Use—Scurvy, and as a condiment.

              BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

  Natural Order.  Winteracese.—L.  Magnoliaceae.—J.

     Class XIII.   Polyandria   Order  Polygynia.

  Willd. Sp. PL ii. 1239. Woodv. Med. Bot 647. Stephenson & Churchill, iii. 178
U. S. Dis. 744.  Griff Med. Bot. 100. Per. El. Mat Med. ii. 742. Kost. Mat. Med.
443.  Lind. Flor. Med. 26.  Wood. C. B. 149.

                   Genus.   DEIMYS.
  From the Greek Apipvs, on account of its hot and pungent flavor.
  Synonymes.—Cannelles de Winter (F.), Winterana (/.), Cortiza Winterana (S.)

                THE ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Sepals, three—six, deciduous, colored like the petals.
Corolla.  Petals, six—twelve,  hypogynous, in several rows, im-
       bricate in aestivation.
Stamens.   Indefinite hypogynous, distinct, with short filaments,
       and adnate anthers.
Ovary.  Several, in many rows upon an elongated torus.
Fruit.   Follicular or baccate, one—two seeded.
Seeds.  Attached to the inner suture of the carpels, from which
       {in Magnolia) they are suspended by a  long,  delicate
       funiculus. 
DRIMYS WINTER!.
                  THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Drimys.   Calyx,  two—three cleft.   Corolla two—three pe-'
tals,  (sometimes more).   Stamens, numerous, clavate.  Anthers
two-celled.    Ovaries four—eight.   Carpels conjested, baccate,
many seeded.

  Calyx splitting unequally.  Petals numerous.  Stamens club-shaped, with terminal
two-lobed  anthers.  Style none.  Berries superior, aggregate.  Seeds, several in a
double row.

                   THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Drimys Winteri.   Leaves,   alternate,  obtuse,  oblong,  glau-
cous  beneath.   Peduncles  simple, approximated  or very  short,
divided into elongated pedicels.

  Leaves alternate, petiolate, oblong, obtuse, entire, smooth.  Flowers small, solitary,
or in clusters of from three to four. Bark of the trunk gray, that of the branches green.


                  THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class Polyandria.  Stamens twenty or more, arising from the
receptacle (hypogynous.)  Order Polygynia.  Leaves never pel-
tate.  Trees with large showy flowers.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   Winter's Bark was brought before the medical profession in a
paper read  to the Medical Society of London,  in 1779, by the
facetious John  Fothergill,  M. D.   In this  paper  is  published
a history of the discovery of the tree, with  a botanical account
of it, drawn up by the celebrated Dr. Solander.   It appears that
ther tree  and the bark were unknown until the return of Captain
John Winter from a voyage to the South Seas, in 1579.  Captain
Winter was the commander of the ship Elizabeth, which sailed
with  Sir  Francis Drake in  1577, but after having passed through
the Straits of Magellan, on the 8th  of October of the following
year, was obliged by stress of  weather to return to the Straits,
and remaining there some time, procured  the bark, which  Clu-
sius,  in honor of him,  named Cortex Winteranus.
   Other  navigators, upon visiting the  Straits,  noticed  the  tree,
but nothing definite was known of its botany until in 1691, Mr. 
DRIMYS WINTERI
G-eorge Handasyd, upon his return, presented some specimens to
Sir Hans'Sloane, who gave a description and figure in the Philo-
sophical Transactions.   But it appears that the flowers and fruit
were wanting, and  a systematic location  was  impossible, until
in 1768,  Captain  Wallis, of the Dolphin,  brought some perfect
specimens, which came into the hands of Dr. Solander, who,  from
these, and his own  observations drew up his description.
   " Drimys Winteri is one of the  largest  forest trees upon Ter-
ra del Fuego ; it often rises to the height of  fifty feet.   The
branches do not spread horizontally, but bend upwards, and  form
an elegant head of an oval shape.  The leaves come out without
order, of an oval, elliptic shape, quite entire, obtuse, flat, smooth,
shining, of a thick, leathery substance, evergreen ; on the upper
side, of a lively deep green color, and of a pale bluish color un-
derneath, without any nerves, and their veins scarcely visible;
they are  sometimes narrower near  the footstalks, and there  their
margins are bent downwards.  In general the leaves are  from
three to four inches long, and between  one and two broad;  they
have very short footstalks, seldom half an inch long,  which are
smooth,  concave on the upper  side,  and convex  underneath.
From the scars of the old footstalks, the branches are often tu-
berculated.  The peduncles, or footstalks for the flowers, come
out of the axilla foliorum, near the  extremity of the branches;
they are flat, of a pale  color, twice or  three times shorter  than
the leaves, now and then support only one flower, but are oftener
near the top  divided  into three short  branches, each with one
flower.   The bracteae. are  oblong, pointed, concave, entire, thick
whitish,  and situated at the base of  each peduncle.   Calyx it
has none, but in its place the flower is surrounded with a spatha-
ceous germ of a thick leathery substance, green, but  reddish on
the side which has  faced the sun ; before this germ bursts, it is
of a  round form, and  its size is  that of a  small pea.  It bursts
commonly so that one side is higher than the other, and the seg-
ments are pointed.  The corolla consists always of seven petals,
which are obtuse, oval, concave, erect, white, have small veins,
and  are of an unequal  size, the largest scarcely four lines long ;
they very soon fade, and  drop off almost as soon  as the  germ
bursts.   The filaments are from fifteen to thirty, and are placed
on the flat end  side of the  receptacle ; they are much shorter
than the petals, and gradually decrease in length towards the
sides.  The anthera are large, oval, longitudinally divided into
two, or as if each was  made up of two oblong  antheras.   The 
DRIMYS WINTERI.
germina are from three to six, placed above the receptacle, tur-
binated, or of the shape of an inverted fig, flat on the inside, and
somewhat  higher than the stamina ;  they have  no styles, but
terminate in a stigma,  divided into two or three small lobes."

 CHEMICAL  AND  MEDICAL PKOPERTIES AND USES.

  The bark of the  Drimys Winteri attracted the attention of
navigators, from its warm, spicy, aromatic properties; and in the
treatment of scorbutic disease, which broke out in vessels going
into the Straits of Magellan, was a very valuable  auxiliary.  It
is rarely brought  into  the  market as a drug, and has become
very scarce in  commerce.  It is sometimes confounded with Ca-
nella Alba, from which it differs in color, as it  is  pale yellowish,
or dull reddish-gray, with elliptical dull brown spots externally,
and brown internally.   It has an aromatio odor and a warm bit-
terish taste.  Winter's  Bark was found by M.  Henry to contain
resin, volatile oil,  coloring matter, tannic acid, several salts of
potassa, malate of lime, and oxide of iron.  The presence of tan-
nic  acid and oxide of iron serves to distinguish it essentially from
the  Canella Alba, as these chemical evidences are present in one
case and not in the other.
  Drimys Winteri is stimulant, aromatic, and tonic,  and may
be employed in all  cases in which the  Canella and Cinnamon
are  indicated.   It  was much praised by the  discoverer as  an
anti-scorbutic.   Ferrein states  that the  natives  of  Terra del
Fuego employ it to  prevent a cutaneous  disease to which they
are  subject, from eating seals' flesh.
  Some confusion is  apparent among the  authors  who  have
treated upon the tree, with  respect to its name ;  hence the dif-
ferent  appellations by which  it has been  described.  The terra
Winterana Aromatica was bestowed by Linnaeus, in commemo-
ration of its discoverer; in so doing, however,  he  mistook it for
the  Canella Alba,  and  gave the account of the fructification of
that plant.  Browne, however, had stamped that genus with the
name of Canella.   Foster having obtained the parts of fructifica-
tion, gave to the  plant the  name of Drimys Winteri, from its
hot  and pungent flavor.   Murray, in his Linn. Syst. Veg. gave
the  generic name Wintera, which he preferred, to the original
Linnaean one, and finally De Candolle has adopted the name of
Foster, in  imitation of  Lamarck.  The  species which  Lamarck
calls Drimys Punctata is a variety only. 
 
• 
 
              yo  90.
SflDThA^HTM  FIPTlJIrBlEM.(
        Conunon Potato .
ft 1TM 
e.—J.
ynia.

i. 336.  Wood,
k avtv, (without
ri, to comfort;
                                               ipelen [Dutch],




                                               nostly  per-


                                                aestivation,


                                               rtcd on the
                                               rs bursting


                                          .„ ^~tura), with
n„~ F1u.wDiiLa. in  tne axis.   Styles and Stigmas united
 into  one. 
* 
                    S0LANACEJ1.

               JYigh tshades.

                          No 90.

                SOLANUM TUBEROSUM.

                        Common Potato.

         Place—South America.
         Quality—Viscou s.
         Power—Anti-spasmodic, slightly narcotic.
         Use—Chronic rheumatism, scurvy,  &c.

              BOTANICAL  ANALYSIS.

     Natural Order.   Luridse.—L.   Solanaceee.—J.

      Class  V.   Pentandria.  Order Monogynia.

  Loud. Enc. PL 156. Griff. Med. Bot. 482. Per.  EL Mat. Med. ii. 336.  Wood,
C. B. 448.
                    Genus SOLANUM.
  Etymology uncertain.   Some derive it from Lat. Sol, sun,  and Greek avtv, (without
naving reference to the nightshade species.  (Others from Lat. Solari, to comfort;
though the application is not evident.
  Synonymes.—Pomme de terre [F.], Die Kartoffeln [Ger-1, Aardappelen [Dutch],
Tertufibianci [It.], Batatas Inglezas  [Sp.], Batata de terra [Port.]

                THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Sepals, four—five,  more or less  united, mostly  per-
       sistent.
Corolla.  Regular.   Limb  four—five cleft, plaited in aestivation,
       deciduous.
Stamens.  Four—five (sometimes one abortive), ins3rtcd on the
       corolla, alternate with its segments.  Anthers  bursting
       longitudinally, rarely by terminal pores.
Ovary.   Free  (superior) two-celled, (four-celled in Datura), with
       the placenta in the axis.  Styles  and  Stigmas united
       into one. 
SOLANUM TUBEROSUM.
Fruit.  A capsule or berry.
Seeds.  Numerous.   Embryo curved, lying in fleshy albumen.

                 THE  SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Solanum.  Calyx  five—ten parted, persistent.   Corolla ro-
tate subcampanulate.  Tube very short.  Limb plicate, five—
ten lobed.  Anthers erect, slightly cohering or conmvent, opening
at the top by two pores.   Berry, two—six celled, sub-globose or
depressed, often torose.  Seeds numerous.

  Calyx five to ten parted, permanent,  Corol bell  or whell-form, five-lobed, plaited.
Anthers thickened, partly united, with two pores at the top.  Berry containing many
seeds, two to six-celled.

                  THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Solanum  Tuberosum.   Root  tuberous.   Stem  herbaceous.
Segment  of  the  leaves unequal, the alternate  ones minute.
Flowers subcorymbed. ( Corolla five-angled.
  Stem wing-angled, unarmed. Leaves interruptedly pinnate. Leaflets entire.  Floio-
ers subcorymbed.  Roots knobbed—tuberous.

                  THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

Class  Pentandria.    Stamens five.   Order  Monogynia.  Mo-
nopetalous.  Flowers inferior.   Corolla regular.   Herbs  (rarely
shrubby.)   Stamens  alternate,  with  petals.    Fruit  capsule
or berry.   Cells  with  many  seeds.   Cells   two.   JEstivation
plicate.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   This  most  valuable plant is  suppposed  to be a native of
South  America,  and  to be  found in  a wild state  in elevated
places in the tropical regions, and in the more temperate dis-
tricts of the western coasts of that country.  It appears proba-
ble that the potatoe  was first brought into Europe, from the
mountainous parts of South America, in the neighborhood of
Q,uito, where they were called papas, to Spain, early in the 16 th
century.  From Spain, where they were called  battatas,  they
found their way to  Italy, and there received the same name as
the iruffle, taratoufli.  From Italy they went to Vienna, through
the Governor  of Mons, in Hainault, who sent some to Clusius,
in  1598.   To  England the potato found  its way  from North 
SOLANUM TUBEROSUM.
America, being brought from  Virginia by the colonists sent out
by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, and who returned in July 1586;
" and probably," says  Sir  Joseph Banks, " brought with them
the po tato."   Gerarde in his Herbal, published in 1597, gives a
figure of the  potato under the  name  of Potato  of Virginia,
whence, he says, he received the  roots ; and this appellation it
appears  to have retained, in order to distinguish it from the bat-
tatas  or sweet potato,  Convolvulus  Battatas, till the  year
1640, if not longer.   Gough  says that the potato was first
planted  by Sir Walter Raleigh, on his estate of Youghall, near
Cork, and that they were  soon after carried into  Lancashire.
Gerarde  and Parkinson,  however, mention  them as delicacies
for  the  confectioner, and not as common food.   Even so  late as
Bradley's time, they are spoken  of as  inferior  to skirrcts  and
radishes.
  The use  of the potato, however, became  more and more
known after the middle of the 18th century, and has greatly in-
creased  in  all  parts of the world.  It is in  very general use in
Holland, and many  parts  of  France and Germany, and is in-
creasing  rapidly  in Russia.   In  Spain and the East and West
Indies, they are not much  cultivated, owing to the heat of the
climate, but in all the temperate parts of North America, Aus-
tralasia, and  South America,  they are  grown  in  abundance.
In China they are cultivated, but not extensively.  Indeed no
root hitherto  discovered is  so  well adapted for universal use as
the tubers of the potato ;  for, having no peculiarity of taste, and
consisting chiefly of starch, their farina is nearly that of  grain.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

  The Solanum Tuberosum, or Potato, is of more interest as an
article of diet than as  a medicinal agent, though the stalks pos-
sess the narcotic  qualities of the  other species,  and  even  the tu-
bers contain a  certain portion of  the alkaloid.   This appears to
be confined to their epidermis, and is greatly increased in quan-
tity where the potato is exposed for any time to  the action of
the light, in which case the epidermis assumes a greenish color,
and the poisonous principle  is so much developed as to render the
root unfit  for  food.   The  water  in which  potatoes are boiled
contains solanina.  The potato contains much starch, which is
contained in  a cellular tissue;  this starch, which is the princi-
pal nutritious  ingredient of the tuber,  is used as  a substitute 
SOLANUM TUBEROSUM.
for  arrow-root, and is also so manufactured as to resemble and
be sold for sago.  The tissue of potatoes is cellular,—each cell
contains from ten to twelve grains  of starch.   Both in the cells
and  in  the  intercellular  spaces  is  an albuminous liquid.  By
boiling  the  cells are  separated, the starch-grains absorb the al-
buminous liquid, swell up, and  completely fill the cells, while
the  albumen  coagulates  and forms  irregular  fibres, which are
placed  between the  starch-grains.   Potatoes in  which  these
changes are complete, are called meally, while  those  in which
the  liquid is  only  partially absorbed, and  the ooagulations im-
perfectly effected, are denominated doughy, or watery.
  Potatoes have been repeatedly subjected to chemical examina-
tion ; their  principal  constituents are starch, starchy fibrin, al-
bumen, gum,  acids, salts, and water.  The relative proportions
vary with the season,  the varieties  of the potatoe, &c.   Potato-
starch consists of particles of varied shapes, and sizes—the nor-
mal  form is  probably  ovate.  Their size varies from one six-
hundredth to  one  thirtieth  of  a line  in  diameter.    They are
characterized by concentric rings, observed on their surface, and
which Fritzche regards as indications of concentric  layers, of
which he asserts these grains to be composed.   The  hilum is
oircular.  The cracks  observed  on some  of the larger grains
proceed usually from  the hilum.
  Sugar is  sometimes  manufactured from potatoes.    By fer-
mentation potatoes yield  a vinous liquid {potato-wine) of good
quality.  By distillation this yields potato-spirit, from which a
volatile oil  {oil of potatoes)  has been  extracted.  An extract
obtained from  the stalks and leaves of potatoes is said to possess
narcotic properties,  in doses of two or three grains, but the cases
are not  perfectly satisfactory.
  The tubers of potatoes when boiled are a most valuable article
of food, both  for men  and animals.  Those of good quality are
not only perfectly innocuous but highly nutritious, and easy of
digestion.  In  the  raw state they have been  found  less  nutri-
tive  for animals, while on man  they are said to prove laxative
and  diuretic,  and  to  excite  slightly the nervous system.  The
process  of cooking is  probably useful in  two ways, by rendering
the starch digestible, and secondly by extracting some noxious
matter.   The  potato  in a raw state, eaten as  a salad with vin-
egar, has proved of much benefit  on  ship-board as a preventative
of scurvy.   An extraet of the leaves is recommended in chronic
rheumatism, and pains of the stomach and bowels. 
 
  l'IT^:LI'.T3©TT7[uJ'i'yi   ma*w^  ,
Common Celandine , pile-wort  teiteiuort 
I  £  .
^oud.
 Per.
idG.
 the
dine
Jeli-
in 
MM
m
^
  1L" ±1 idj -U a. oj 'j_^ i-j il ..^ ^...^
Common Celandine , pile\roil  terteiwort 
                PAPAVERACEJE.


               P opp yw oris*


                          No 91.


                CHELIDONIUM MAJUS.


            Celandine,  Pilewort,  Tetterwort, etc.


           Place—Europe.

            Quality—Bitter, acrid, caustic.

           Power—Diuretic, diaphoretic,

            Use—Jaundice, dropsy, herpes, etc.


              BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


   Natural Order.   Rhceadese.—L.   Papaveracese.—J.


    Class XIII.   Polyandria.   Order Monogynia.


  Linn. Sp. PL 723.  Woodv. Med. Bot. I. 140.  Stephenson and Churchill II. 86. Loud.
Ency. PL 460. Raf. Med.  Flor. II. 207.  U. S. Dis. 1240. Griff. Med. Bot. 129. Per.
El. Mat. Med. II. 687.  Beach. Fam. Ph. 650.  Wood, Class Book, 156.  T. and G.
Flor. I. 162.


                Genus CHELIDONIUM.


  From the Greek x«Xi<5o>i', the swallow, the plant being supposed to flower with the
arrival of that bird, and to perish with its departure.  The English word Celandine
appears to be a corruption of Chelidonium.

  Synonymes.—La chelidoine [F.],Das scholkraut [Ger."], Schelkruid [Dutch], Celi-
donia [It], Celidonia, [Sp.], Svaleurt, [Dan.]



                THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.


Calyx.   Sepals, two, rarely three, deciduous, imbricated  in

    aestivation.

Corolla.   Petals, four, rarely five or  six hypogynous. 
CHELIDONIUM  MA JUS.
 Stamens  often  indefinite  or numerous,  but some multiple  of
     four, rarely polyadelphous.   Anthers, innate.
 Ovary, solitary.   Style, short or wanting.   Stigmas, two, or if
     more, stellate upon the flat apex of ovary.
 Fruit,  either pod-shaped, with  two parietal  placentae, or  cap-
     sular with  several.
 Seeds,  indefinite or  numerous,  minute.  Embryo,  minute  at
     the base of oily  albumen.

                  THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Chelidonium.    Sepals, two, suborbicular.  Petals, four, sub-
 orbicular, contracted  at  base.   Stamens,  twenty-four—thirty-
 two, shorter  than the petals.   Stigma, one, small,  sessile, bifid.
 Capsule—silique—form,  linear,  two-valved,  one-celled.  Seeds
 crested.

  Calyx two-leaved, caducous.   Corol, four-petalled, silique like.   Capsule, one-
 celled, two-valved, linear.  Seeds crested, many.

                   THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Chelidonium Majus.  Leaves pinnate.  Leaflets lobed.   Seg-
 ments rounded.   Flowers in umbels.

  Umbels axillary, peduncled.  Leaves alternate, pinnate, lobed.

                  THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class, Polyandria.   Stamens, twenty or more, arising from
 the  receptacle  (hypogynous).  Order,  Monogynia.   Ovaries,
 compound.   Placentce, parietal.  Sepals, two (or three). Juice.
 colored.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

   Chelidonium is a genus of perennial herbs,  furnished with a
 yellowish acrid juice,  and  containing  probably but a  single
 species, which  is a native of Europe, but has become exten-
 sively naturalized in the United States and elsewhere.
   Common Celandine is a pale  green, and  fleshy perennial her-
 baceous plant, growing in meadows and waste  places,  by run-
ning  brooks,  and  on  wet   lands, flowering  throughout  the 
CHELIDONIUM MAJUS.
summer.   It rises to the height of from one to two feet—ha*
many tender,  round, green, watery  stalks, with large joints,
very brittle and transparent.  Leaves smooth, glaucous, spread-
ing, consisting of two—four pairs of leaflets, with an odd one.
Leaflets irregularly dentate and lobed, the partial stalks winged
at base.   Umbels thin,  axillary, pedunculate.  Petals elliptical,
entire yellow, and very fugacious, like every other part  of the
flower.   The flowers are succeeded by  pods, which, when fully
ripe, burst suddenly, or, if compressed  by the fingers, they wiH
instantly  fly to pieces, and  scatter the  seed; hence, Celandine
is sometimes also called Touch-me-not.
   The plant is of remarkable easy culture.


  CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USEa

   The whole plant,  Chelidonium Majus, is very brittle, and ex-
udes, when broken,  an  orange colored foetid juice.   Its taste  is
intensely bitter and  acrid, occasioning a sense of burning in the
mouth  and fauces, which lasts  for some time.  If applied  to
the skin,  the juice produces inflammation, and even vesication.
The whole plant, is used ;  the root is  more  powerful than the
stem, and is  the part  most generally approved.   The  active
principle  is soluble both in water and alcohol, and  although not
volatile, is somewhat diminished by drying.  According to  an
analysis by M. M. Chevallier and Lassaigne {Jour, de Pharm.,
III. 451), the  plant  afforded a  bitter  resinous substance of a
deep yellow color—a kind of gum-resin of an orange color, and
bitter, nauceous  taste,  mucilage, albumen, and various  saline
substances, besides free malic acid  and  silica.   Dr. Probst,  of
Heidelberg, has  more  recently found in  it a peculiar acid, de-
nominated Cheledonic acid; two  alkaline principles, one  of
which forms neutral salts with the acids, and is called Chelery-
thrin, in  consequence of the intense redness  of its salts ;  the
other unites  with,  but does not  neutralize the acids,  and  is
named  Chelidonin ; and lastly, a neutral, crystallizabie, bitter
principle, which, from its yellow color, is called Chilidoxanthin.
Of these  principles, chelerythrin  appears to  rank  among  the
acrid narcotic poisons {Annal. der Pharm. XXIX. 113).
   Celandine  is  an  acrid  purgative, possessed also of diuretic,
diaphoretic, and  expectorant properties.   In over doses  it pro-
duces unpleasant effects,  and is by some considered poisonous 
CHELIDONIUM MAJUS.
By the ancients, it  enjoyed  a very high  reputation, and  was
thought to be particularly efficacious in the removal of obstruc-
tions of the liver, in promoting expectoration, and in the cure
of chronic cutaneous affections.   Miller {Compend. Herb), says,
it is operative and cleansing, opening obstructions of the liver
and  spleen, and of great use  in curing the  jaundice and scurvy.
Outwardly it is used for sore eyes, to dry up rheum, and to take
away specks and  films, and also against tetters and ringworms,
and  scurfy breakings out.   It may not be as effectual in the
treatment  of these  various affections  as is stated, but  is cer-
tainly  possessed  of  much  activity, and  has been unduly neg-
lected.  " There  is no doubt," says Withering, " but a medicine
of such activity will one day be  converted to more important
purposes."
   According  to  the  observations  of  numerous German  prac-
titioners,  its  beneficial  results in  scrofula  are  unequivocal.
Wendt and Kuntzmann have given cases where it  proved com-
pletely successful in  this disease {Jour. Hufland, 1813).  As a
drastic and hydragogue purgative it appears fully equal to gam-
boge, and might  replace it in all cases  in which  the foreign
article is  used.   It has also  been  recommended as  an external
application to the feet in those oedematons swellings succeeding
fevers.  Recamier is of opinion that it has a peculiar elective
action on  the spleen, and  hence,  is very effectual  in removing
engorgements of  that viscus.
   Externally  the juice has  long  been known as  a  caustic for
the removal of warts and corns, which it destroys by stimulating
them beyond  their vital powers.  The juice is also  said to be
very efficacious  in  stimulating and  healing old  and  indolent
ulcers, speedily  removing  fungous flesh, and  giving  a healthy
action  to  the torpid  and  indolent  granulations.    Hildanus,
Ethnuller, Greoffroy,  and others, attest the  powers of  the  juice,,
when diluted with some bland  liquid in specks and opacities of
the cornea.  A cataplasm of the  bruised leaves has also been
successfully used in  herpes and obstinate  psora.  The dose of
the dried root  or  herb, is from  thirty grains to a drachm, that
of the fresh root one or two drachms, and the same quantity
may be given in infusion.   The  watery extract, and the ex-
pressed juice, have also  been employed.   The dose of the for-
mer  is from five  to ten grains—that of the latter from  ten to
twenty drops.  In each case the dose is  to be gradually in-
creased until the  effeots of  the remedy are  experienced. 
 
              tf9  92.
r -ID JL (C MI (CUT M ATFTUJMIY/ML^
   Meadnn s a tiro n , naked lady. 
;•: !'• vj 

ftW^ 
                MELANTHACEJ1.



                   •Melanths.



                          No. 92.


              COLCHICUM  AUTUMNAIiE.


              Meadow  Saffron—Naked Lady.


           Place—Europe.

           Quality—Strong smelling, acrid.

           Poiver—Narcotic, diuretic, purgative.

           Use—Dropsy, gout, piles, rheumatism.



               BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.


  Natural Order.   Spathacese.—L.  Melanthacese.—J.



      Class  VI.   Hexandria,  Order.   Trigt/nia.


  Linn. Sp. PL 485.  Willd. Sp. PL II.  272.  Woodv. Med- Bot. 759. Stephenson
and Churchill, II. 70. Loud. Ency. PL 292.  U. S. Dis. 255. Griff. Med. Bot. 644.
Per. El. Mat. Med. II. 92.  Lind. Flor. Med. 589.


                   Genus.   COLCHICUM.


  From Colchis, says Dioscorides, where this plant grows in abundance

  Synokymes.—Colchique d'automne [F.], Die zeitlose [Ger.], Wildi saffraan [D.],
Colchico [It], Villorita {Sp.], Colchico [Port.], Beswremennoi zwjet [Rues.], Ror-
siad [Pol.]                                              J


                THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.


Perianth  regular,  in  two  series,  each of  three  segments,

      which are distinct or united at base,  generally  involute

      in aestivation.

Stamens six,, with extrorse anthers. 
COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE.
 Ovary,  three-celled,  nine-many-ovuled.    Styles  distinot,  or
     wanting.   Stigmas undivided.
 ?ruit.   Capsule  or Berry,  three-celled,  generally with septi-
     cidal dehiscence.
 Seeds,  with  a  membraneous  testa, and dense fleshy albu-
        men.

                  THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Uolchicum.   Perianth single tubular,  very  long, rising from
 a spathe.  Limb  campanulate,  six  partite petaloid.   Capsule
 three-celled.  Cells united at the base.
  Spathe.  Corolla  six-parted, with a rooted tube.  Capsules three, connected,  in-
 flated.

                   THE SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.

   CoLCHicuivr  Autumnale.  Form  ovate, solid, fleshy.   Leaves
 dark green, smooth, obtuse, long, somewhat carinate.   Flowers
 several, radical, leafless, of a  purple color.   Capsules three, dis-
 tinct.   Seeds whitish, polished.

  Leaves  plane, broadly lanceolate, erect.  Fruit oblong, elliptical. Seeds small,
 sperical, internally white.

                THE  ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

   Class Hexandria.  Stamens six.   Order Trigynia.  Endo-
 gens.  Calyx and Corolla similarly  developed.   Flowers con-
 spicuous,  mostly colored.   Ovary many-seeded.

                   NATURAL  HISTORY.

  Meadow-saffron is a native of the temperate parts of Europe,
Generally  found  growing in  moist, rich meadow-grounds,  and
Howering  in September.   The  fruit appears  in the following
spring or summer.
  The cormus, commonly called the bulb  or root, is solid, eo-a.
shaped,  and  covered with  a brown  membranous coat.   The
leaves which  appear in  spring, are radical  and  spear-shaped,
about five inches  long  and  half an  inch  broad at the base.
They wither away entirely before  the end of summer, and are 
COLCHICUM  AUTUMNALE.
nevertheless preceded by the flower, which  appears  in autumn
without any leaves ; and from this circumstance the plant is
sometimes  called  " Naked Lady."  It  is, however, proper to
state, that the bulb from which  the flowers spring, is the offset
of that from which the leaves have decayed.  There is no calyx.
The corolla, which is of a pale,  pinkish  lilac  color,  springs
directly from the  bulb, and consists of a tube about five inches
long, two thirds of which are  sunk in the  ground, and a limb
divided into six lanceolate  keeled segments.  The filaments are
half the length of the  segments of the corolla, subulate, united
to the upper  part of the tube,  and  supporting  yellow erect
anthers.  The stigmas are revolute.  The fruit is a three-lobed,
three-celled  capsule, on  a  thick short peduncle.   The impreg-
nated germen remains  under ground, close to the bulb, till  the
following spring, when it  rises in  its  capsular form above  the
surface, accompanied by the leaves.  The seeds are ripe about
the end of June.
  The thick old  bulb  begins to decay after the  flower is per-
fectly expanded ; and the new bulbs, of which there are always
two formed  on each old bulb, are perfected in  the following
June, from which time until the middle of August they may be
taken up for medicinal use.  The bulbs, when mature, on being
cut transversely, yield  a milky-looking acrid juice,  which pro-
duces a beautiful cerulean blue color, if  rubbed  with the alco-
holic  solution  of guaiacum.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

  The recent bulb of this plant has scarcely any odor.   When
it is dug up at  a proper season of the year, the  taste is bitter,
hot, and acrid, occasioning a warm sensation in  the stomach,
even when taken in a  small quantity.   At  other seasons, how-
ever, and  in some soils and situations,  it  possesses very little
acrimony, and thence the  contradictory opinions which  authors
have  given  of  it.  Its acrimony resides  in a  peculiar  alkali,
which can be separated from the other principles, and has been
named veratrine (veratria) by M. M.  Pelletier  and Caventou,
who discovered it.  The  veratrine is  obtained  in form  of a
white powder; little  soluble  in  water, but very soluble in
alcohol ;  it  combines with acids, but  the neutral salts are  not
crystallizable.   The other component parts of  the bulb are the
following :  a fatty matter, malic acid,  a yellow coloring matter, 
COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE.
 gum, starch, inulin in  great  abundance, and liguin.  Vinegar
 and wine are the best menstrua for  extracting the active quali-
 ties of the  bulb.   A deposit forms  in  the wine, which  is  ex-
 tremely  acrid, exciting  nausea  and griping, and ought to  be
 removed, as its removal  does  not alter the  virtues of the medi-
 cine.  The  seeds  contain veratria, and  yield  it  up  to wine,
 vinegar,  and alcohol.
   Colchicum Autumn ale possesses diuretic, purgative, and nar-
 cotic properties.   It  is the hermodactylon of the ancients.   In
 Europe,  where it was recommended to  notice by Baron Stoerck,
 it is a favorite  remedy in dropsy, particularly hydrothorax, and
 in humoral  asthma.  But as  it  does not differ  in  its mode of
 action from  squill, and is more uncertain in its operation, it has
 not been much used in that complaint in  this country.  In gout
 and rheumatism,  however, its efficacy  has  been  fully ascer-
 tained, and  in allaying the pain it may  be almost said to possess
 a  specific property.  It  operates on the  bowels  chiefly,  stimu-
 lating the orifice of the  common gall duct  in duodenum, so  as
 to  produce  copious  bilious  evacuations;  and  acting on the
 nerves, it diminishes the  action  of the  arterial system.  The
 petals of the flower and the seed, possess the same  medicinal
 properties as the bulb.   In the seed the  veratria exists  in the
 testa or  husk,  and,  consequently,  the  seeds  should not  be
 bruised in preparing the  wine  or  tincture  with them.
   The dose, in substance, is from two to  eight  grains,  which
 may be repeated  every four or six hours, till the effects of the
 medicine are  obtained.   The  medicine,  however, is generally
 given in the state  of vinous tincture.
   To effectually preserve the virtues of the plant, Meadow-saffron,
 the  bulb, as soon as possible after it  is dug  up,  should*  be
 cut  into transverse slices on clean white  paper, distinct from
 one another, without  heat, or  at  a very low temperature.  The
 test of the drug being good  and  properly dried, is  the appear-
 ance of  the blue  color  on rubbing it  with a little distilled
 vinegar,  and the  alcoholic solution of guaiacum.   The slices
also should  not appear deeply  notched or  panduriform, as this is
 the  mark of the  bulb having  begun  to empty itself for the
nourishment of the young bulbs, and, consequently, to suffer in
its medicinal powers from the chemical  change which,  at this
period, its contents must  necessarily undergo for the nourish-
 ment of  the offsets.  It  should be preserved in slices in well-
sWned bottles. 
 
        N?  93.






Velvet  loaf, Ice  vine. 
;l 18  p (
.*':,  '■
■ii. 
v£i-.~
b 
              MENISPEEMACE^.

             JUenis permads.

                        No. 93.

               CISSAMPELOS PARIERA.

          Pareira Brava—Velvet Leaf, Ice  Vine.

  Place—South America.
  Quality—A sweet bitter.
  Power—Diuretic, demulcent, purifying.
  Use—Calculus, difficulty of passing  water,  arthritis, gout,
dropsy, jaundice, &c.

             BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

  Natural Order.  Sarmentaceae.—L.   Menispermacese.—J.

        Class. XXII.  Dicecia.  Order Monadelphia.

  Linn. Sp. PL 1473.  Woodv. Med. Bot. 82.  De  Candolle Prod. I. 533. Flor.
Med. V.  262.  Loudon, Ency. PL 848  Raf. Med. Flor. II. 209.  U S Dis 532.
Griff. Med. Bot. 106.  Per. El. Mat. Med. 739.  Lind. Flor. Med. 372.

              Genus.   CISSAMPELOS.

  From «fio-irof, the Greek name of the Ivy, and apveKos vine, a plant partaking of
the nature of the former in its foliage, and of the latter in its fruit.
  Synonymes—Liane  d coeur [F.], Die grieswurzel  [Ger.], Touwdruif [Dutch]
Caapeba [Port].                  §

                 THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx.   Sepals,  three-eight  in a double series,  two-four in
       each, imbricated in aestivation, hypogynous, deciduous.
Corolla.  Petals, one-eight,  hypogynous, usually as many as
       the sepals, rarely wanting or none. 
CISSAMPELOS PAREIRA.
Stamens  distinct  or monadelphous,  equal  in  number  to  the
       Petals and opposite  to  them,  or three or four times as
       many.   Anthers,  innate  and  consisting of four globose
       lobes.
Ovary, usually solitary, sometimes two-four.
Fruit, a drupe, globose-reniform.
Seed, solitary, uncinate.

                  THE  SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

   Cissampelos  Dioecious. Male. Sepals, four in  a double series.
Petals  four, united into  a cup-shaped corolla,  with an entire
margin.  Stamens, united into slender columns, dilated  at the
apex,  bearing  two  two-celled  anthers, opening  horizontally.
Cells, placed end to end, and  forming  a four lobed, four-celled
annulus round  the top of the  column.   Female. Calyx of one
lateral sepal.   Corolla of one petal in  front of the sepal.   Ovary
solitary.  Stigmas,  three.  Drupe, obliquely reniform, but com-
pared, wrinkled round its  margin.    Seed, solitary, uncinate.
Embryo long, terete, enclosed in a  fleshy albumen.
  Flowers, dioecious. Sterile Flowers.  Sepals, four in a double series.  Petals
four, united into a cup-shaped corolla.  Stamens five.  Anthers connate.  Fertile
Flowers.  Sepal one, rounded.   Petal one, placed before and but half the length of
the sepal, truncated, hypogynous.  Fruit, a one-seeded berry.

                   THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

   Cissampelos  Pareira.   Leaves,  peltate,  subcordate, ovate,
articulate,  silky-pubescent  beneath.   Male.   Sepals four.
Nectary  entire.  Filament  one.   Crest very short.  Anthers
five united  in a capitate  body.   Female.  Racemes larger  than
the leaf.   Sepal  and  Petal solitary.   Ovary,  ovate,  villous.
Berry globose, hispidulous.
  Leaves peltate, orbicular, cordate, villous. Sterile Flowers, racemose.  Fertili
Flowers,  spicate longer than the leaves.

                   THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTER.

   Class  Dicecia.  Stamens  apart from the pistils in different
flowers upon  different plants.    Order  Monadelphia.    Herbs.
Exogens, Dicecioua   Fruit, a  drupe.    Stamens, more than ten.
Leaves,  peltate.    Climbing,  suffruticose   plants.   Racemes
axillary. 
CISSAMPELOS PAREIRA.
                    NATURAL  HISTORY.

    Pareira Brava is a  native of South America and the West
 India Islands.  It is well known in Jamaica, where it grows in
 abundance in the mountainous districts, by the name of Velvet-
 leaf.   It  is  also spoken of by Ainslie as a native of the East
 Indies, but  it appears that the plant to which he refers is Cis-
 sampelos mauritiana, which is  closely allied, both in botanical
 "characters and in medicinal qualities to the plant  under consider-
 ation.   This plant was first made  known  by Marcgraf  and Piso
 in 164S, who met with it in Brazil.  The  name  given  by them
 for the root is Caapeba.  In  1688, it was sent  to Paris by M.
 Amelot, the  French Ambassador at  Portugal.  Some difference
 of opinion exists with regard to the species or varieties affording
 Pareira root   Linnoeus made two species of the plant, founded
 upon the  characters of the leaf.  1. Cissampelos Pareira with
 petioles one to  two inches long, villoas, cylindrical, with  a re-
 markable  curveture at  bottom, inserted  in  many individuals
 into the leaves at a small distance from the base, so as to make
 them appear peltate or obicular.  II.  Cissampelos Caapeba with
 petioles inserted  into the lower  edge directly.  Poiret  by close
 examination, united them.  According to Merat and De Lens,
 some other species, regarded as distinct, may be merged in it as
 varieties.  The East India species may  be different.  Caapeba is
 the name which the root  bears in South America.
   The Ice-vine, is a climbing shrub, attaining a  great size and
 covering even the tallest trees with its foliage.  The root is
 woody and branching.   The  stem  is round, smooth, or with  a
 closely  appressed tomentum.  The  leaves are  large,  peltate,
 subcordate, ovate, articulate, of a dark green,  and smooth above
 and silky pubescent beneath.   The flowers are unisexual; the
 males,  with four sepals  and four  petals, forming a cup-like
 corolla,  with an entire margin.  The  stamens are united, bear-
ing connate anthers  opening  horizontally.  The  female flowers
have but a single sepal and  petal.   The ov&ry is solitary, sur-
mounted with three  stigmas.  The  fruit is a round or roniform
hispid scarlet berry.

 CHEMICAL AND  MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

  Pareira was introduced into medical  practice   by the Portu-
guese, and at one time was  much employed  in diseases of the 
CISSAMPELOS  PAREIRA.
 bladder and  kidneys, and  even considered as a powerful lithon-
 triptic,  its virtues  were so  highly  thought  of, that  Helvetius
 declares that calculi of a large  size had completely disappeared
 under its use, and that the operation of lithotomy was no longer
 required.
    The part used in modicine is the root which as found  in com-
 merce, is generally  in large billets, very tortuous, of a dark color
 externally, and of a yellowish hue within.   The axis is not cen-
 tral, and a section  displays a number of concentric layers, tra-
 versed by many radiating  lines, between which  are  triangular
 bundles of woody fibres and ducts.   The taste is sweetish, some-
 what aromatic, but leaving a bitter and unpleasant impression in
 the mouth.  The  smell is very faint.  Pareira has been ana-
 lyzed by Feneulle, {Journ. de Pharm.)  It was found to contain
 a soft resin, yellow bitter  principle, brown  coloring  principle,
 vegeto-animal matter,  fecula, supermalate of  lime, nitrate  of
 potash, and some ammoniacal and mineral salts.  Wiggers more
 recently, in 1838, announced  the  discovery of a new vegetable ■
 alkaloid, which he calls Cissampelin, but its properties have not
 been described.  The yellow bitter matter is supposed to be the
 active principle.
   The medica] properties are those of a  tonic  and diuretic, de-
 mulcent, and  purifying.   It has been employed with some
 advantage in affections of the urino-genital organs, and  respec-
 table authority asserts that  more good has  been effected  by this
 root  in  cases of this character, than by uva  ursi.  In chronic
 inflammation  of the bladder,  the  testimony  of  Sir B.  Brodie,
 (who was one of the first to resume  its  use,)  is strongly in  its
 favor, he says, " I am satisfied that it has  great  influence,  les-
 sening very materially the  secretion of  the  ropy mucus, which
 is itself  a very great evil, and  I believe diminishing the inflam-
 mation and irritability of the bladder itself."   He recommends
 it to be given  in decoction, to which some  tincture of  Hyoscya-
 mus  may be  added.   Dr. T. F. Betten, Philadelphia, has also
 employed it successfully in similar  cases.
   It is also given in  powder, in doses of from half a drachm to
 a drachm, but  the infusion  or decoction is  a far more eligible
 mode of administration.  An extract and  a tincture have been pre-
 parea from it.   The tincture may be made by maserating one
part of the root in five parts of alcohol.  Dose, a fluid drachm.
 The aqueous extract may be given  in  the dose of from  ten  to
thirty grains. 
 
          N9 94.
■SA IF-11P/A ITS  3IP1ET1D S A
   The caper shrub, capes. 
PPAfiiliAUhii.

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               CAPPARIMCE^.

                 Capparids.

                        No. 94.

                 CAPPARIS  SPINOSA.

                The Caper shrub—Capers.

      Place—Europe.
      Quality—Dry, somewhat bitter.
      Power—Stimulant, antiscorbutic, aperient.
      Use—Hypochondriasis, paralysis.

              BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

 Natural Order.   Putamineae.—L.  Capparidacese.—J.

      Class XIII. Polyandria.  Order Monogynia.

  Linn. Sp. PI. 720. Loudon, Ency. PL 458. U. S. Dis. 1239. 1281. Griff Med.
Bot.  136. Blacken, herb, 417.  Nat. syst. 2ed. 61.  Bot. Mug. 291.  Lindl. Flor.
Med. 94.

                Genus.   CAPPARIS.

  From its Arabic name Kabar, from which the Greeks made Kainranis.
 Synonymes—Le caprier [F.], Die Kapernstaude [Ger.], Kappers  [Dutch], Oappari
[It], Alcaparro [Sp.~], Alcapparra [Port.], Kapersowoy Kust [.Rwss.]

               THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.
Calyx.  Sepals four.
Corolla.   Petals four, cruciate, unguiculate, hypogynousi, mote
      or less unequal. 
CAPPARIS SPINOSA.
Stamens.   Six—twelve, or some multiple of four, almost perigy-
       nous.   Torus  small, often elongated, bearing a  single
       gland.
Ovary often stipitate, of two united carpels.   Styles, united into
       one.   Stigma, discoid.
Fruit, either  pod-shaped and  dehiscent or  fleshy,  and indehis-
       cent.   Placentas, usually two.
Seeds  many, reniform.  Albumen wanting.  Embryo curved.
       Cotyledons foliaceous.

                 THE  SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Capparis.   Calyx.   Sepals, four-parted,  spreading oblong,
obtuse, concave, imbricated.  Petals, four, large, white, emargi-
nate,  downy  at the base.   Stamens  numerous,  hypogynous.
Ovary, oblong, one-celled.    Stigma, round sessile, concave,
entire.  Fruit, oblong, knotty.   Seeds, reniform, smooth.
  Calyx four-parted.  Petals four.   Torus small.  Stipes of the ovary  slender.
Stamens numerous. Fruit siliquose, somewhat bacoate, stipitate.

                   THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Capparis  Spinosa.   Peduncle, simple, one flowered, solitary.
Stipules, spiny.  Leaves roundish,  obtuse,  smooth.   Capsules
oval.
  Stem trailing, smooth.  Leaves ovate, quite smooth.  Flowers  auxiliary, with
slender peduncles much longer than the petioles.

                 THE  ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTERS.

  Class Polyandria.  Stamens, twenty or more arising from the
receptacle (hypogynous.)  Order Monogynia.  Rocks, walls and
cliffs, in the most southern parts of Europe, and in the Levant.

                   NATURAL HISTORY.

  We  are happy in having it in our power to give a representa-
tion of the Caper shrub, whose blossoms are  rarely seen in this
country, though its flower buds are in very general  use as a
pickle, indeed, so great is their consumption that  they form a
very considerable article of commerce.  It  is a biennial  plant
growing wild in some parts of the United States and believed to
have been introduced from Europe.  It is sometimes found near 
CAPPARIS SPINOSA.
gardens  and in cultivated  fields, and is generally called Mole
Plant under the impression that moles  avoid the ground where
it grows.
  The plant grows spontaneously in the more southern parts of
Europe, especially in Italy and  the Levant; in its wild state it
forms a  shrub of low growth having numerous spreading spinous
branches, somewhat thickly beset with smooth roundish leaves.
The  blossoms grow  alternately on the  branches, and when  the
plant begins to flower, one opens generally every other morning,
but so delicate are its parts, that on a hot summer's day it fades
before noon.  The petals are white.   The  filaments which  are
extremely numerous, are white below and of a rich purple color
above, in these  the  beauty of the flower chiefly consists, as in
the pestillum does its great singularity.  At first view, it would
appear that the part so conspicuous  in the center of the flower
was  the style terminated  by the stigma in the usual  way, but if
this  part of the flower is  traced to a more advanced state, it will
be seen  that what was  supposed the style, is  merely an elonga-
tion  of the flower-stalk, and what was supposed the stigma, is in
reality the germen  placed on it, crowned with a minute stigma,
without any intervening style.   This germen swells, turns down-
ward, and  ultimately becomes  the seed  vessel, rarely ripening
in northern or cold climates.
  The plant is with difficulty preserved  by  cultivation, for it
delights to grow in crevices of rocks, and the joints of old walls
and  ruins, and always thrives  best in a horizontal position.   It
flowers in May and June, and is usually raised from  seeds.
  A plant stood near a century against the wall of  the garden
of Camden House, Kensington, (near London,) it produced many
flowers  annually, though  the  young  shoots  were frequently
killed to the stump  during the Winter

 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

  The dried bark of the  root of Capparis Spinosa was formerly
officinal.  It is in  pieces partially or wholly quilled, about one
third of an inch in mean diameter, transversely wrinkled, grayish
externally, whitish within, inodorous and of a  bitterish, some-
what acrid and aromatic taste.   It  is considered diuretic  and
was  formerly employed in obstructions  of  the liver  and spleen,
amenorrhcea and chronic rheumatism.
  As a pickle, the flower buds of the Caper shrub are  in great 
CAPPARIS SPINOSA.
 esteem throughout Europe.   In Italy the unripe fruit is prepared
 in the same way as the flower  buds ; both are highly acrid and
 burning to the taste.  In the isles of the Mediterranean and near
 Toulon, the flower-buds of the Caper are gathered just before they
 begin to expand, which forms a  daily  occupation during  six
 months, when the plants are in a  flowering state.   As the buds
 are gathered they are thrown into a cask among as  much salt
 and vinegar as is sufficient to cover  them, and as  the supply of
 Capers is  increased more vinegar is added.   When  the  Caper
 season closes, the casks are emptied and the buds sorted accord-
 ing to their  size and color,  the  smallest  and greenest  being
 reckoned the best, and put into small casks of fresh vinegar for
 commerce.  They will in  this  state keep fit  for use for five or
 six years.   The best Capers  are  called  Nonpareilles, and the
 second best Capucines.
   Cappares Spenesa contains a  milky juice which  is  extremely
 acrid, and the whole plant  possesses the  properties  of a drastic
 purge ; but the oil of the seed  is the only part used  in regular
 practice.  This oil is colorless, inodorous and when recent nearly
 insipid, but it speedly becomes rancid, and acquires a  dangerous
 acrimony.  The oil  may be extracted by expression, or by the
 agency of alcohol or  of either.   In the first case the bruised seeds
 are pressed in a canvas* or  linen bag, and the oil which escapes
 is purified  by decanting it  from the whitish flocculent matter
 which it  deposits upon  standing,  and by subsequent filtration.
 By the latter process the bruised seeds are digested in alcohol or
 macerated in ether,  and the oil  is  obtained by filtering and
 evaporating the solution.
   This oil is a powerful purge, operating  with much activity in
 a dose varying from  five  to ten drops.   It  was, some  years since,
 much used by certain Italian and French Physicians who did
 not find it to produce inconvenient irritation of the stomach and
 bowels.    Its want of taste and the smallness of the dose recom-
mended it especially  in the cases of infants.   It was said  to be
less acrid  and irritating  than  the Croton  oil, over which it also
had the advantage of greater cheapness.  Some trials which
have  been made  with it on this side of the Atlantic, have not
tended to confirm these favorable reports.   It was found un-
certain in  its cathartic effect, and very liable to vomit.  (Scatter-
good,  Jour, of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. IV. 124).
  It may  be given in pill with the crumb of bread,  or in emul-
sion 
 
  N<? 95.






Coriander. 
*••-•._? milk.
■ i**n 'i:/ue.
Jen,
i08
 and
(S),
oate

hem
hioh
t, or 
s*#
"■fl. •   ''^\v
 
                 UMBELL1FERJ!.

                 U mh e llifers.

                         N°-  95.

               CORIANDRUM SATIVUM.

                       Coriander.

         Place—Europe.
         Quality—Nauseous.
         Power—Carminative, driving away milk.
         Use—The seeds in hysterics, tertian ague.

               BOTANICAL ANALYSIS.

  Natural Order.   Umbellatee.—-J.   Umbelliferae.—J.

        Class V.  Pentandria.  Order Digynia.

  Willd. Sp. PL 1448.  Woodv. Med. Bot. 137.  Smith, Flor. Brit. 320. Louden,
Ency. PL 208.  Lindl. Flor. Med. 58. TJ. S. Dis. 275.  Pfer. El. Mat Med. II. 508.
Griff. Mat. Med. 341. Wood. C. B. 294.

               Genus.  CORIANDRUM.

  From the Greek xopis, a bug; on account of the smell of the leaves.
  Synonymes.—Coriandre(F.), Koriander Saamen (G-). Koriander (Dutch, Swed. and
Dan.), Koriandor {Pol.), Coriandro (Port.), Coriandro (/.), Semilla de Clantro (S.),
Cottamillie (Tarn.), Mety (Malay), Kezereh {Arab.), Kitnuez  (Pers.), D'hanya (H.),
D'amyaca (San.)

                 THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS.

Calyx  adhering to the ovary, entire or five-toothed.
Corolla.  Petals, five, usually inflected  at the point, imbricate
       in aestivation.
Stamens.  Five, alternate with the petals and inserted with them
       upon the disk.
Ovary, inferior, two-celled surmounted by the fleshy disk, which
       bears the  stamens  and petals.  Styles, two distinct, or
       united at their thickened bases.   Stigma, simple. 
CORIANDRUM  SATIVUM.
Fruit, dry, consisting of two coherent carpels, separating from
       each other by their faces {commissure,) into two halves
       {merocarps).
Seeds.  Concave, numerous.

                 THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Coriandrum.   Calyx with five  conspicuous teeth.   Petals,
oboordate, inflected  at the point, outer ones radiate, bifid. Fruit,
globose.   Carpels,  whering with five depressed, primary ribs.
and  four secondary, more  prominent ones.   Seeds concave  on
the face.
  Seeds, sub-spherical. Germ spherical.   Perianth five-toothed. Petals cordate-in
flexed, outer ones largest.   Involucre one-leaved or wanting.

                  THE  SPECIFIC  CHARACTERS.

  Coriandrum  Sativum.   Leaves, bipinnate,  lower  ones with
broad cuneate leaflets, upper with linear ones.   Carpels hemis-
pherical.
  Fruit globose.  Calyx and style permanent.

                 THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class,  Pentandria.   Stamens,  five, Order  Digynia.  Poly-
petalous,  Seeds two.   Flowers in umbels.   Herbs with hollow
stems.

                   NATURAL  HISTORY.

  Coriander is  mentioned by Moses (16 Ex. 31.) "  And  the
house of Israel called the name thereof, Manna, and it was  like
Coriander  Seed, white ;  and the taste of it was like  wafers made
with honey."
  The plant is an annual, a native of Italy and the  southern
parts of Europe.  It is  occasionally found wild in some parts of
the United  States,  but is cultivated  in  gardens owing to  the
abundant use of it for medicinal  purposes. It delights in a sandy
loam.  It is  raised from seeds which may be sown  in February
or March,  when the weather is mild and dry ; and the quantity
requisite for  a bed four feet wide by six in length, to be sown in
rpws, is half an ounce, and when sown in drills, they may be nine
inohes apart, and the seed  buried half an inch.  Where a con- 
CORIANDRUM SATIVUM.
 stant succession is required, small  successive monthly sowings
 will be necessary in Spring and Summer, as the plants in those
 seasons soon run  to seed.   There should be also small sowings
 in the fall, to stand the Winter, under the  defence of a frame.
 The plants are to remain where sown.
   The stem is erect, about two feet in height, branching divari-
 cated, round, smooth and  obscurely striated.   The  leaves are
 compound, the lower ones pinnated, with gashed wedge-shaped,
 somewhat  rounding leaflets and the upper  thrice-ternate,  with
 linear-pointed segments.  Both the umbels and the umbellules are
 many rayed, with an involucre of one linear leaf and involucels of
 three lanceolate narrow leaves, all on one side.   The flowers are
 of a white or reddish color. The calyx consists of five leaves.  The
 Petals are  five also, oblong  and inflected at the tips, but those of
 the flowers of the circumference have the outermost petals larger
 and not inflected.   The fruit commonly termed  coriander seeds
 {fructus seu semina coriandri)  is globular, about the size  of
 white pepper, of a  grayish yellow color, and is finely or obscurely
 ribbed.   It consists of two hemispherical mericarps, adherent by
 their concave surfaces.  Each mericarp has  five  primary ridges,
 which are depressed and wavy, and four secondary ridges more
 prominent  and carinate.  The channels  are  without vittae, but
 the commissure has two.  This  form  of the fruit  distinguishes
 Coriandrum Sativum, coriander, from  all the other species  of
 Umbelli ferae.
  The plant flowers in June, and ripens its seed in  August.

 CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.

  The dried seeds of the Coriandrum  Sativum havi a grateful,
 aromatic odor, and  a moderately warm, pungent taste, qualities
 which depend on an essential  oil, that can be obtained separa i
 by  the  distillation of  the  seeds with  water.    Their  active
 principles are completely extracted by alcohol, but only partially
 by  water.   This oil {Oleum  Coriandri) is  yellowish, smells
stronglv and pretty agreeably  of the Coriander, and is the source
 of the odor, taste and medicinal properties of  the fruit, which, like
the other carminative umbelliferous fruits are aromatic and stimu-
lant.  The  whole plant when green has an abominably fcetid odor
if bruised,  which extends even to the  fruit.   It is cultivated in
private gardens chiefly for  the tender leaves  which are used in
 soups and salads.   On a large scale it is cultivated for the seed. 
CORIANDRUM  SATIVUM.
which is  extensively used by confectioners, druggists and dis-
tillers, in  large quantities.
  The. seeds are sometimes used  in  flatulencies, but principally
to cover the unpleasant taste, and correct the griping quality of
some cathartics.
  Dr. Cullen considered coriander as more powerfully correcting
the odor and taste of Senna than  any other aromatic ; and hence
it was formerly a constituent of the compound infusion of Senna,
though now ginger is substituted  for it.   It is only employed  in
medicine as an adjuvant or corrigent.  It is a constituent of the
confectio  senna, which when properly prepared is  a mild and
pleasant purgative, and well adapted for those who are afflicted
with habitual costiveness.  •
*  Coriandrum Sativum is carminative, and therefore the follow-
 ing observations respecting medicines of that class are introduced
 for the use  of  the  general reader.    Carminatives  are those
 medicines which usually dispel flatulency of  the stomach and
 bowels  by stimulating the  inner coat of these organs.   They in
 general produce only temporary relief, for  if the diseased con-
 dition of the  alimentary canal  be  not removed  by appropriate
 remedies  it  will very speedily become again distended with
 flatus.  The  articles  generally  employed  as  carminatives are
 infusions or tinctures of the aromatic seeds and vegetables.  The
 principal carminatives are ginger, cardamon, anise and caraway
 seeds ; several of the essential oils, as those of peppermint, anise,
 coriander, and juniper.  Ardent spirits and especially aromatic
 tinctures.   The  use of these articles is decidedly injurious  in
 every instance in which the stomach or intestines are in the least
 degree inflamed, or when their sensibility is morbidly increased.
 They are  however very favorite  prescriptions with, nurses and
 mothers, to allay the gripings with  which young children are  so
 frequently afflicted, and  under these circumstances  a great deal
 of mischief is caused by their indiscreet administration.  Whole-
 some food, cleanliness of person, protection from cold and damp,
 and  sufficient exercise will most generally prevent a  flatulent
 state of the  bowels of infants ; when, however, it depends upon
 the disease of these parts carminatives will seldom do much good
 but  will often increase the sufferings of the little patient. 
 
             N? 96.
 ECDOJCDnriL'uTS  TRAIL BO A1PT1TS
The Colombo Plant.  Columbo 
\!  \<
J.
andria.
,.i"»  l^ud.
     '33.
     nor.
this
that
mbo
ich,

the 
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MENISPEEMACEJ.
             JfcTe nis p  ermad s *


                          No  96.


                COCCULUS PALMATUS.


                Columba Plant.  Columbo.


           Place—Africa.

           Quality—Bitter.

           Power—Antisceptie, tonic,

           Use—Indigestion, diarrhoea, fevers, cholera.


              BOTANICAL  ANALYSIS.,


Natural Order.  Sarmentacese.—L.  Menispermacese.—J.


      Class XXII.  Dicecia.  Order Hexandria.


  Willd. Sp. PL 824.  Woodv. Med. Bot. V. 21. Stephenson and Churchill 160. Loud.
Ency. PL 844.  U. S. Dis. 261.  Griff.  Med. Bot. 103. Per. El. Mat. Med. II. 733.
Beach. Fam. Ph. 662.   Kost. Mat. Med. 453.  Wood, Class Book, 151.  Lind- Flor.
Med. 369. De Candolle. Syst. Nat. I. 515.



                  Genus  COCCULUS.


  From Coccus, the name of the well known dyers' insect, and has been applied to this
Genus on account of the resemblance which has been found to exist between that
insect and the scarlet berries of the plant.
  Synonymes.—Colombo [F.], Kolumbowurzel [G-], Columba [/.], Raizade Colombo
[Sp.], Kalumbo [Port], Kalumb [.Mozambique], Columbo vaye. (Taw.]


                THE ESSENTIAL  CHARACTERS.


Calyx.   Sepals, three-eight in a double series, two-four in each,

       imbricated in aestivation, hypogynous, deciduous.

Corolla. Petals, one-eight, hypogynous, usually as many as the

       sepals, rarely wanting or none. 
COCCULUS  PALMATUS.
Stamens distinct or monadelphous, equal in number to the Petals
       and  opposite  to  them, or three  or four times as  many.
       Anthers, innate and consisting of four globose lobes.
Ovary, usually  solitary, sometimes two-four
Fruit, a drupe, globose-reniform.
Seeds, lunate and compressed

                 THE  SECONDARY CHARACTERS.

  Cocculus. Flowers unisexual, dioecious. Calyx of twelve sepals,
in four series, with two three or more close pressed bracteoles.
Males.  Stamens six, or rarely three opposite to the inner sepals,
distinct.    Anthers two-celled, terminal, dehising,  vertically.
Filaments, either filiform or thickened  at the apex.  Females,
Ovaries, three, six or numerous.  Drupes one to six or numerous,
one-celled, one-seeded.   Peduncles axillary or rarely lateral.
  Sepals and Petals ternate usually in two, rarely in three rows. Stamens, six distinct,
opposite the petals. Drupes barried, one to six, generally oblique, reniform, somewhat
compressed, one-seeded.  Cotyledons distant.

                  THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

  Cocculus  Palmatus Flowers small,  green.    Calyx  of six
petals in two series with bracteoles.  Petals six obovate,  half-
enclosing the opposite stamens.   Anthers terminal,  two-celled.
Ovaries three, united at the base.   Drupes hairy.
  Leaves cordate, five—seven lobed.  Lobes entire, acuminate somewhat hairy on
both sides.  Stem and Germ with glandular hairs.

                THE  ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS.

  Class Dkecia.   Stamens apart from the pistils  in  different
flowers  upon different  plants.    Order Hexandria.   Herbs,
exogens, dioecious.  Fruit a drupe.    Stamens more than ten.
Leaves peltate.   Climbing suffrutiooso plant.  Racemes axillary.

                   NATURAL  HISTORY.

  This plant is a native  of  the Mozambique, west of Africa.
Cibo is mentioned as a locality of it.  It there  grows spontane-
ously, and is not cultivated by the natives.  The manner of pre-
paring the root  is  to remove it from the earth during the dry
season, which is in March, and after washing it to cut it into
pieces, usually horizontal,  and then dry them in the shade.  The 
COCCULUS PALMATUS.
offsets are selected in preference.   The pieces are marked by a
thick ring on  the outside, corresponding to the dense vertical
substance, contrasting  with the  contracted interior,  which is
formed of more spongy parenchyma.  The surface is marked by
concentric rings.
  Redi, in 1677, first mentioned the properties of the root of the
Columba.  It was not however introduced into Europe  for a long
time after, and then little was known of its origin.   Commerson,
in 1770, procured some specimens from the garden of Mr. Poivre,
of the  Isle of France, and  sent them to Europe.   From these
Lamarik has given his description of the plant, under the name
of Menispermum palmatum.   Mr. Ferton, a resident of Madras,
obtained a living specimen of the plant in 1805, and Mr. Berry
in the Asiatic Researches figured and  described it.  In 1830 Sir
Wm. J. Hooker published a complete description both of the
male and  female plants in the Botanic Magazine.   This was
made from the  drawings sent to England by Mr. Telfair of
Mauritius who obtained  living roots  from  Captain Owen, pro-
cured by him  when on the survey of the eastern coast  of Africa.
From the name Colombo root it was supposed to be the product
of Ceylon, but this is not the case as  has been  stated  by Shurr-
berg and Dr. Rajuct.   The name by which it is known in India
is Kalumb.   Columba is brought into the market  in bales, and
sometimes in cases, and as it constitutes an article of traffic in the
East it  may be bought in most of the great marts of that portion
of the  world.  Usually  Bombay, Madras or Calcutta, are the
indirect sources of it.   The pieces are frequently much perforated
evidently by worms and  not as has been supposed by stringing
to facilitate  its  drying.  Those  pieces which  have the fewest
worm-holes, the brightest color, and are solid and heavy, are the
best.   It is said that the root of white  bryony, tinged  yellow
with the tincture of columba has been fradulently substituted for
this root.

  CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL  PROPERTIES AND USES.

   Columba root has a very slight aromatic odor and a bitter taste.
It  breaks with  a starchy fracture  and  is easily pulverized.
Water  at 212° takes up one-third of its weight,  and the infusion
has  all  the sensible qualities of the root. These are  also extracted
by alcohol, but proof spirit is the best  menstruum.   The infusion
is not altered  by solutions  of  sulphate of iron, nitrate of  silver, 
COCCULUS  PALMATUS.
muriate of mercury, and tartarized antimony, but a copious pre-
cipitate is produced by the infusion of galls, and yellow oinohona
bark, by asctate and superacetate of lead, oxymuriate of mercury
and lime-water.   Hence Columba root, was erroneously supposed
to contain cinchonia.  M. Planche found it to contain a large
proportion of a  peculiar  animal substance ;  a yellow, bitter,
resinous  matter, and one-third of its weight of starch.   By re-
peated distillation, he also obtained a volatile oil, and from  the
residue malate  of lime,  and sulphate  of  lime.   By  treating
columba root with alcohol of 0.835, then reducing the tincture
by distillation to  one-third, allowing the residue to stand until
crystals form in it, and afterwards purifying these, Mr. Wittstook
of Berlin  procured a new salt,  to  which  he gave the name of
columbina, and which he  supposes to  be the active principle of
oolumba  root.  It is inodorous, extremely  bitter, neither acid
nor alkaline, and  scarcely soluble in water or in alcohol.  The
acetic acid is its proper menstruum.
  Columba root is a useful antisceptio and tonic.  It is frequently
employed  with  much advantage in diarrhoeas  arising from a
redundant secretion of bile and in bilious remittent fever,  and
cholera, in which it generally checks  the vomiting.  It also
allays  the nausea and vomiting which  accompany pregnancy,
and according to Percival, it is equally servicable in stopping the
severe diarrhoea and vomiting which sometimes attend dentition.
Denman found it more useful than cinchona in the low stage of
puerperal  fever.   As a tonic, unaccompanied with astringency,
and  possessing little  stimulus,  it  has been  recommended in
phthisis and hectic fever,  to allay irritability and  strengthen the
digestive organs, and in dyspepsia.   It may be given combined
with aromatics, orange-peel, opiates and alkaline or neutral salts
as circumstances  may indioate or require.  The powder in com-
bination wiih rhubarb and sulphate of potassa  is  found exceed-
ingly serviceable in mesenteric fever.   An ointment made with
the  powder has  been  used  in  tinea capitis,  and  to destroy
vermin in the hair.  Rubbed up with lard in  the proportion often
grains to the ounce, it usually cures tinea capitis in less than  a
month
  It is given in powder, or in infusion or tincture.   When boiled
in water the starch is dissolved, and a turbid thiok solution is
produced, a decoction is therefore objectionable.   The dose of the
powdered root is  from fifteen grains to  half a drachm, repeated
three or four times '  day. 
 
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