- POLYGALEE. 
cose, crowded, puberulous ; leaves usually obovate, mucronate, 
full of small pellucid dots; racemes capitate, dense ; wings ob- 
long-elliptical, rather narrow, acute, longer than the keel; seeds 
oblong-cylindrical, villous. h.S. Native of Brazil in the pro- 
vince of Rio Grande do Sul, among rocks. Flowers white. 
Obovate-leaved Milkwort. Fl. Oct. Feb. Shrub 4 foot. 
160 P. Cneo‘rum (St. Hil. fl. bras. 2. p. $8.) stems suffruti- 
cose, ascending ; leaves very numerous, narrow-linear, tapering 
to the base, mucronulate at the top, full of minute pellucid dots ; 
racemes capitate, dense; wings ovate-lanceolate, mucronulate, 
about equal in length to the keel; seeds cylindrical, pubescent. 
hk. S. Native of Brazil in the province of Minas Geraes. 
Cneorum-like Milkwort. F}. March. Shrub 4 foot. 
161 P. Bryoiprs (St. Hil. fl. bras. 2. p. 39.) stem suffruti- 
cose, crowded, dichotomous at the apex, puberulous, clammy ; 
leaves small, very numerous, narrow, linear, acute, falcate, rather 
fleshy, full of pellucid dots ; wings lanceolate, narrow, acute, 
rather glandular, hardly longer than the keel; seeds clavate- 
cylindrical, villous. h.S. Native of Brazil in the province 
of Minas Geraes in sandy places. Habit of Erica. Flowers 
white, tinged with red. 
Var. B, pygmæa (St. Hil. 1. c.) stem 2 inches; leaves broader, 
less fleshy, lower ones rather obovate. Near Barbacena. 
Bryum-like Milkwort. Fl. Sep. Dec. Shrub 4 foot. 
162 P. pseuporrrca (St. Hil. fl. bras. 2. p. 40. t. 87.) stem 
suffruticose, dichotomous; branchlets pubescent ; leaves very 
numerous, spreading, narrow linear, acute, full of pellucid dots ; 
racemes small, terminal and lateral, spike-formed ; wings ellip- 
tical, obtuse, glandular in the middle, rather longer than the 
keel; seeds oblong, a little incurved, villous. h.S. Native 
of Brazil in the province of Minas Geraes. Flowers yellow, 
tinged with purple. 
False-heath Milkwort. Fl. Sept. Shrub 4 foot. 
163 P. penstrouia (St. Hil. fl. bras. 2. p. 41.) stem sub- 
herbaceous, erect, rather twiggy ; branches umbellate, usually 
di-trichotomous ; leaves very numerous, imbricated, linear, acute, 
full of pellucid dots; racemes spike-formed, rather pyramidal ; 
wings elliptical, obtuse, mucronate, longer than the keel; seeds 
oblong, villous. ©. ¥.S. Native of Brazil on hills in the 
eastern part of the province of Cis Platine. Flowers yellowish. 
Var. B, grandiflora (St. Hil. 1. c.) stems thicker ; leaves 
longer, broader ; ` flowers larger, greenish-white. In Minas 
Geraes. 
Var. y, minor (St. Hil. 1. c.) stem much smaller, quadrangular, 
twiggy ; leaves stiffer and broader; spikes much shorter. In 
Minas Geraes. 
Dense-leaved Milkwort. Fl. Nov. Jan. Pl. 1 to 2 feet. 
t Species not sufficiently known, but evidently belonging to section 
Timoutou. 
164 P. surca'ra (Willd. spec. 3. p. 878.) flowers crested; 
racemes terminal on peduncles; stems erect, furrowed, branched 
at the top; leaves linear, pressed to the stem. ©. S. Native 
of Brazil at Monte Video. Very like P. paniculàta. Flowers 
violaceous, 
Furrowed-stemmed Milkwort. Fl. July, Aug. Pl. 1 foot. 
165 P. TENELLA (Willd. spec. 3. p. 878.) flowers crested ; 
racemes terminal, on very long peduncles; stem erect, branched 
at the top; leaves linear-ovate, mucronate. ©.S. Native of 
anama. Like P. paniculata. Flowers small, flesh-coloured. 
Pliant Milkwort. FI. July, Aug. PI. 14 foot. 
166 P. Brazitiz’nsts (Lin. mant. 99.) flowers crested, some- 
what spiked; stems prostrate, very simple; leaves lanceolate. 
ative in Brazil. Flowers white. 
I. PoLYGALA. 359 
Brazilian Milkwort. Pl. prostrate. 
167 P. Gurxner'’ysıs (Willd. spec. 3. p. 882.) flowers crested, 
nodding ; racemes axillary, secund; leaves filiform; stem 
branched, herbaceous. Native of Guinea. 
Guinea Milkwort. Fl. April, June. Pl. 4 foot. 
Sect. VI. Se'neca (by mistake supposed to have first come 
from Senegal.) D. C. prod. 1. p. 330. Keel of flower beardless. 
Three outer sepals of calyx nearly equal. Leaves alternate. Ame- 
rican herbs. ‘The character given by M. Auguste St. Hilaire to 
this section is as follows. Style simple or 2-lobed ; superior lobe 
longest. Caruncle of seed helmet-formed, usually with one 
appendage. 
168 P. Se’neca (Lin. spec. 990.) stems many, rather erect, 
simple, terete ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, upper ones acuminated ; 
racemes somewhat spike-formed; wings of calyx orbicular ; 
capsules elliptical, emarginate. Į. F. Native of North Ame- 
rica on the sides of hills and in dry woods from Carolina to Geor- 
gia. Woodv. med. bot. 3. t. 93. Sims, bot. mag. t. 1051. Flowers 
small, red. This is the famous Senega or Snake-root, formerly 
so celebrated for the bite of rattle-snakes, but other more effi- 
cacious remedies have supplanted it, as Prenánthes and Liàtris. 
This plant has a branched woody contorted root, about half 
an inch thick, and covered with an ash-coloured bark, whence it 
is supposed to resemble the tail of the rattle-snake. It is 
inodorous ; the taste is at first sweetish and nauseous, but after 
being chewed for less than a minute, becomes pungent and hot, 
producing a singular sensation in the fauces. Medically it is 
considered stimulating, expectorant, and diuretic, and in large 
doses emetic and cathartic; it increases absorption and the 
force of circulation, and consequently augments the natural 
excretions, and frequently occasions a copious ptyalism. It 
was introduced to the notice of physicians by Dr. Tennant, 
who having discovered that it was an antidote employed 
internally as well as applied externally to the wounds by 
the Senegaro Indians against the bite of the rattle-snake, 
and reasoning from the effects of the poison, and of the re- 
medy in removing these, was induced to try it in pneumonic 
affections, and found it to afford very marked relief by promot- 
ing expectoration even in far advanced stages of inflammation, 
but it is apt to disorder the stomach and induce diarrhcea. On 
account of its stimulating and diaphoritic properties, however, 
it can be employed in these complaints only after the resolu- 
tion of the inflammation by bleeding and evacuations. It proves 
more directly useful in humoral asthma, chronic catarrh, chronic 
rheumatism, and some kinds of dropsy. (Thoms. lond. dispens. 
p. 450.) In consequence of its well-ascertained power of excit- 
ing salivation, it has been introduced as a remedy in croup 
by Dr. Archer of Maryland; he gives two tea-spoonsful of a 
strong decoction of the root twice in an hour, according to the 
urgency of the symptoms, until it acts as an emetic or cathartic. 
Dr. Brandreth of Liverpool derived great benefit in some cases 
of lethargy from an extract of seneka combined with carbonate 
of ammonia. 
A peculiar principle has lately been discovered in the root of 
this plant by Gehlen, to which he has given the name of senegin. 
It is a brown substance, and excites violent sneezing like tobacco. 
The powder of the root is given in doses from 20 to 30 grains. 
The decoction is made from one ounce of the root to two 
pints of water, boiled down to one pint and strained; this is 
given in doses of three ounces three or four times a-day. 
Senega, Seneka, or Snake-root Milkwort. Fl. July, Aug. Cit. 
1739. Pl. $ foot. l 
169 P. roLy'eama (Walt. fl. carol. 179.) stems many, simple, 
erect and procumbent; leaves oblong, acute or linear-lanceo- 
