IS 
THE root IS perennial, tuberous, about the fize of the thumb, 
fending off many long fimple fibres ; the leaves are commonly three 
or four, growing from each root ; thefe are arrow-fhaped, of a deep 
green or purplifli colour, befet with many veins and dark fpots, and 
ftand upon long grooved and fomewhat triangularly fhaped footftaiks 
c 
the flower ftalk is very Ihort and channelled; the calyx is a iheath 
of one leaf, large, oval, nerved, and enclofmg the fpadix, which is 
/ 
round, club-fhaped, fiefhy, above of a purple colour, below whitiih, 
{landing in the centre of the Iheath, and fupporting the parts 
neceffary to frudification : on tracing it towards the bafe we firfb 
difcover the nectaries, or feveral oval corpufcles, which are terminated 
by long tapering points ; next to thefe are placed the antherse, which 
are quadrangular, united, and of a purple colour ; under thefe we 
*» 
find again more ned:aries, and laftly the germina, which are very 
numerous, round, without ftyles, and crowned with fmall bearded 
V: 
"A 
ftigmata. This curious fpecies of infiorefcence difplays itfelf early 
in fpring, but the berries do not ripen till late in the fummer, when 
they appear in naked clufters, of a bright fcarlet colour, making a 
onfpicuous appearance under the hedges, where they commonly 
grow. 
The root is the medicinal part of this plant, which in a recent 
and ladefcent ftate is extremely acrimonious, and upon being 
chewed excites an intolerable fenfation of burning and pricking in 
the tongue, which continues for feveral hours : when cut in flices 
and applied to the fkin, it has been known to produce blifters. This 
acrimony, however, is gradually loft by drying, and may be fo far 
diffipated by the application of heat, as to leave the root^a bland 
farinaceous aliment ;" its medical efficacy therefore refides wholly in the 
adive volatile matter, and confequently the powdered root muft lofe 
lAuch of its power on being long kept, a circumftance which very 
properly caufed the omiffion of the Pulvis ari compofitus in the 
In 
[Arum, by a modern botanlft, is arranged under the clafs Moncecia,] 
llarch. The root, dried and powdered, 
prepared as 
I fkin with, 
Cyprefs Powder : It is undoubtedly a good 
and innocent cofmetic. Withering, 1. c— -Thefe roots are alfo faid to poflffs a 
faponaceous quality, and have been ufed in wafhing linen, to fupply the place of foap. 
No. 6 
U 
laft 
/ 
