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102 
an oblong clofe fpike ; the corolla Is fmall, of tubular appearance, 
and divided into five oval obtufe fegments, of a reddifb v/hite 
colour, and at the bafe fupplied with feveral nedarlous glands ; the 
bradeal, or fioral leaves, are membranous, withered, and each 
enclofes two flowers ; the filaments are tapering, white, longer 
than the corolla, and the anthers are purple ; the ftyles are three, 
about the length of the ilamina ; the ftigmata are fmall and round ; 
x-' 
the germen is triangular, of a red colour, and the feeds are brovi^n 
and remarkably gloffy. , ' 
Biftort ^ is a native of Britain;* it grows in moid meadows,^ and 
flowers in May and September. -Every part of the plant manifefts 
a degree of llipticity to the taile, and the root is eileemed to be one 
of the moft powerful of the vegetable aftringents. Lewis fays, that 
this " aflringent matter is totally diiTolved both by water and rediikd 
fpirit ; the root, after the adion of a fufficient quantity of either 
menftruum, remaining infipid : on infpifating the tindures, the water 
and fpirit arife unflavoured, leaving extracts of intenfe ftipticity."^ 
The root of Biftort was formerly confidered to be alexipharmic and 
fudorific ; but its ufes feem^ only to be derived from its ftyptic powers ; 
it is therefore chiefly indicated in hsemorrhages and other immoderate 
fluxes. Dr. Cullen obferves, that the Biftora, *' both by its fenfible 
qualities, and by the colour it gives with green vitriol, and by the 
it affords, feems to be one of the ftrongeft of our vegetable 
aftringents, and is juflly commended for every virtue that has been 
afcribed to any other. As fuch we have frequently employed it, and 
particularly in intermittent fevers, and in larger dofes than thofe 
commonly mentioned in Materia Medica writers. Both by itfelf, 
and along with gentian, we have given it to the quantity of three 
drams a day." "^ The dofe of the root in fubftance is from a fcruple 
to a dram. . - 
^ Biftora, quq/t bis torta, twice twifted, or wreathen, is a modern name. Alfton 
M. M. i. 399. « Radix eft ferpentis modo intorta." "Whence it was called Serpen- 
taria, Colubrina, and Dracunculus. And it has been varioufly confidered to be the 
Oxylapathum, Britannica, and Limonium of the ancients. Vide Bauh. Pin. 192. 
Matth. 946. 
* In the North of England this plant is known by the name of Eafter-Giant, and the 
young leaves are eaten in herb pudding. 
^ It grows about Batterfea^ and by the fide of Bijhop^s Wood near HampJieacL Curt. 
Flor. Lond, « Mat. Med. 154. '^ Mat. Med. ii. 40. . 
IMPERATORIA 
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