4x8 
and plaited at the edges : the filaments are about twenty, fhort, tapering 
and crowned with large yellow antherae : the germens are three, clofeiy 
comprefling each other, tapering, very downy, and fupplied with filU 
form fhort ftyles, 
are ftraight, oblong, 
angular ieeds. 
terminated by fnnple ftigmata : the three 
c ap ful 
es 
tapering, and contain many rough, brown, tri- 
was 
Stavefacre, which is a native of the iouthern parts of Europe, 
cultivated here in the time of Gerard : b it is a handfome plant 
though lefs beautiful than many of the other fpecies of Larkfpur. 
The feeds 
rou 
which are the only part of the plant directed for me- 
dicinal ufe, are ufually imported here from Italy ; they are large, 
of an irregular triangular figure, and of a blackiih colour on 
the outfide, but yellowifh within ; their fmell is difagreeable, and 
fomewhat fetid ; to the tafte they are very bitter, acrid, and naufeous. 
Their virtues are extracted partially by water, and completely by 
rectified fpirit. 
Thefe feeds feem to have been known to the ancients, by whom 
they w r ere employed as a mafticatofy, for on being chewed they excite 
a copious flow of faliva, and on this account were recommended in 
tooth-aches, and other painful affections of the face and gums. The 
ancients alio prefcribed them with a view to their emetic and cathartic 
effects in dofes of ten or fifteen grains : d but the deleterious narcotic 
qualities of Stavefacre were difcovered to be fo powerful as to forbid 
4. ^ - — A. /_ Oil. 11 1 • • /+ • •!• f 
its internal ufe. 
Schultz, only by keeping it fometime in his mouth, 
to relieve a tooth-ach, was for a time' deprived of his fenfes ; e and 
Hillefeld has related, that a dog, by taking five Temples of thefe feeds, 
became convuli 
and foon died/ Stavefacre is now therefore con- 
fined to external ufe in fome kinds of cutaneous eruption, but more 
efpecially for deftroying lice and other infects ; and by its efficacy in 
this way, this plant, in moft of the European languages, is diftinguifhed 
by the name Loufe-wort. 
b 
In 1596 
K 
• Xr«?« uyz<x Diof. eadem videtur, licet Glafti flores adferibat. Murr. App. Mel 
vol. hi* p. 32 
d Vid 
e 
Diofi 
& D 
his Mat. Med. p. 435 
Dc p 
is c . 
Dijf. de Venen. p. 20. 
LAURUS CAMPHORA 
