ALETRIS FARINOSA. 
Star Grass. 
PLATE L, 
I xxow of no plant which surpasses the 
Alteris farinosa in genuine, intense and perma- 
nent bitterness. Neither aloes, gentian, nor 
quassia exceed it in the impression produced on 
the tongue. It has, on account of this property, 
attracted the observation of some medical men, 
and may hereafter become an article of more 
consequence in the Materia Medica, Although 
the number of trials, hitherto made, are perhaps 
not sufficient to fix with precision its exact char- 
acter, yet in a collection of American medicinal 
vegetables it ought not to pass unnoticed. 
This plant grows in most parts of the United 
States in fields and about the edges of woods, and 
flowers in June and July. I have found it near 
Boston on the south, but neyer to the north of it. 
