Podophyllum peltatum. 44 
Tne generic name Podophyllum, is derived from xs, a foot, and 
gvaae, a leaf, from a fancied resemblance of the leaf to the web-foot 
of aquatic birds. It was called originally by Tournefort napodophylion, 
from anas, the Latin name for a duck; but Linnzeus’s more correct no- 
tions of derivation, caused him to modify this exceptionable word in 
the manner it is now universally received. The species which is the 
subject of this article, is a hardy perennial herbaceous plant, and is per- 
haps, one of the most important medicinal vegetables indigenous to 
our country. The root is creeping, very long, often from three to six 
feet in length, of a burnt-umber or bistre colour externally, and yel- 
lowish-white within. It is smooth and round, but interrupted by joints 
or nodes, from which proceed numerous large fibres of a colour con- 
siderably lighter than the main root. The stem is upright, simple, 
round, smooth, yellowish-green, about a foot or fourteen inches high, 
supporting two large leaves, and a single flower in the fork, formed by 
the junction of the petioles. The leaves when they first appear are 
often marked with brown discolorations; these occasionally continue 
on them when mature. They are peltate, the petioles inclining mostly 
towards the edge of the fissure inthe base. They are palmately di- 
vided for the most part into six large lobes, attenuated towards the 
bottom, and irregularly incised at the top, with sometimes sharp and 
often obtuse points. They are strongly veined, are of a fine yellow- 
green above, pale. underneath, inclining in the mature leaves to a 
grey or bluish-green, and are reputed to possess a deleterious quality. 
_ The flower is drooping, mostly of the size represented in the plate, 
