108 Frasera Walteri. 
describes it under the name of Indian Lettuce.* The time of flower-. 
ing of the columbo, is in May, June, and July. 
From a variation in the number of parts of the flower and other 
circumstances, it is asserted by the editor of the article Frasera, in 
Rees’s Encyclopedia, to be the Swertia difformis, of Linnzeus ; and 
Pursh remarks that the genus is so nearly allied to Swertia, that 
without seeing the fruit, the plant might readily be mistaken for a 
species of that genus. It is said by Dr. Barton,t that “flowers with 
five stamens are very frequently met with, and six stamens occasion- 
ally occur.’ In the specimens in my possession, for which I am in- 
debted to Dr. Drake, of Cincinnati, the stamens are uniformly four. 
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES. 
The following is an account of the experiments made with the root 
by Dr. Daniel Drake, of Cincinnati, with a view to ascertain the com- 
parative qualities of the Frasera, and the officinal columbo. “This root, 
(F. Walteri) gives out its bitterness both to aqueous and alcoholic 
menstrua, but more fully to the latter; the reverse of which is the 
science; and to him, the late Professor Barton, Dr. Muhlenberg, Wilson, the orni- 
thologist, and many others, have been largely indebted for much useful information, _ 
* See his Travels, p. 42. + Fl. Virg. 
