18 LEONTODON. No. 58. 



6. jfiT. hirsuta. Hairy, leaves opposite and alternate, 

 lanceolate, flowers axillary, solitary. Southern States. 



PROPERTIES. Narcotic, errhine, antisiphylitic, 

 antiherpetic, &c- Rather dangerous internally, if it be 

 true that the Indians killed themselves by a strong de- 

 coction of it. More useful externally^ powdered leaves 

 employed in tinea capitis, and in some fevers: withlard, 

 they form a good ointment for herpes. Bigelow found 

 in them tannin, resin, and mucilage only, yet Thomas 

 asserts its narcotic qualities, and that the decoction 

 even in small doses, produced vertigo, which Bigelow is 

 inclined to disbelieve. Elliot states that the negroes of 

 Carolina use the K. angustifolia and K. hirsuta in a 

 strong wash to cure the itch of men and dogs; it smarts, 

 but cures eifectually. It has also been used in psora 

 and other cutaneous affections. It is stated to have 

 been used in syphilis, but how is not told, probably in 

 sores and ulcers. The brown powder of the leaves and 

 seeds are errhine. Their tincture is powerful and dan- 

 geroA: a'few drops killed a rattle snake. 



No. 58. LEONTODON TARAXACUM. 



Names. Common Dandelion. Fr, Pissenlit commun. 

 Vulgar. Pissabed, Puflf-ball, &c. 



Classify Nat. Order of Cichoracca. Syngenesia 



Equalis L. 



Genus Leontodon. Perianthe, or common calyx 

 double, both polyphylle, many ligular florets, phoranthe 

 naked, pappus stipitate and plumose. 



Sp. Leontodon taraxacum. L. Outer calyx reflexed, 



scapes fistulose and one-flowered, leaves runcinate, with 

 toothed divisions. 



DESCRIPTION. It is a perennial plant, with the 

 leaves all radical, smooth, oblong, and acute, cut up on 

 ft!f *^^^^ ^^ ^ runcinate form, sometimes almost pinnati- 

 tid, the divisions acute, toothed, unequal, like teeth of 

 a large saw, sinusses acute, only one large mid rib; 

 scanes or radical naked stems erect, from six to eighteen 

 mches high, cylindric, fistulose, smooth, milky when 



