112 A COMPENDIUM OF 
more, having 4 spikelets, 8-flowered, not gla- 
brous, 7-nerved, with s glumes; rhachis gla- 
brous, awns straight when present; often absent; 
leaves flat and pubescent on the upper surface; 
thizome long, slender, and creeping, with many 
rootlets; the main root is hollow, of alight straw 
color; the woody part of the root is narrow and 
yellowish, displaying under the microscope many 
woody bundles. When found in the stores 
(which is not often) it is in short pieces of 1 
inch (25 millimeters) long and jz of an inch (2 
millimeters) thick, smooth, hollow, and rather 
inclined to brown in color. The taste is faintly 
bitter, but decidedly sweet to the palate; it has 
little or no odor. Triticum repens, according 
to recent analysis, contains several sugars and 
an active principle called triticin, which was first 
isolated by Ludwig. Of late years couch-grass 
has been used with some success as a diuretic in 
the inflammatory condition of the genito-uri- 
nary organs. The fitid extract is the only offi- 
cinal preparation, which is given in doses of 30 
to 60 drops (2 to 4 grams) several times a day. 
Couch-grass was known to the ancients, and — 
used by them for stone in the bladder and for 
the same diseases and com plaints as the modern 
Practitioners of medicine employ it now. 
Tormentilla, Tormentilla, Tormentilla Erec- 
ta, or, as some have it, Potentilla Tormentilla. 
—Natural order Rosacex, Commonly known 
as cinquefoil (five-fingered.) This small peren- 
nial herb attains the height of several inches, 
and is found growing in open woodlands in many 
parts of Europe; the upper leaves are sessile and 
_ the lower ones five cleft pinnate, with long 
