AGRIMONIA. 



from 7 to 20. Carpels 2, sometimes 3, in the bottom of 

 the calyx, ovate, compressed ; style lateral, simple, the length 

 of the stamens ; stigmas obtuse, undivided. Achenia 2, occa- 

 sionally 1, or 3, ovate, smooth, compressed, pointed, erect, 

 inclosed in the hardened tube of the calyx. 



460. A. Eupatoria Linn. sp. pi. 643. Eng. Bot. t. 1335. 

 Woodv. t. 258. Fl. Dan. t. 588. DC. prodr. ii. 587. Smith 

 JEng.fi. ii. 34-6. — Common among bushes throughout Europe. 

 (Agrimony.) 



Root tapering, reddish, branched at the summit, not creeping ; its 

 flavour very astringent. Herb deep green, covered with soft silky 

 hairs, and when slightly bruised exhaling a peculiar, but grateful, aro- 

 matic scent. Stem about 2 feet high, scarcely branched. Leaves alter- 

 nate, a span long, of several pair of coarsely serrated leaflets, with 

 various small intermediate ones; the terminal leaflet more or less 

 stalked, the size of the former ; stipules of the upper leaves rounded, 

 palmate. Flowers very numerous, yellow, in a dense tapering spike, 

 with lobed bracts. Calyx of the fruit encircled with a thick whorl of 

 hooked prickles, which attach themselves to any thing that comes in 

 their way, like burs. Smith. — Celebrated as a vermifuge; also used in 

 decoction as an astringent gargle and lotion. A common ingredient in 

 " herb teas." 



RUBUS. 



Calyx flattish at the bottom, 5-cleft, without bracteoles. 

 Petals 5. Stamens numerous, inserted on the calyx along with 

 the petals. Achenia numerous (sometimes only 6), collected into 

 a head on an evidently protuberant and spongy but not fleshy 

 receptacle, at length becoming juicy, and resembling little drupes. 

 Styles slightly lateral from near the apex of the achenia. Seed 

 inverted. — Shrubs, or rather perennial herbaceous plants. Stems 

 usually biennial, often rooting, sometimes unarmed, but more gener- 

 ally prickly. Leaves petioled, sometimes pinnate or palmate, 

 sometimes simple. Fruit eatable. 



461. R. villosus Ait. hort. Kew. ii. 210. Bigelow med. bot. ii. 

 t. 38. DC.prodr.ii.563. — Common in fields in the United States. 



Stem tall, branching, prickly, more or less furrowed and angular. 

 Leaves mostly in threes on a channelled hairy petiole ; a few solitary, 

 and some quinate ; leaflets ovate, acuminate, sharply and unequally 

 serrate, covered with scattered hairs above, and with a thick soft 

 pubescence underneath : the terminal stalked, the two sides one sessile; 

 petiole and back of the midrib commonly armed with short recurved 

 prickles. Flowers in erect racemes with a hairy, prickly stalk ; pedicels 

 slender, an inch or 2 in length, with glandular hairs and lanceolate 

 bractes. Segments of calyx ovate, hairy, ending in an acuminate point 

 or a lanceolate leaflet. Petals white, ovate, or oblong, concave, 

 contracted into a short claw at base. Fruit black and shining. — 

 Bark of the root a pure strong astringent. Professor Chapman of 

 Philadelphia considers it among the most active and decidedly efficacious 

 in cholera infantum, diarrhoea, &c. 



227 Q2 



