RADIX SERPENTARI^. 591 



powder, are sometimes employed to arrest the bleeding of a wound. 

 The infusion is taken for the cure of internal ha^morrhao-e. 



Substitutes — Several plants have at times been brouglit into tlie 

 market under the name of matico. One of these is Pii)er adanca^.c L.' 

 (Artanthe adunca Miq.), of which a quantity was imported into London 

 from Central America in 1SC3, and first recognized by Bentley (ISfi4). 

 In colour, odour, and shape of leaf it nearly agrees with ordinary matico ; 

 but differs in that the leaves are marked beneath by much more pro- 

 minent ascending parallel nerves, the spaces between which are not 

 rugose but comparatively smooth and nearly glabrous. lu chemical 

 characters, the leaves of P. adunciim appear to accord with those of 

 P. angtisti folium. 



Piper adiincu7)i is a plant of wide distribution throughout Tropical 

 America. Under the name of Nhaiuli or Piper loiigum it was men- 

 tioned by Piso in 1648'^ on account of the stimulant action of its loaves 

 and roots, — a property which causes it to be still used in Brazil, whore 

 however no particular styptic virtues seem to be ascribed to it.^ The 

 fruits are there employed in the place of cubebs. Sloane's figure* of 

 "Piper longum, arbor folio latissimo" also shows Pi2yer aduncarn. 



According to Triana, Pijycr Icmcemfolmm HBK. {Artanthe Miq.), and 

 another species not recognized, yield matico in New Granada/ Wal- 

 tkeria glomemta Presl (Sterculiacece) is called P(do del Soldudo at 

 Panama and its leaves are used as a vulnerary.' In Riohaniba and 

 Quito, Eiipatorium glutmosnm Lamarck, is also called Chusalonga or 

 Matico J 



AKISTOLOCHIACE^. 



RADIX SERPENTARIiE. 



Radix Serpentariw 



^entarim VirginiancG ; Virgmiaii Snake-root, Serpentary 

 ; F. Serpentcuire de Virglnie; G. SchlanuenwuruL 



Botanical Origin- ArlstolocJda ^^^ri^ewfarmL. a perennial herb 

 commonly under a foot high, with simple or slightly branched, flex os^ 

 stems, producing small, solttary, dull purple flowers close to the giouiil 

 It grows in shady woods iu the^United States, from Missouri arul Indiana 

 to Florida and Virginia.-abundantly in the ^"f ^^i^^f. f^^J^j H^ 



Cumberland Mountains, less frequently in New ^°^^''/^I*^^^ trshane of 

 other Northern States. The plant varies exceedingly in the shape 



its leaves. 



History-The totaniste of the 16th <=<^'^i';Sy • ^"'fJjsenmJ^t 



s alluding to the animal kinsdom, gave the names of t=e,pe« 



ye Mcdiana Brasiltensi, lib. 4. c. 57. _ 'l^.^ 



^ Langgaartl, Dicclonarlo de Mediclm ^";|^;xi,„„, pianiae Hartwcfmmr, Lot), 



f^o^J-^tica e popular, Rio de Janeiro, n. , 'J' of 



(1865) 44, 1S39. 19i>- 



^ Voyage to Jamaica I. (1707) 135, and 

 tab. 88. 



