170-2 
dium), fertile; jdament combined in the column; anther 2-celled, sometimes 
deciduous ; dehiscence sometimes opercular, sometimes accomplished by a disinte- 
gration of the face of the cell; fo//znza composed of one or two masses of pollen- 
grains in each anther-cell; Aollen waxy or méaly-pulverent. Ovary inferior, 
1-celled, 6-ribbed, sometimes twisted; A/acente 3, parietal; style forming a part 
of the column; sf/gma a viscid, concave disk in front of the column. Seeds 
minute, innumerable; /es/a reticulate. ; 
It would seem an almost essential feature of Orchidaceze that some part or 
organ of each plant should be twisted. 
Our materia medica contains but one drug from the family, besides the one 
under consideration, viz., the European lady’s tresses (Spiranthes autumnalts, 
Rich.). 
Two other members are well known—vanilla (Vanilla planifolia, Andrews), 
and the mucilaginous nutritive Salep, a preparation of the tubers of several 
species of the genera Orchis and Eulophia. A few other species are sometimes 
referred to in medicine—a West Indian stomachic (Bletia verecunda, R. Br.), a 
Guinean purgative and Tortolan anthelmintic (Zpidendrum bifidum, Aubl.), an 
Indian vermifuge and diuretic (Epedendrum auriculatum), a reputed American 
remedy for scrofula (Goodyera pubescens, R. Br.), and a masticatory in toothache 
(Arethusa bulbosa, Linn.) There are also three genera whose tubers yield an 
excellent glue: the South American Catasetum and Cyrtopodium, and our Aplec- 
trum. Rafinesque says:* “The orchidaceous plants which have long roots, like 
the cypripedium, appear to have different properties from those which have round 
or oval tubercles.” 
History and Habitat—The Larger Yellow Lady’s Slipper is indigenous to 
the lower parts of Canada, and the northern and western United States, grow: 
ing in bogs and wet, shady woods, where it blossoms from May until June. This 
plant was introduced into medical literature by Rafinesque, who says:} “ Of this 
beautiful genus, all the species are equally medical; they have been long known 
to the Indians. . . . The most efficient is the C. luteum. . . . They are 
sedative, nervine, antispasmodic, etc., and the best American substitute for 
valerian in almost all cases. They produce beneficial effects in all nervous 
diseases and hysterical affections, by allaying pain, quieting the nerves and pro- 
moting sleep. They are also used in hemicrania, epilepsy, tremors, nervous fever, 
etc, . . . having no baneful nor, narcotic effects. The dose is a teaspoonful 
of the powder, diluted in sugar-water, or any other convenient form.” The above © 
uses of the powdered root have been corroborated fully in domestic practice. 
_ Cypripedium is officinal in the U. S. Ph. as Extractum Cypripedii Fluidum, trom 
_ both Cypripedium pubescens, Willd., and C. parviflorum, Salisb. The preparations 
in the Eclectic Materia Medica are: Extractum Cypripedii Alchoholicum, Extrac 
tum Cypripedii Fluidum, and Tinctura Serpentarie Composita.t 
* Med. Flora, vol. i, p. 145. 3 
— F ibid, pp. 143-4. 3 
ne t Aristolochia, Ipecacuanha, Crocus, Camphora, and Cypripedium or Opium. 
