20 MEDICINAL PLANTS OF QtrEENSLAKD, 



a fair substitute for cabbage the leaves have been employed 

 externally with advantage as an emollient poultice. Another 

 weed of this order found very plentifully about Ipswich, called 

 Achyranthes aspera, Linn , easily known by its rigid erect spike 

 of spring -fruit, which are pointed downwards on the stalk, is 

 said to have been found useful in India in dropsical cases. 

 According to the Pharmacopseia of India the whole plant when 

 incinerated, yields a considerable quantity of potash, hence 

 its Sanscrit name Ap-amarga, i.e. the washerman, from the 

 cii'cumstance of the ashes being used in washing clothes. The 

 bitter and acrid leaves of Deeringia celosioides, R. Br., are used 

 against the measles in Java. This large woody straggling plant 

 of our scrubs can be easily recognised when in fruit by its bright 

 red currant-like berries. 



The majority of the plants belonging to the Order Polygonacece 

 or Buck-wheats, are mere weeds, but still we are indebted to it 

 for some valuable products, for here we find the Buckwheat, 

 Ehubarb, &c. From one plant of the order a blue dye equal to 

 indigo is obtained. Various species of Rumex (Dock) whose 

 prevailing character is astringency, have been used as remedies 

 in cases of diarrhoea and dysentery for which our own kinds 

 might prove equally efficacious. 



The common knot-grass Polygonum a/viculare, Linn., a trouble- 

 some trailing wiry weed, has emetic purgative fruit. This species 

 is not so abundant here as in the southern colonies, its place 

 however is supplied by the closely allied species P.pleleiuniy E.Br. 

 which probably possesses the same properties. 



P. harhatum, Linn., an erect hairy species common to our creeks. 

 Is considered a diuretic at the Cape of Good Hope, and in India 

 an infusion of its leaves is prescribed to alleviate the pain of 

 severe colic. The leaves of P. hisjndum, H. B. and K., according 

 to Humbolt are used in South America as a substitute for tobacco. 

 This latter species Mr. Bentham thinks is identical with the large 

 species of our swamps P. orientale, Linn. 



