72 



lignant inflammatory fevers, colds, rheumatic pains, &c. The root is the 

 part used. See Lambert's Illustration of Cinchona, p. 150, &c. The power 

 of the root of Aristolochia serpentaria in arresting the progress of the 

 worst forms of typhus, is highly spoken of by Barton, 2. 51 . [Bigelow 3. 62.] 

 It has an aromatic smell, approaching that of Valerian, with a warm, bitter- 

 ish, pungent taste. Asarum canadense, called Wild Ginger in the United 

 States, is nearly allied in medical properties to the Aristolochia serpentaria. 

 Barton, 2. 88. [Bigelow, 1.49.] The root of Asarum europium, or Asa- 

 rabacca, is used by native practitioners in India as a powerful evacuant : they 

 also employ the bruised and moistened leaves as an external application round 

 the eyes in certain cases of ophthalmia. Ainslic, 1. 24. The leaves and roots 

 of the same plant are emetic ; but this quality is lost, according to Decandolle, 

 by keeping or by steeping in vinegar. 



Examples. Aristolochia, Asarum, Trichopus. 



LXIII. CYTINE^E 



Cvtine-e, Adolphe Brongn. in Ann. des. Sc. Nat. 1. 29. (1824). — Pistiaceje Agardh. Aphor, 

 Bot. p. 240.(1826). — Khizanthe.e, Blume in Batav. Zcitung, (1825); Flora Java:, 

 (1829).— Aristolochije, § Cytinese, Link Handb. 1. 368. (1829.) 



Diagnosis. Apetalous leafless dicotyledons, with indefinite ovules, a 1-cel- 

 led ovarium with parietal placentae and indehiscent fruit. 

 Anomalies. No spiral vessels exist in these plants. 



Essential Character. — Flowers dicecious, monoecious, or monoclinous. Calyx superior, 

 with a limb divided into several divisions, which are imbricated in aestivation. Stamens 

 cohering in a solid central column, from the apex of which arise some horned processes ; 

 anthers adnate, either bursting longitudinally and externally, or having their inside cellular, 

 and discharging their pollen by orifices at the apex. Ovarium inferior, 1- or many-celled, 

 with broad parietal placentse, which are covered with an indefinite number of minute ovules. 

 Fruit an inferior pulpy berry. Seeds extremely minute, (their nucleus consisting of a mass 

 of grumous matter. Blume.) — Parasitical brown or colourless plants, without spiral vessels. 

 Stem simple, covered with a few leaves in the form of scales. Flou-crs in spikes or heads, or 

 solitary. 



Affinities. These very curious plants are all parasitical, with scales in 

 room of leaves. Among them is the very remarkable plant described by Mr. 

 Brown in the 13th vol. of the Linnaaan Society's Transactions, under the name 

 of Rafflesia, to which I refer those who are desirous either of knowing what 

 is the structure of one of the most anomalous of vegetables, or of finding a 

 model of botanical investigation and sagacity, or of consulting one of the 

 most beautiful specimens of botanical analysis which Mr. Bauer has ever 

 made. The affinity of these plants appears to be greater with Aristolochia^ 

 than any other phaenogamous tribe. But the most interesting circumstance of 

 their organization is, that they exhibit in some degree the structure both of 

 flowering and flowerless, or of vascular and cellular plants. Like flowering or 

 vascular plants, they have a distinct floral envelope, and distinct sexual organs, 

 not essentially, or in fact very, different from those of ordinary vegetables. 

 Like flowerless or cellular plants, they are destitute of all trace of spiral 

 vessels, and their seeds appear to be composed of a homogeneous mass of 

 grumous matter, in which no radicle or cotyledons, no ascending or descending 

 extremity, no definite points of vegetation, can be distinguished. 



Geography. Natives of the south of Europe, and the East Indies. 



