” 
ANCHUSA TINCTORIA. ORD. XVIII. Asperifotiat. : 815 
This species of Anchusa* isa native of Montpellier, and was cul- 
tivated in Britain by Mr. James Sutherland, in the year 1683.* It 
is propagated by our gardeners for the beauty of its flowers, but in 
this climate its roots never acquire that deep colour on which its 
utility depends. The red cortical part of the root of this plant, as 
imported here from the southern parts of Europe, when separated 
from the interior white part, imparts a fine deep red to oils, wax, 
and all unctuous substances, and to rectified spirit of wine; on this 
account the Edinburgh College introduces it into their catalogue 
of the Materia Medica. “ To water this root gives only a dull 
brownish hue. The spirituous tincture, on being inspissated to 
the consistence of an extract, changes its fine red to a dark brown. 
In these general properties the deep and pale roots agree one with 
another, and differ from all the rest of the red drugs we know of: 
it is not therefore probable, that the deep colour of the foreign 
roots is owing, as some have supposed, to the introduction of an 
extraneous tincture.” Formerly the Alkanet reot was recom- 
mended in several diseases, particularly as an astringent, and it 
manifests this quality in some degree to the taste ;‘ but it is now 
used in no other way than for colouring oils,’ ointments, and plasters, 
which receive a fine deep red frome: one fortieth their weight: of 
the root. 
* An — ab ayy? strangulo, suffico quod serpentes strangulet necetque. Hac 
vi ere est auctor Nicander, Dioscorides, Plinius, Galenus, &c. Bod. in Theoph. 
of * Sutherland. Hort. Edin. 24. no.7. See Aiton’s Hort. Kew. 
* Lewis Mat. Med. p. 56. 
* Alston cowl not discover this quality in the Anchusa. MM. M. vol. i. p. 365. 
* It is also used with oil by the cabinet makers to stain mahogany and other woods. 
