66 ORD. XXXIV. Calycantheme. LYTHRUM SALICARIA, 
THIS species of Lythrum rises to the height of three or four feet. The 
root is woody, branched, spreading, and furnished with many fibres ; the 
stem is erect, leafy, quadrangular, (but, towards the lower part,. often hexa- 
gonal) smooth or downy, and of a reddish colour. The deaves vary in length, 
are opposite, sessile, lanceolate, entire, cordate at the base, smooth on their 
upper surface, and somewhat pubescent beneath ; the flowers arise from the 
axills of the leaves, and terminate the stem in a spike of whorls; calyx in- 
ferior, cylindrical, striated, downy, and divided at the margin into twelve 
segments ; of which six are long, awl-shaped, and erect ; the others smaller, . 
ovate, concave, and bent inwards: the petals are six, of a reddish purple 
colour, elliptic-oblong, and undulated; the twelve filaments are thread- 
shaped, alternately shorter, and inflected, inserted above the base of the ca- 
lyx, bearing roundish anthers ; the germen is ovate-oblong, the style simple, 
supporting a capitate stigma. The capsule is small, elliptical, two-celled, 
“inclosed in the tube of the calyx, and containing several small seeds. Fig. 
(a) the calyx, spread open to shew the stamens, (4) the germen, style and | 
stigma, (c) the calyx, (d) the capsule open, (e) the capsule, (/) seeds. 
This species of Zythrum is an indigenous, perennial plant, flowering from 
July to September. It is found wild on the banks of rivers and ponds, and 
other moist situations, in almost every country of Europe. 
Qualities, §c. The dried herb has little or no odour ; its taste is herbace- 
ous and sub-astringent. Its active matter is dissolved equally by water and 
alcohol; the watery decoction is mucilaginous, and strikes a black colour 
with sulphate of iron; hence it appears to consist chiefly of extractive mat- 
ter, combined with a small portion of tannin. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Loose-strife is astringent and tonic ; it has 
been chiefly celebrated as a remedy in diarrhea, for which disorder it has 
long been a very popular and favorite medicine in Ireland. Stork, De Hean, 
and other continental practitioners, have also prescribed it with much suc- 
cess, in laxity of the intestines, chronic dysentery, and intermittent fever. 
In dysentery it has often been found useful; but in most cases it is proper to 
give some aperient previous to its exhibition. It has been administered ge- 
nerally in the form of decoction, made by boiling two ounces of the dried 
herb in a quart of water, down to one pint. Of this, two or three ounces 
may be taken twice or oftener in the day; the powder may be sivan in doses 
of one drachm, night and morning. Off. The Herb. 
