_ ceeding strongly. 
408 ORD. XXIII. Siliquosee. ERYSIMUM ALLIARIA, 
ROOT biennial, whitish, tapering, fibrous. Stalk erect, two or 
three feet in height, round, smooth, channelled, sparingly branched. 
Leaves alternate, heart-shaped, on footstalks, unequally toothed, 
veiny ; on the upper part of the stalk they are pointed, and nar- 
rower; at the root kidney-shaped, and standing on long footstalks. 
Flowers white, in terminal spikes. Calyx of four leafits, which 
are ovate, concave, of a pale green. Corolla consists of four petals, 
which are inversely ovate, and placed in opposite directions upon 
erect claws. Filaments six, tapering, four of which are long and 
erect, two short and bent inwards. Antherz yellow, oblong, in- 
cumbent. Germen long, quadrangular. Style very short. Stigma 
roundish. Pod two inches long, obscurely quadrangular, marked 
with a prominent line between each angle; the cavity divided into 
two cells, containing oblong shining brown seeds, which appear 
obliquely truncated at each end. 
It is common on hedge banks, and flowers in May and June. 
The leaves of this plant have a moderate acrimony, and a strong 
flavour, resembling that of garlic or onions; they give the same 
kind of taint to the breath as those roots, and have been used for 
the same culinary purposes: hence the name Alliaria. On drying, 
however, their sensible qualities are considerably diminished, or 
entirely lost. 
“ The juice, expressed from the fresh leaves, is strongly impreg- 
nated with their active matter, but loses the greatest part of it on 
being inspissated to an extract with the gentlest warmth: in its 
liquid state, duly secured from the air, it may be kept uninjured 
for many months. On distilling the fresh herb with water, there 
arises a small portion of essential oil, which tastes and smells ex- 
The medicinal character of Alliaria is that of a powerful diapho- 
retic, diuretic, and antiscorbutic; and as partaking of the qualities 
of garlick it has been deemed useful as an expectorant and deob- 
Struent, in humoral asthmas, and other cases of dyspneea. It has 
. Lewis. dy Ce 
