32 NAT. ORDER. RANUNCULACELE. 



short, equal in length with the petals ; petals tlirice as long as the 

 calyx ; peduncle radical, one-flowered, and almost naked ; flowers 

 purple. This is thought, according to Fisher, to he a variety of 

 Aquilcgia glandulosa. Native of Siberia, on the Ataian mountains. 

 Flowers in May and June. 



Propagation and Culture. All the species of Columbine are very 

 ornamental, and deserves to be cultivated in every garden. They 

 will tlu-ive ill any common garden soil, and are easily increased 

 by dividing the plant at the root or by seeds, which generally ripen 

 in abundance. 



Medical Proj)crtics and Uses. As a remedial agent, the Colum- 

 bine possesses very little, if any, efficacy, although it was formerly 

 celebrated as a specific in scrofula and some other disorders ; but 

 experience has proved it to be one of those remedies which have at 

 different times risen into notice and employment, by empirics, birt has 

 now so far fallen into disrepute as to have been discarded from general 

 practice, and no longer holds a place in the officinal catalogues, and is 

 even suspected to possess dangerous properties, like most other plants 

 of this order. It has been considered as a diuretic, diaphoretic, and 

 anti-scorbutic, and was formerly in high repute and extensively used in 

 the cure of jaundice, and was said to have been beneficially employed 

 in small-pox to promote the eruption ; it was also used in measles and 

 scurvy, and externally as a vulnerary. Culpepper, in the year IGIO, 

 speaks very highly of the Columbine, and mentions several cases 

 where he has applied it with success, prepared as a lotion, in cynanche 

 tonsillaris, and cynanche trachealis ; one drachm of the seed, taken in 

 wine, has been found good in hepatitis, icterus, and various chronic 

 bilious affections. In Spain this plant was highly esteemed, and for 

 many years was considered as the great panacea for the ills which 

 flesh is heir to. 



