76 NAT. ORDER. CAMPANULACEiE. 



vant, and was first introduced into England in the year 1787, by 

 Mons. L. Heritier, who first gave it the name of Michauxia, and 

 wrote a Monograjjhia, or particular treatise upon it. We have 

 frequently before observed, that when a plant has been named in 

 lioiior of any particular person, that name .should, under any cir- 

 cumstances, be retained in all countries, however uncouth its pro- 

 nunciation may be. It is now generally understood by botanists, 

 that several varieties of this most beautiful plant are natives 

 of the north of Asia, Europe, and many parts of North America, 

 and scarcely known in the hot regions of the world. In the 

 meadows, fields and forests of the countries they inhabit, they con- 

 stitute the most striking ornament. Some curious species are 

 also found in the Canaries, St. Helena, and Juan Fernandez. M. 

 Alphonse Decandolle remarks, that "it is within the 36° and 47° N. 

 lat., that, in our hemisphere, the greatest number of species is 

 found ; the chain of the Alps, Italy, Greece, Caucasus, and the 

 Altai range, are their true countries. In whatever direction we 

 leave these limits, their number of species rapidly decreases. In 

 the southern hemisphere, the Cajie of Good Hope, (lat. 34° S.,) is 

 another centre of habitation, containing not less than sixty-three 

 species. This locality has a climate so different from that of our 

 mountains, that it may be easily imagined that the species capable 

 of living there differ materially from those of our own hemisphere ; 

 in fact, they belong to other genera." Of three hundred species, 

 only nineteen are found within the tropics. 



Medical Properties and Uses. The roots and young shoots of 

 this plant are occasionally used as an article of food. The milky 

 juice is rather acrid, and possesses considerable diaphoretic and 

 expectorant properties. It is sometimes administered in coughs 

 and bronchial affections, but is more valued for its beauty than as 

 a medicine. The dose of the dried root is from twenty to forty 

 grains. That of the tincture, half a fluid ounce, made by adding 

 one ounce of the fine dried root to a pint of diluted alcohol. It 

 may be taken from two to three times a day. 



