NAT. ORDER 



TrilliacecB. 



TRILLIUM LATRIFOLIUM. CLOVER TREEFOIL. 



Class V. Pentandria. Order I. Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Corolla, hirsute. 8tig?na, bifid. Capsule, one-celled. 

 Spe. Char. Leaves, ternate. 



This ])Iant is quite common in the eastern parts of Euroiae. 

 It grows in low and marshy meadows, producing its flower at the 

 end of a long terminal spike, which is of a very peculiar shape, 

 and appears in the latter part of June, and beginnino- of July ; 

 the scape or stalk rises from one to three feet in height ; the ^?eto/s 

 are sometimes entirely white, but most generally rose-colored ; the 

 root is perennial, creeping and jointed, sending forth many lono-, 

 slender filaments. The latrifolium is easily distinguished from the 

 other species of Trillium by its ternate leaves, which have been 

 thought to resemble those of the common garden bean ; hence, 

 the English formerly called it the Buck Bean. 



The whole plant is so extremely bitter, that in some coun- 

 tries it is used as a substitute for hojjs, in the jareparation of malt 

 liquor ; yet Linnteus observes that the largest j^ortion of the poor 

 people in Lapland make a bread of the powdered roots mixed 

 with meal, but at the same time he acknowledges that it is a very 

 unpalateable food. 



Medical Properties and Uses. The blackness manifested by^ 

 adding a solution of green vitriol to the juice, or to a sti-ong in- 

 fusion of the leaves of this plant, is a sufficient test of its astrin- 

 gency ; while a drachm of the powdered root or leaves seldom 



Vol. ii— 77 



