1^2 pPant Isore, "bcge"r^/, and "bqriey. 



The Wolf, in India, gives its name to the Colypca hernandi folia, 

 and Wolf's Eye is a designation given to the Ipomcea Turpethum. 

 Among the Germans, the Wolf becomes, under the several names of 

 Graswolf, Kornwolf, Roggenwolf, and Kartoffehvolf, a demon hauntmg 

 fields and crops. In our own country, the Euphorbia, from its acrid, 

 milky juice, is called Wolf's Milk; the Lycopodium clavatmn is the 

 Wolf's Claw, and the Aconitum Lycoctonum is Wolf's Bane, a name 

 it obtained in olden times when hunters were in the habit of 

 poisoning with the juice of this plant the baits of flesh they laid for 

 Wolves. 



There are several plants bearing, in some form or other, 

 the appellation of Dragon. The common Dragon [Arum Dractmculus) 

 is, as its name implies, a species of Arum, which sends up a straight 

 stalk about three feet high, curiously spotted like the belly of a 

 serpent. The flower of the Dragon plant has such a strong scent 

 of carrion, that few persons can endure it, and it is consequently 

 usually banished from gardens. Gerarde describes three kinds of 

 Dragons, under the names of Great Dragon, Small Dragon, and 

 Water Dragon : these plants all have homoeopathic qualities, inas- 

 much as although they are by name at least vegetable reptiles, 

 yet, according to Dioscorides, all who have rubbed the leaves or 

 roots upon their hands, will not be bitten by Vipers. Pliny also 

 says that Serpents will not come near anyone who carries a portion 

 of a Dragon plant with him, and that it was a common practice in 

 his day to keep about the person a piece of the root of this herb. 

 Gerarde tells us that " the distilled water has vertue against the 

 pestilence or any pestilentiall fever or poyson, being drunke bloud 

 warme with the best treacle or mithridate." He also says that the 

 smell of the flowers is injurious to women who are about to become 

 mothers. The Green Dragon {Arum Dracontium), a native of China, 

 Japan, and America, possesses a root which is prescribed as a very 

 strong emmenagogue. There is a species of Dragon which grows 

 in the morasses about Magellan's Strait, whose flowers exhibit the 

 appearance of an ulcer, and exhale so strong an odour of putrid 

 flesh, that flesh-flies resort to it to deposit their eggs. Another 

 Dragon plant is the Dracontium polyphyllum, a native of Surinam 

 and Japan, where they prepare a medicine from the acrid roots, 

 which they call Koiijakf, and esteem as a great emmenagogue : it is 

 used there to procure abortion. Dracontium foetidum. Fetid Dragon, 

 or Skunk-weed, flourishes in the swamps of North America, and 

 has obtained its nickname from its rank smell, resembling that of 

 a Skunk or Pole-cat. Dragon's Head {Dracocephalum) is a name 

 applied to several plants. The Moldavian Dragon's Head is often 

 called Moldavian or Turk's Balm. The Virginian Dragon's Head 

 is named by the French, La Cataleptique, from its use in palsy and 

 kindred diseases. The Canary Dragon's Head, a native of the 

 Canary Islands, is called (improperly) Balm of Gilead, from its 

 fine odour when rubbed. The old writers called it Camphorosma 



