SPIGE'LIA MARILAN'DICA. 



PERENNIAL WORM-GRASS, OR INDIAN PINK. 

 Class. Order. 



PENTANDRIA. MONOGY1UA. 



Natural Order . 



GBNTIANBJE. 



No. 93. 



This genus was distinguished by Linneus, in 

 commemoration of Adrian Spigelius, a botanist and 

 physician of considerable acquirements, who was 

 born at Brussels in 1578. His " Isagoge in Rem 

 Herbariam," published at Padua in 1606, is said to 

 contain much interesting matter respecting the vir- 

 tues of plants ; and it is somewhat curious, that Spi- 

 gelius collected a great portion of this knowledge 

 from the peasants of Italy, by making a tour amongst 

 them, in the character of a rustic. Marilandica, 

 from Maryland, one of the United States of America, 

 where this plant is indigenous. 



This is a beautifully ornamental herbaceous sub- 

 ject, that withstands the cold of our winters toler- 

 ably well, but does not increase much, and is not 

 unfrequently lost. The dried stems and leaves are 

 known to almost every one, under the name of 

 Indian Pink, and universally used as a vermifuge 

 amongst children ; the living vegetable, however, is 

 rarely met with in our gardens. 



It seems to have been given up by the faculty 

 for more certain and active medicines. Small doses 

 of the recent plant arc said, <><rasi<>n:illy, to produce 



24 



