SPERMATOPHYTA RANUNCULACEAE 



455 



part of it, and the rest of the alcohol added. After thorough mixture, the whole is allowed 

 I to stand eight days in a well-stoppered bottle. The tincture thus prepared, after straining 

 j and filtering, should have a light, seal-brown color by transmitted light, an acrid astringent 

 i taste, and a decidedly acid reaction. 



Dr. White in his Dermatitis Venenata calls attention to the irritating por- 

 'perties of the common wind-flower A. quinquefolia. The species is widely 

 ' distributed in woods in Eastern North America. He states that a large whole- 

 isale dealer in medical plants regarded it as an externally corrosive poison. It 

 [is probable that other species of the genus are more or less acrid. Some of 

 'these plants like the white meadow wind-flower A. canadensis are probably 

 ! looked upon with some suspicion. Dr. Johnson in his Manual of Medical 

 ' Botany, makes this statement in regard to the common Wind-flower : 



Pulsatilla is an acrid irritant which, in large doses, has often produced serious and 



alarming effects. In safe medicinal doses, however, its effects are by no means so well 



.known. At various times and by numerous authors it has been highly praised as a remedy 



I in diseases of the eye, in rheumatism, amenorrhoea, dismenorrhoea, etc. In this country 



(it has been employed chiefly by homeopathic practitioners, and usually in very minute 



doses. Many of the results claimed for it under such circumstances are at least doubtful. 



I Certain it is that other practitioners have not been able to confirm them. 





Anemone quinquefolia L. Wind Flower 



A low smooth perennial with filiform rootstock, involucre or 3-petioled, 

 'trifoliolate, toothed leaves, sepals 4-7, ovate, white, pale blue or purple; carpels 

 15-20 oblong with a hooked beak. 



Distribution. In woods from Nova Scotia to Georgia and the Rocky Moun- 

 itains, also in Europe. 



Fig. 229. Wind flower (Anemone quinque- 

 folia). A well known plant with more or 

 less acrid properties. (Ada Hayden.) 



