909 



volatile principle. When dry, the root is farinaceous. The bulbs 

 of the root and the leaves are emetic, emollient, and suppurative, 

 nutritive when dry, possessing many of the properties of lilies. The 

 dose of the green bulb is twenty-five grains for an emetic effect. As 

 it loses its activity by drying, it is an uncertain emetic. Bigelow 

 proposes trying it as a substitute for colchicum. Steward says it is 

 one of the most certain remedies in mercurial sore mouth of any 

 yet discovered. I have not much faith in its efficacy in this respect. 

 It is diuretic, and useful in dropsy. 



ORDER 255. TYPHIACE^I. 



219. Typlia. Six species; 20, 3, L. 



Typlia latifolia. Cat-tail flag; reed-mace. The roots are escu- 

 lent, and febrifuge. Their fecula yields a tenth of the whole root, 

 similar to salep. Boiled in milk, it forms a porridge equal to that 

 of genuine arrowroot, and useful in diarrhoeas, dysenteries, and in 

 affections of the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels. 



ORDER 256. AROIDEJE. 



220. Arum. Twenty-eight species; 20, 13, L. 



Arum tripJiyllum. Wild turnip. Sec. The whole plant is vio- 

 lently acrid, and very caustic to the tongue, but not to the skin. It 

 loses its causticity, in a great measure, by drying. It is stimulant, 

 expectorant, carminative, and diaphoretic. The fresh root is too 

 caustic to be taken internally. The dried root is often mixed with 

 honey, for an expectorant, in teaspoonful doses. It is good in 

 aphthae, in flatulence, and in cramps. It stimulates the stomach. 



221. Arum dracontium. Gum dragon. Possesses similar pro- 

 perties. 



222. Oella. Three species; 20, 13, L. 



Calla palustris. Swamp robin ; water arum. The properties of 

 this are likewise similar to the arums. 



223. Ictodes foetida. Synonym, Pothos foetida. 4, 1, L. Off. 

 This powerful stimulant plant is so accurately described by all writ- 

 ers on the Materia Medica that I need not refer to them. 



224. Acorus. Two species ; 6, 1, L. 



