ASARUM. 



awl-shaped, half the length of the calyx. Anthers attached to 

 the inner side of the filaments, below the summit, each of 2 

 round, separated cells. Ovary turbinate. Style columnar, fur- 

 rowed, nearly as long as the stamens. Stigma in 6 deep, stel- 

 lated, recurved segments. Capsules coriaceous, of 6 cells, not 

 bursting. Seeds several in each cell, obovate, with a pale lon- 

 gitudinal crest. 



716. A. europaeum Linn. sp. pi. 633. Woodv. t. 86. Eng. 

 Bot. t. 1083. Eng. Fl. ii. 342. Mountainous woods in various 

 parts of England. (Asarabacca.) 



Roots creeping, entangled, with numerous, branching, stout fibres, 

 their scent when bruised very peculiar, partaking of pepper and ginger 

 Stems very short and simple, round, each bearing 2 dark green, shining, 

 kidney-shaped, rather downy, leaves, 2 inches wide, on long, downy 

 stalks, and 1 drooping flower, not an inch long, fleshy in substance, of a 

 lurid and singular aspect. The powdered leaves are used to provoke 

 sneezing ; a few grains at a time may be safely taken, and they produce 

 a considerable discharge of fluid by the nostrils. Smith. Roots pur- 

 gative, emetic, and diuretic. Called Cabaret in France, because, as 

 is said, drunkards use it to produce vomiting. 



717. A. canadense Linn. sp. pi. 633. Bigelow med. bot. 

 i. t. 15. Woods and mountainous tracts from Canada to Caro- 

 lina. (Canada snakeroot, wild ginger.) 



Rhizoma creeping, fleshy, and somewhat jointed. Leaves kidney- 

 shaped, pubescent on both sides, with long, round, hairy petioles. 

 Flower solitary, growing from the fork of the stem, on a pendulous 

 hairy peduncle. Calyx very hairy or woolly, consisting of 3 broad, con- 

 cave leaflets, which are mostly of a brownish or dull purple on the in- 

 side at top and bottom, and terminated by a long, spreading, inflected 

 point, with reflexed sides : the colour varies greatly according to the 

 amount of light which the plant enjoys, being sometimes nearly green. 

 Subulate processes 3, below the sinuses of the calyx in the inside of the 

 tube. Stamens 12, inserted on the ovary at a distance from the calyx, 

 the alternate ones longer. Anthers adnate, shorter than the subulate 

 filaments. Ovary inferior, somewhat hexagonal; style conical, striated, 

 parted at top into 6 recurved, radiating stigmas. Rhizoma agreeably 

 aromatic, very unlike that of A. europaeum. A warm stimulant and 

 diaphoretic, acting like Aristolochia Serpentaria ; not emetic as has been 

 isserted. 



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