PLUMBAGINACKE. 



garly called " Pissblume " in Germany, as an active diuretic. From 

 2 drachms to an ounce of the flowers freshly gathered and quickly 

 dried should be gently boiled and the patient allowed to drink of the 

 decoction ad libitum. Some aromatic, as anise or cinnamon, is added 

 to the decoction. The remedy appears to cause the excretion of urine 

 in a direct manner. Med. gaz. xx. 144. 



N.B. The common Thrift of English Gardens is A. maritima Willd. 



PLUMBAGO. 



Calyx tubular, pentagonal, 5-toothed, covered with stalked 

 glands. Corolla hypocrateriform, with a 5-cleft limb. Stamens 

 hypogynous, dilated at the base. Style simple ; stigma 5-cleft. 

 Fruit seed-like, enclosed in the valve-like bases of the filaments, 

 crowned by the conical base of the style. 



978. P. europaea Linn. sp. pi 215. Willd. i. 837. Bot. Mag. 

 t. 1249. Schhuhr. handb. t. 36. South of Europe. 



An erect, branching, smooth, herbaceous plant. Stems slender, an- 

 gular, rather flexuose, with spreading rigid branches. Leaves obovate- 

 lanceolate, sessile, rather scabrous, amplexicaul, slightly toothed at the 

 edge, the uppermost much narrower, and more linear. Flowers in 

 terminal capitate interrupted spikes. Calyx naked at the base, covered 

 with stalked glands towards the upper end. Corolla funnel-shaped, 

 twice as long as the calyx, lilac-coloured, striped. A very acrid plant. 

 It has been used to remove toothache whence its French name of 

 Dentelaire. In decoction it has been recommended as a stimulating 

 wash to old and sluggish ulcers, and as a kind of potential cautery to 

 cancers ; but Sauvage de la Croix says that a young woman, who had 

 it applied, affirmed that the pain it occasioned was intolerable, and that 

 she felt as if being flayed alive. Administered internally in small doses 

 it is said to be as effectual an emetic as Ipecacuanha. Burnett. 



979. P. rosea Linn. sp. pi 215. Bot. mag. t. 230. ? Ra- 

 dix vesicatoria Rumph. v. 453. t. 168. (Rheede x. 17. t. 9.) 

 Various parts of the East Indies. 



An erect herbaceous plant, with a round striated stem, and ascending 

 or erect branches. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, flat, rather obtuse, or 

 apiculate, stalked, slightly toothletted and ciliated; with the petiole 

 clasping the stem. Flowers distant, in long slender spikes. Calyx 

 closely covered with numerous spreading stalked glands. Corolla 

 hypocrateriform, bright reddish-pink, with a slender tube much longer 

 than the calyx ; lobes of the limb oblong, obtuse, flat, apiculate. 

 This is usually believed to be the Radix vesicatoria of Rumph, which 

 being sliced and applied to the skin produces blisters, but less rapidly 

 and effectually than Cantharides. It however appears to me very 

 doubtful whether the Amboyna plant is the same species as this. 



980. P. scandens L. from the West Indies ; and, 



981. P. zeylanica L. are said to have similar properties. 



480 



