56 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



Museum. Following Plukenet, other pre-Linnaean 

 writers classed the plant with Actcea, mostly under 

 Tournefort's name, Christophoriana. Linnaeus gave it 

 the name Actcea racemosa, under which it was classed 

 until Pursh referred it to the genus Cimidfuga. Rafi- 

 nesque, 1808, by reason of the fact that the fruit does 

 not accord with that of either actsea or cimicif uga, pro- 

 posed the name Macrotrys actceoides, changing the name 

 in 1828 to Botrophis Serpentaria. Eaton, in the fourth 

 edition of his Manual, followed Rafinesque, but perpet- 

 uating the error of De Candolle, who preceded Eaton, 

 he incorrectly spelled the name, calling the plant Ma- 

 crotys Serpentaria, the latter being Pursh's specific name. 

 The following botanical history by C. G. Lloyd, from 

 Drugs and Medicines of North America, is of such inter- 

 est as to lead to its reproduction, verbatim: 



"Cimicif uga is a very conspicuous and showy plant 

 when in bloom, and hence was noticed by the earliest 

 travelers in America and carried to the botanical gardens 

 of Europe early in the 18th century. It was first de- 

 scribed by Plukenet, and rudely figured in his Amal- 

 theum Botanicum, 1705. Several other pre-Linnsean 

 writers mentioned the plant, all classing it with Actcea, 

 mostly under Tournefort's name, Christophoriana, and 

 designating it with specific adjectives indicating its 

 long raceme or spikes. 



"When Linnaeus first specifically named plants in his 

 Species Plantarum, 1753, in common with previous 

 writers, he included this plant with Actsea, to which it 

 is very closely allied in habit, appearance, properties, 

 powers, etc., and called it Actcea racemosa. 



"At that time, but two of the species now constituting 

 the genus Cimicifuga were known, the plant under con- 



