526 MELANTHACE^:. 



Scilla or Squilla ( Urginea) maritima supplies the officinal squill. The 

 plant grows on the sandy coasts of the Mediterranean. Its bulbs vary 

 in weight from half a pound to four or five pounds. In their fresh 

 state they are very acrid. They contain a bitter crystalline principle 

 called Seillitina. Squill is used medicinally in the form of powder, 

 vinegar, syrup, and tincture, as an emetic diaphoretic, expectorant, 

 and diuretic. The drug called Aloes, is the inspissated juice of the 

 leaves of various species of A loe, as A. spicata, vulgaris, socotrina, in- 

 dica, rubescens, arabica, linguceformis, and Commeliw. It is imported 

 under the names of Socotrine, East Indian or Hepatic, Barbadoes, 

 Cape and Caballine Aloes. It contains a substance called Aloesin, 

 which some regard as its active principle. Aloes is used medicinally 

 as a cathartic, acting chiefly on the large intestines and on the 

 rectum. The bulb of Allium sativum, Garlic, is used as an irritant, 

 stimulant, and diuretic. It is the CTDTO of the Bible, the ax.6^ov of 

 the Greeks. The bulb of Allium Cepa, the Onion, the ntfsi of the 

 Bible, is used in the same way as garlic, and so is the bulb of Allium 

 Porrum, the Leek, the -rcn of the Bible (figs. 207, 208). Besides the 

 Onion and Leek, several species of Allium, under the name of Chive (A. 

 Schcenoprasum), Shallot (A. ascalonicum), and Rocambole (A. Scorodo- 

 prasum), are used as articles of diet. These plants contain free phos- 

 phoric acid, and a sulphuretted oil, which is in a great measure dissipated 

 by boiling or roasting In the Oregon and Missouri districts of North 

 America, the bulbs ofGamassia esculenta, Gamass or Squamash, are also 

 employed in a similar manner. It is called by the Indians Biscuit-root. 

 The turios or young shoots sent up from the underground stem of Aspa- 

 ragus officinalis (fig. 110), are the parts employed in cooking. The bulbs 

 of species of Lilium, found hi the east of Siberia, are eaten like potatoes. 

 Fibres are procured from Phormium tenax, New Zealand Flax, and 

 from the species of Yucca, Adam's Needle (fig. 234). Dracaena Draco, 

 and other species, yield an astringent resin called Dragon's-blood. 

 The Dracaenas often branch in a dichotomous manner, and attain a 

 large size. The Grass-tree of New South Wales, Xanthorrhcea hastilis, 

 gives a peculiar feature to the vegetation of that country. It yields a 

 yellow gum-like substance. The base of the inner leaves of some 

 Grass-trees is used as food. Some of the Lilies have bulbils or bulb- 

 lets in the axils of their leaves (fig. 213). In the Crown-Imperial there 

 is a nectariferous depression in the base of the segments of the perianth 

 (fig. 302). Lilium chalcedonicum is said to be the Lilies of the field, 

 Tee, x^lvct rov dy^ov, mentioned in Scripture. Hyacinthus orientalis is 

 the common cultivated Hyacinth, of which the Haarlem florists had at 

 one tune upwards of 2000 varieties. The mania for Tulip bulbs was 

 at one tune carried to a great extent, and the price given for approved 

 kinds was enormous. Many hundred varieties of tulips are known. 

 1077. Order 196. nielamhacere, the Colchicum Family. (Mono- 



