90 FUMARIACE^E. 



petals 4, slightly coherent, the two outer equally spurred, the spurs short, 

 rounded, obtuse, slightly incurved, giving the whole a somewhat heart- 

 shaped outline ; inner petals with a projecting, conspicuous crest. Stamens 

 in two sets, with filaments united. Stigmas 2 -crested and somewhat 2- 

 horned. Pod 10- to 20-seeded. 



A low, smooth, stemless perennial, whose underground shoots bear small 

 yellow tubers, resembling peas or kernels of Indian corn, whence the com- 

 mon names. Leaves all radical, 10 to 12 inches high, bi-ternate, the leaf- 

 lets deeply pinnatifid, the lobes linear-oblong, sub-glaucous. Scape 6 to 

 10 inches high, simple, smooth. Flowers 4 to 10, nodding, fragrant, 

 greenish-white tinged with rose-color, appearing in May and June. 



Habitat. In rich woods from Canada to Pennsylvania, Kentucky and 

 westward ; most common northward. 



Part Used. The rhizome not official. 



Constituents. Dicentra has a faint, peculiar odor and a characteristic 

 slightly bitter taste, which is quite persistent, and for some time greatly 

 increases the flow of saliva. It has yielded to analysis an alkaloid termed 

 corydalin, together with a peculiar acid, a volatile oil, a tasteless and an 

 acrid resin, bitter extractive, and ordinary vegetable constituents. A com- 

 mercial article, improperly termed corydalin, is considerably used by eclec- 

 tic practitioners, and is said to fairly represent the medicinal constituents 

 of the plant. It is prepared from the alcoholic tincture by precipitation, 

 and is an impure resinous substance. 



Preparations. None are official. It may be administered in infusion, 

 tincture, or extract, or in the form of the so-called corydalin. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Dicentra is said to be tonic, diuretic, and 

 alterative. As a tonic King considers its action similar to gentian and 

 Colombo, or other pure bitters ; and its alterative properties " in syphilis, 

 especially in the constitutional form, when occurring in debilitated or 

 broken-down constitutions . . . not equalled by any other agent." 

 Not, however, because "it exerts any real influence as an antisyphilitic, 

 properly so called," but simply in the office of an alterative tonic. Though 

 the evidence in favor of its efficacy as a remedy must necessarily be col- 

 lected chiefly from eclectic sources, there is enough of it to justify the 

 conclusion that dicentra is not inert, but, on the contrary, is worthy of 

 more careful examination than it has hitherto received. 



FUMARIA. FUMITORY. 



Fumaria officinalis Linne". Common Fumitory. 



Description. Calyx : sepals 2, ovate-lanceolate, acute, sharply toothec , 

 shorter than the corolla, caducous. Corolla : petals 4, the upper one ol 

 the outer pair spurred at the base, the lateral pair cohering at their tips 

 and forming a quadrangular mouth. Stamens 6, in two sets of three each. 



