LAPPA BURDOCK. 



185 



A perennial herb, 1 to 2 feet high. Eadical leaves orbicular or round- 

 ish-ovate, mostly cordate, crenate-serrate, petiolate ; the lower cauline 

 lyrate, the upper lanceolate, cut-pinnatifid, sessile or partly clasping. 

 Heads in an umbel-like corymb, appearing in May and June. A very va- 

 riable species. 



Habitat. In swamps, marshes, and wet places ; common everywhere. 



Part Used. The entire plant not official. 



Constituents. Unknown. 



Preparations. Commonly employed in decoction. There are commer- 

 cial fluid extracts and a so-called senecin. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Said to be diaphoretic, diuretic, tonic, and 

 emmenagogue. Considerably used and praised by eclectics. 



Several other species of senecio are said to possess similar properties. 



LAPPA. BURDOCK. 



Lap pa officinal is Allioni. Burdock. 



Description. Heads many-flowered; the flowers all tubular, perfect, 

 the corolla regularly 5 -cleft, 10- 

 nerved. Involucre globular, the 

 imbricated scales coriaceous and 

 appressed at the base, subulate 

 and spreading above, tipped 

 Avi'h a hooked appendage. Ee- 

 ceptacle flat, fleshy, and some- 

 what bristly. Aclienia oblong, 

 compressed, glabrous, wrinkled 

 transversely. Pappus of numer- 

 ous short rough bristles, not 

 united at the base, deciduous. 



A coarse, ill-scented, bien- 

 nial herb, 1 to 4 feet high. 

 Lower leaves very large, cor- 

 date, slightly undulate on the 

 margins, more or less tomen- 

 tose beneath, smoother above ; 

 the upper ovate. Heads rela- 

 tively small, solitary or some- 

 what coiymbose ; flowers pur- 

 ple, varying to white, appear- 

 ing from July to autumn. FlG - 1S7 La PP a fficinaiis. 



Habitat. Introduced from Europe ; common in waste places every- 

 where. 



Parts Used. The root United States Pharmacopoeia. The seeds are 

 also employed, but are not official. 



