206 SCROPIIULARIACE^E. 



entire. Capsule compressed, often obcordate, 2-celled, few- or many- 

 seeded. 



Herbs, rarely shrubs, with opposite or whorled leaves. Flowers soli- 

 tary, axillary, or in racemes, blue, flesh-colored, or white. 



Veronica Virginica Linn 6 (Leptandra Virginica Nuttall). Culver 's- 

 fioot, Cu I r,r #-Physic. 



Description. Tube of the corolla longer than its limb, and much longer 

 than the calyx. Both calyx and corolla sometimes 5-parted. Pod oblong- 

 ovate, not notched, opening by 4 teeth at the summit, many-seeded. 



A perennial herb. Stem simple, erect, smooth, 2 to 5 feet high. Leaves 

 in whorls of 4 to 7, lanceolate, pointed, finely serrate. Flowers white, in 

 dense terminal spicate panicled racemes, appearing in July and August. 



Habitat In rich, open woods, from Vermont to Wisconsin and south- 

 ward. 



Part Used. The rhizome and rootlets Official name : Leptandra 

 United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Veronica officinalis Linne. Common Speedwell. 



Description. Corolla with a very short tube, the limb rotate, the lower 

 segment narrowest. Capsule obovate or obcordate, many-seeded. 



A low perennial. Stem perennial at the base, much branched, creeping 

 and rooting at the nodes. Leaves opposite, short petioled, obovate-elliptical 

 or wedge-oblong, serrate, hairy. Flowers in axillary racemes, nearly ses- 

 sile, rather small, pale blue, rarely flesh-colored, appearing in midsummer. 



Habitat. On dry hills and in open woods ; common both in this coun- 

 try and in Europe and Asia. 



Part Used. The herb not official. 



These two species of veronica, differing very widely in habit, represent 

 the medicinal characters of the genus. V. virginica stands, as it were, 

 alone, all other species resembling each other to a greater or less extent. 



Constituents. Leptandra contains, in addition to the ordinary constitu- 

 ents of plants, a peculiar crystalline principle, leptandrin, having the bitter 

 and nauseous taste of the crude drug. Speedwell also contains a bitter 

 principle, but whether similar to, or identical with that of leptandra has 

 not been determined. 



Preparations. Of leptandra : Extractum leptandrce extract of lep- 

 tandra ; extractum leptandrse fluidum fluid extract of leptandra. 

 United States Pharmacopoeia. There is also a commercial preparation, er- 

 roneously called leptandrin, prepared by precipitation from the alcoholic 

 tincture. Speedwell is commonly administered in infusion or decoction. 



Medical Properties and Uses. When fresh, leptandra acts as a violent 

 emeto-cathartic, too violent, indeed, to be used with safety. When dried, 

 its drastir. properties are much modified, and in this condition it is said to 

 be laxative and cholagogue. It is used in disorders of the digestive sys- 

 tem, especially when accompanied by hepatic torpor. 



