POLYGALEJE. I. POLYGALA. 



359 



cose, crowded, puberulous ; leaves usually obovate, mucronate, 

 full of small pellucid dots ; racemes capitate, dense ; wings ob- 

 long-elliptical, rather narrow, acute, longer than the keel ; seeds 

 oblong-cylindrical, villous. Tj . S. Native of Brazil in the pro- 

 vince of Rio Grande do Sul, among rocks. Flowers white. 

 06oy<z<e-leaved Milkwort. Fl. Oct. Feb. Shrub \ foot. 



160 P. CNEO'RUM (St. Hil. fl. bras. 2. p. 38.) stems suffruti- 

 cose, ascending ; leaves very numerous, narrow-linear, tapering 

 to the base, mucronulate at the top, full of minute pellucid dots ; 

 racemes capitate, dense; wings ovate-lanceolate, mucronulate, 

 about equal in length to the keel ; seeds cylindrical, pubescent. 

 Tj . S. Native of Brazil in the province of Minas Geraes. 



Cneorum-like Milkwort. Fl. March. Shrub foot. 



161 P. BRYOIDES (St. Hil. fl. bras. 2. p. 39.) stem suffruti- 

 cose, crowded, dichotomous at the apex, puberulous, clammy ; 

 leaves small, very numerous, narrow, linear, acute, falcate, rather 

 fleshy, full of pellucid dots ; wings lanceolate, narrow, acute, 

 rather glandular, hardly longer than the keel ; seeds clavate- 

 cylindrical, villous. Pj . S. Native of Brazil in the province 

 of Minas Geraes in sandy places. Habit of Erica. Flowers 

 white, tinged with red. 



Var, ft, pygma:a(St. Hil. 1. c.) stem 2 inches ; leaves broader, 

 less fleshy, lower ones rather obovate. Near Barbacena. 

 Bryum-like Milkwort. Fl. Sep. Dec. Shrub -J foot. 



162 P. PSEUDOERI'CA (St. Hil. fl. bras. 2. p. 40. t. 87.) stem 

 suffruticose, dichotomous ; branchlets pubescent ; leaves very 

 numerous, spreading, narrow linear, acute, full of pellucid dots ; 

 racemes small, terminal and lateral, spike-formed ; wings ellip- 

 tical, obtuse, glandular in the middle, rather longer than the 

 keel ; seeds oblong, a little incurved, villous. Tj . S. Native 

 of Brazil in the province of Minas Geraes. Flowers yellow, 

 tinged with purple. 



False-heath Milkwort. Fl. Sept. Shrub | foot. 



163 P. DENSIFOLIA (St. Hil. fl. bras. 2. p. 41.) stem sub- 

 herbaceous, erect, rather twiggy ; branches umbellate, usually 

 di-trichotomous ; leaves very numerous, imbricated, linear, acute, 

 full of pellucid dots ; racemes spike-formed, rather pyramidal ; 

 wings elliptical, obtuse, mucronate, longer than the keel ; seeds 

 oblong, villous. O- I/ . S. Native of Brazil on hills in the 

 eastern part of the province of Cis Platine. Flowers yellowish. 



Var, ft, grandiflbra (St. Hil. 1. c.) stems thicker ; leaves 

 longer, broader ; flowers larger, greenish-white. In Minas 

 Geraes. 



Var. y, minor (St. Hil. 1. c.) stem much smaller, quadrangular, 

 twiggy ; leaves stiffer and broader ; spikes much shorter. In 

 Minas Geraes. 



Dense-leaved Milkwort. Fl. Nov. Jan. PI. 1 to 2 feet. 



f Species not sufficiently known, but evidently belonging to section 

 Timoutou, 



164 P. SULCA'TA (Willd. spec. 3. p. 878.) flowers crested; 

 racemes terminal on peduncles ; stems erect, furrowed, branched 

 at the top; leaves linear, pressed to the stem. O- S. Native 

 of Brazil at Monte Video. Very like P. paniculata. Flowers 

 violaceous. 



Furroivcd-stemmeU Milkwort. Fl. July, Aug. PI. 1 foot. 



165 P. TENE'LLA (Willd. spec. 3. p. 878.) flowers crested ; 

 racemes terminal, on very long peduncles ; stem erect, branched 

 at the top ; leaves linear-ovate, mucronate. S. Native of 

 Panama. Like P. paniculata. Flowers small, flesh-coloured. 



Pliant Milkwort. Fl. July, Aug. PI. 1| foot. 



166 P. BRAZILIE'NSIS (Lin. mant. 99.) flowers crested, some- 

 what spiked ; stems prostrate, very simple ; leaves lanceolate. 

 Native in Brazil. Flowers white. 



Brazilian Milkwort. PI. prostrate. 



167 P. GUINEE'NSIS (Willd. spec. 3. p. 882.) flowers crested, 

 nodding ; racemes axillary, second ; leaves filiform ; stem 

 branched, herbaceous. Native of Guinea. 



Guinea Milkwort. Fl. April, June. PI. - foot. 



SECT. VI. SE'NEOA (by mistake supposed to have first come 

 from Senegal.) D. C. prod. 1. p. 330. Keel of flower beardless. 

 Three outer sepals of calyx nearly equal. Leaves alternate. Ame- 

 rican herbs. The character given by M. Auguste St. Hilaire to 

 this section is as follows. Style simple or 2-lobed ; superior lobe 

 longest. Caruncle of seed helmet-formed, usually with one 

 appendage. 



168 P. SE'NEGA (Lin. spec. 990.) stems many, rather erect, 

 simple, terete ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, upper ones acuminated ; 

 racemes somewhat spike-formed ; wings of calyx orbicular ; 

 capsules elliptical, emarginate. If. . F. Native of North Ame- 

 rica on the sides of hills and in dry woods from Carolina to Geor- 

 gia. Woodv. med. bot. 3. t. 93. Sims, bot. mag. t. 1051. Flowers 

 small, red. This is the famous Senega or Snake-root, formerly 

 so celebrated for the bite of rattle-snakes, but other more effi- 

 cacious remedies have supplanted it, as Prenanthes and Liatris. 



This plant has a branched woody contorted root, about half 

 an inch thick, and covered with an ash-coloured bark, whence it 

 is supposed to resemble the tail of the rattle-snake. It is 

 inodorous ; the taste is at first sweetish and nauseous, but after 

 being chewed for less than a minute, becomes pungent and hot, 

 producing a singular sensation in the fauces. Medically it is 

 considered stimulating, expectorant, and diuretic, and in large 

 doses emetic and cathartic; it increases absorption and the 

 force of circulation, and consequently augments the natural 

 excretions, and frequently occasions a copious ptyalism. It 

 was introduced to the notice of physicians by Dr. Tennant, 

 who having discovered that it was an antidote employed 

 internally as well as applied externally to the wounds by 

 the Senegaro Indians against the bite of the rattle-snake, 

 and reasoning from the effects of the poison, and of the re- 

 medy in removing these, was induced to try it in pneumonic 

 affections, and found it to afford very marked relief by promot- 

 ing expectoration even in far advanced stages of inflammation, 

 but it is apt to disorder the stomach and induce diarrhrea. On 

 account of its stimulating and diaphoritic properties, however, 

 it can be employed in these complaints only after the resolu- 

 tion of the inflammation by bleeding and evacuations. It proves 

 more directly useful in humoral asthma, chronic catarrh, chronic 

 rheumatism, and some kinds of dropsy. (Thorns, lond. dispens. 

 p. 450.) In consequence of its well-ascertained power of excit- 

 ing salivation, it has been introduced as a remedy in croup 

 by Dr. Archer of Maryland ; he gives two tea-spoonsful of a 

 strong decoction of the root twice in an hour, according to the 

 urgency of the symptoms, until it acts as an emetic or cathartic. 

 Dr. Brandreth of Liverpool derived great benefit in some cases 

 of lethargy from an extract of seneka combined with carbonate 

 of ammonia. 



A peculiar principle has lately been discovered in the root of 

 this plant by Gehlen, to which he has given the name of senegin. 

 It is a brown substance, and excites violent sneezing like tobacco. 

 The powder of the root is given in doses from 20 to 30 grains. 

 The decoction is made from one ounce of the root to two 

 pints of water, boiled down to one pint and strained ; this is 

 given in doses of three ounces three or four times a-day. 



Senega, Seneka, or Snake-root Milkwort. Fl. July, Aug. Clt. 

 1739. PI. | foot. 



169 P. POLY'GAMA (Walt. fl. carol. 179.) stems many, simple, 

 erect and procumbent ; leaves oblong, acute or linear-lanceo- 



