128 



A R U 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



A R U 



stomach, and tends to produce costiveness. The leaves are 

 extremely soft, glaucous, and covered with a very fine silky 

 nap, and are used by the natives instead of dishes : see the 

 ninth species. 



12. Arum Macrorhizon; Long-rooted Arum. Leaves pel- 

 tate, cordate, repand, two-parted at the base. This species 

 is distinguished by its great size. It is a native of China and 

 Cochin-china, the East Indies, Ceylon, and the islands of 

 the Southern Ocean ; and, as well as the foregoing species, 

 is eaten by the natives, after the roots are deprived of their 

 acrimony by dressing : see the ninth species. 



13. Arum Peregrinum. Leaves cordate, obtuse, mucro- 

 nate; angles rounded. Native of America: see the 9th species. 



14. Arum Divaricatum. Leaves cordate, hastate, divari- 

 cate. Native of Malabar and Ceylon : see the 9th species. 



15. Arum Trilobatum ; Three-lobed Arum. Leaves sagit- 

 tate-trilobate ; flower sessile, fetid like carrion. Native of 

 Ceylon, Amboyna, Japan, and Cochin-china. It flowers here 

 in May and June, and is propagated by offsets, which come 

 out in abundance when the plants are in health. They are 

 very impatient of cold, and must be placed in the tan-bed 

 of the bark-stove. 



16. Arum Sagittzefolium ; Arrow-leaved Arum. Leaves 

 sagittate, triangular ; the angles divaricate, acute. Native 

 of the Spanish West Indies, China, and Cochin-china ; where 

 it is esteemed a wholesome green when boiled ; and where 

 the Common European vegetables are with difficulty pro- 

 cured, this proves a good succedaneum. See the ninth species. 

 In Jamaica it is called Smaller Indian Kale. 



17. Arum Maculatum ; Common Arum. Leaves hastate, 

 quite entire ; spadix club-shaped ; root whitish, tuberous, 

 about the size of a large nutmeg ; berries scarlet, in a naked 

 cluster. Native of all except the most northern parts of 

 Europe, growing in shady places, on the banks o. ditches, 

 and flowering in May. The berries ripen at the close of 

 summer. The fresh roots and leaves are extremely acrid ; on 

 first tasting them, they seem to be merely mucilaginous and 

 insipid, but they soon affect the tongue for several hours with 

 a pungency, as if it had been pricked with needles, which 

 sensation may be allayed by milk, butter, or oil. When dried, 

 they become farinaceous and insipid, in which case they might 

 be used for food in case of necessity ; and by boiling or 

 baking would probably afford a mild and wholesome nourish- 

 ment as well as those sorts which are natives of hot climates. 

 The berries are devoured by birds ; and it has been supposed 

 that they, particularly pheasants, eat the roots. These, when 

 dried and powdered, are used by the French as a wash for 

 the skin, and sell under the nameof cypress powder, at a high 

 price, being an excellent and innocent cosmetic. Starch may 

 also be made from them, but the hands are liable to be blis- 

 tered in using it. They have occasionally been substituted 

 for soap. When newly dried and powdered, the root has 

 been given as a stimulant, in doses of a scruple and upwards ; 

 but in being reduced to powder, it loses much of its acrimony ; 

 and there is reason to suppose, that the compound powder, 

 which takes its name from this plant, owes its \irtues chiefly 

 to the other ingredients. The pulvis art tampoiitus, or 

 powder composed of Arum, is therefore discarded from the 

 London dispensatory, and instead of it a conserve is inserted, 

 made by beating half a pound of fresh root with a pound and 

 half of fine sugar. In the medicine recommended by Syden- 

 ham against rheumatisms, the acrid antiscorbutic herbs are 

 largely joined with it. Dr. Lewis orders the fresh root to be 

 beaten with a little testaceous powder, and mixed with an 

 equal quantity of gum-arabic, and three or four times as much 

 conserve, and thus to be made up into an electuary ; or else 



to be rubbed with a thick mucilage of gum-arabic and sper- 

 maceti, adding any watery liquor, and a little syrup, to form 

 an emulsion ; two parts of the root, two of gum, and one of 

 spermaceti. In these forms he has given the fresh root from 

 ten grains to upwards of a scruple, three or four times a day : 

 it generally occasioned a sensation of slight warmth,first about 

 the stomach, and afterwards in the remoter parts ; manifestly 

 promoted perspiration, and frequently produced a plentiful 

 sweat : several obstinate rheumatic pains were removed by 

 this medicine, which he therefore recommends to further 

 trial. Chewed in the mouth, it has been known to restore the 

 speech in paralytic cases ; and made into a conserve, it is ef- 

 ficacious in the scurvy and rheumatism ; it likewises increases 

 the urinary secretion, and is good in the gravel. But in 

 whatever form it is used, the roots should be fresh, for it 

 loses the greatest part of its efficacy in drying, and becomes 

 insipid. Both this and the large Italian variety propagate 

 very fast by offsets from the root, and will thrive in any soil 

 or situation. The best time to transplant these, is soon after 

 the seeds are ripe, for by the end of October they will be 

 putting out new fibres. There are also two other varieties. 



18. Arum Virginicum ; Virginian Arum. Leaves hastate, 

 cordate, acute ; angles obtuse. Grows wild in wet places 

 in Virginia, Carolina, Pennsylvania, &c. The savages boil 

 the spadix with the berries, and devour it as a great dainty. 

 The berries, when raw, have a harsh pungent taste, which 

 they lose in a great measure by boiling. 



19. Arum Probocideum ; Apennine Arum. Leaves has- 

 tate ; spathe declinate, filiform-subulate. Native of the 

 Apennines. This and the two following species flower in 

 April, and multiply fast by offsets in a shady situation, but 

 seldom produce seeds in England. 



20. Arum Arisarum ; Broad-leaved Hooded Arum, or 

 Friar' s-cowl. Leaves cordate, oblong ; aperture of the spathe 

 ovate. Native of woods in the south of France, Italy, Spain. 

 Portugal, and Cochin-china : see the nineteenth species. 



21. Arum Pictum ; Painted Arum. Leaves cordate, 

 painted with coloured veins. See the nineteenth species. 



22. Arum Ovatum. Leaves ovate-oblong ; spathe sca- 

 brous. Native of the East Indies. 



23. Arum Tenuifolium ; Grass-leaved Arum, or Narrow- 

 leaved Friar' s-cowl. Leaves lanceolate ; spadix bristle-shaped, 

 declinate. It grows naturally about Rome, Montpellier, and 

 in Dalmat ia and the Levant. 



24. Arum Cannaefolium. Leaves simple, lanceolate, vein- 

 less ; parasitical upon trees. Native of Surinam. 



*** Caulescent. 



25. Arum Arborescens ; Tree Arum. Straight : leaves 

 sagittate. Native of South America. This, and the four 

 following species of this genus, are propagated by cutting off 

 the stalks into lengths of three or four joints, which must In- 

 laid to dry for six weeks or two mouths ; for if the wounded 

 part be not perfectly healed over before the cuttings arc 

 planted, they will rot and decay. Plant them in small pots 

 of light, sandy earth, plunged into a moderate hot-bed of tan, 

 taking care that they have little wet, until well rooted, ami 

 then some of them may be placed in a dry-stove, and others 

 plunged into the tan-bed in the bark-stove, where they will 

 grow fastest and flower most. 



26. Arum Seguinum ; Dumb-cane Arum. Nearly upright ; 

 leaves lanceolate, ovate. This .iporics grows naturally in 

 the sugar islands and other warm parts of America, chiefly 

 in the low grounds. The whole plant abounds in an acrid 

 juice, so that if a leaf or a part of the stalk be broken, 

 and applied to the tip of the tongue, it occasions a very 

 painful sensation, and such an irritation of the salivary ducts, 



