ISO 



ASA 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



ASA 



one-flowered, smooth ; corollas woolly ; culm erect, 3 or 4 feet 

 high; root perennial, creeping. Native of most parts of Eu- 

 rope, in moist woods and hedges ; flowering in June and July. 



6. Arundo Arenaria ; Sea Reedgrass. Calices one-flowered ; 

 leaves rolled inwards, dagger-pointed, and pungent. A 

 native of sandy coasts in Europe and America ; flowering in 

 June and July. By means of its creeping roots it helps very 

 much to consolidate driving sands, which gather about it in 

 hills or banks, and are thus prevented from dispersing over 

 and impoverishing the adjoining fields. The Dutch have 

 profited by their knowledge of this fact ; and Mr. Woodward 

 informs us, that it is planted about Wells in Norfolk, to aid in 

 repelling the sea. The country people know it by the name 

 of Sea Matweed, Maram, and Helme. They cut '<! bleach 

 it for making mats,- and where it is plentiful, houses are 

 thatched with it. 



7. Arundo Colorata ; Canary Reedgrats- Calices one- 

 flowered, keeled ; corollas smooth with two lanuginose pen- 

 cils at the base ; leaves flat. This is a native of Europe, on 

 the banks of rivers and ditches ; flowering in July and Au- 

 gust. It is used to thatch ricks and cottages, for which 

 purjMJse it is more durable than straw. In the province of 

 Scania, they mow it twice a year, and their cattle eat it. 

 The texture is so hard that it must be cut young, if cattle be 

 expected to touch it. There is a cultivated variety of this 

 Grass in our gardens, with beautifully striped leaves. The 

 stripes are generally green and white ; but sometimes they 

 have a purplish cast. This is called Ladies Laces, Painted 

 Grass, or Riband Grass. 



8. Arundo Conspicua. Calices one-flowered ; panicle 

 loose, form erect spreading ; awn of the outer petal reflex, 

 and very long. Native of New Zealand. 



9. Arundo Agrestis. Flowers six stamined ; panicle spiked ; 

 spikelets heaped ; lower branches of the culm very spiky ; 

 calices one-flowered, thirty feet high. Native of mountains 

 and dry desert places in Cochin-china. 



10. Arundo Mitis. Flowers six-stamined ; panicle erect, 

 contracted; spikes 1'jng, imbricate; culm very even, unarmed; 

 calices one-flowered. Higher and thicker than the Agrestis. 

 It is cultivated in the fields and hedges of Cochin-china; and 

 being divided into long thin pieces, is used for weaving into 

 hats, coffers, baskets, and a variety of very elegant utensils. 



11. Arundo Multiplex. Flowers six-stamined; spikes 

 interrupted ; spikelets in whorls ; culm divided ; calices one- 

 flowered. Twelve feet high. Used in the cultivated parts of 

 the northern provinces of Cochin-china, where it is used as 

 fence-work or hedges to separate gardens. 



12. Arundo Bengalensis. Calices two-flowered ; panicle 

 erect, with three-flowered pedicles. Native of Bengal. 



18. Arundo Piscatoria. Calices one-flowered; spike 

 terminating; culm branched; leaves minute. Native of 

 Cochin-china : being very tough, and tapering towards the 

 end, it is very fit for fishing-rods. 



14. Arundo Dioica. Calices one-flowered ; spikes in bun- 

 dles, compound ; spikelets linear. Native of woods in Co- 

 chin-china. 



Asarabacca. See Asarum. 



Asarina; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Monandria, 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Jiowers. Calix .- ament 

 filiform; floscules scattered, sessile; perianth a very short 

 scale. Corolla: none. Stamina: fiiamenta single, very 

 short; anthera oblong, from spreading recurve, four-fur- 

 rowed, large. Female flowers, in a different plant. Calix : 

 as in the male. Corolla : none. Pistil : geruien globose ; 

 style none; stigma flat, three-lobed, growing to the germen. 

 Pericarp: drupe. Seeds; single. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 



Calix: ament, filiform. Corolla: none. Male, anthera 



worm-shaped. Female, style none ; stigma three-lobcd. 



One species only has been hitherto discovered, viz. 



1. Asarina Polystachya/ A native of the Society Isles, in 

 the South Sea. 



Asarum ; a genus of the class Dodecandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed , 

 bell-shaped, three or four cleft, coriaceous, coloured, j>er- 

 manent ; clefts erect, bent in at the top. Corolla : none. 

 Stamina : fiiamenta twelve, subulate, half the length of the 

 calix ; nnihers oblong, fastened to the middle partition of the 

 fiiamenta. Pistil : germen inferior, or concealed within the 

 substance of the calix; stylecylindric, the length of the stami- 

 na; stigma stellate, six-parted; parts reflex. Pericarp .- capsule 

 coriaceous, within the substance of the calix, mostly six-cell- 

 ed. Seeds: several, ovate. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix .- 

 three or four cleft, placed on the germen. Corolla .- none. 

 Capsule : coriaceous, crowned. Stigma .- six-cleft. These 

 plants delight in a moist shady situation, and may be increased 

 by parting the roots in autumn. The species are, 



1. Asarum Europeum ; Common Asarabacca. Leaves 

 kidney-shaped, blunt, in pairs ; root perennial, creeping ; 

 stems short, simple, round, pubescent, one-flowered ; flowers 

 terminal, pitcher-shaped, of a dark purple colour, villose. A 

 native of many parts of Europe, in woods and shady places ; 

 flowering in April and May. With us it has been found only 

 in Lancashire. The root powdered, and taken to the amount 

 of thirty or forty grains, excites vomiting; and when coarsely 

 powdered, it generally purges. The powder of the leaves is 

 the basis of most cephalic snuffs. An infusion of one or two 

 drachms of the leaves vomits. Allioni gives a particular 

 account of the qualities of Asarabacca, and seems to have a 

 high opinion of it, especially in obstinate intermittents, and 

 above all in the quartan ague. Others entirely reject it, as 

 too acrid when fresh, and too insipid when dry. The Pulrix 

 Asari Compositus, or Powder of Asarabacca, is composed 

 of equal quantities of the dried leaves of Asarum Marjorum, 

 and Marum, and of the dried flowers of Lavender. The pow- 

 dered root, taken to the amount of thirty or forty grains, is 

 a rough emetic ; and the leaves powdered, and snuffed up 

 the nose, occasion a considerable discharge of mucus from 

 the head without exciting much sneezing. The salutary- 

 discharge occasioned by snuffing; a grain or two of this pow- 

 der up the nose, will sometimes continue for two or three 

 days together ; by which head-ache, tooth-ache, ophthalmia , 

 and some paralytic and soporific complaints, have been effec- 

 tually relieved ; a single dose has been known to remove a 

 palsy of the mouth and tongue. It is an excellent medicine 

 in soporific distempers, and those disorders of the head 

 which proceed from a redundancy of viscid matter ; but tilt- 

 patient should carefully avoid cold during the operation, as 

 it might subject him to inflammations of the face, and other 

 alarming consequences. The dried roots or leaves, accord- 

 ing to Meyrick, taken in large doses, vomit and purge vio- 

 lently, but in smaller doses they operate safely and effectu- 

 ally by urine, and arc of great efficacy in obstructions of 

 the menses, the jaundice, and the dropsy. 



2. Asarum Canadense ; Canadian Asarabacca. Lea\ e- 

 kidney-shaped, mucronate. Native of Canada ; flowering 

 from April to July. Too much wet in winter will cause 

 this species to rot. 



3. Asarum Virginicum ; Sweet-scented Asarabacca. I^eaves 

 heart-shaped, blunt, smooth, ]>etioled. This seldom thrives 

 well if it be too much exposed to the. sun in summer, and 

 should be planted so as to have only the morning sun. Na- 

 tive of North America. 



