144 



AST 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



AST 



round, rather bowed, smooth ; root very large, woody, sweet. 

 The raceme contains nearly thirty purple flowers. Native 

 of the south of France, the lower Valais, and the Grisons. 



41. Astragalus Incanus. Scapes declining ; leaflets to- 

 mentose ; legumes subulate, rather bowed, hoary, incurved 

 at top j root perennial.' Native of the south of France. 



42. Astragalus Campestris ; Field Milk Vetch. Calices 

 and legume villose ; leaflets lanceolate, acute ; scape de- 

 cumbent, bearing ten or twelve flowers in a loose raceme ; co- 

 rollas pale yellow. Native of Switzerland and Germany. 



43. Astragalus Depressus ; Dwarf White-flowered Milk 

 Vetch. Scapes shorter than the leaf; legumes nodding; 

 leaflets subemarginate, naked ; corollas small, white ; keel 

 purple at the tip. Native place unknown. ' 



44. Astragalus Uncatus. Scapeless : legumes subulate, 

 hooked, longer than the leaf; leaflets obcordate. It flowers 

 in July and August, and the seeds ripen in autumn, and is 

 found growing naturally in the neighbourhood of Aleppo. 



45. Astragalus Exscapus ; Hairy podded Milk Vetch. 

 Scapeless : legumes woolly ; leaves villose; flowers nume- 

 rous, radical, subsessile, first pale and afterwards full yel- 

 low. Native of Hungary. This plant has been much 

 celebrated as a remedy in syphilitic complaints ; the root 

 is employed in decoction, half an ounce to a pint of water, 

 to be taken warm night and morning, 



**** Stem wooihf. 



46. Astragalus Tragoides. Nearly steuiless ; flowers 

 radical, numerous, subsessile ; corollas yellow. Native of 

 Switzerland, Siberia, and Armenia. 



47. Astragalus Tragacantha ; Goat's Thorn. Trunk arbo- 

 rescent ; petioles becoming spinescent ; root large, woody, 

 and branching ; corollas long, stiff, of a pale violet colour. 

 Native of Switzerland, Mount JEtna, Mount Olympas, and 

 of the sea-shore near Marseilles. Mr. Miller decribes four 

 varieties of this species. From this plant is gathered the 

 gum called gum-tragacanth, so much used in various prepa- 

 rations of the materia meclica. It differs from all other known 

 gums, in giving a thick consistence to a much larger quan- 

 tity of water, and in being difficultly soluble, or dissolving 

 only imperfectly. When put into water, it imbibes slowly 

 a great quantity of the fluid, swells into a large volume, and 

 forms a soft but not fluid mucilage. The demulcent quali- 

 ties of this gum are to be considered as similar to those of 

 gum-arabic. It is seldom given alone, but frequently in 

 combination with more powerful medicines, especially in the 

 form of troches, for which it is peculiarly well adapted. It 

 may be propagated by seeds, if they can be procured from 

 abroad, in the same manner with the others. They should be 

 carefully taken up when large enough to transplant, and 

 some of them reset in small pots filled with fresh earth, placed 

 in the shade till they have taken root ; after which they 

 may be removed into an open situation, where they may 

 remain till the end of October, when they should be placed 

 under a common frame, to shelter them from severe frosts, 

 ami allow them free air in mild weather. The remain;!.';- .>f 

 the plants may be sot on a warm dry border. The plants in 

 pots may be preserved a y ear or two under traiv.es in winter, 

 and then being taken out of the pots, may be planted in a 

 lean dry soil and warm situation. These plants may also be 

 fucreased l>y slips ; and as they rarely province seeds in this 

 country, the latter method is generally used here. The best 

 time for this work is in April, just as the plants begin to 



shoot, at which time the tender branches should be slipped 

 off, and theftr lower pans divested of the decayed leaves ; 

 then they should be placed on a very moderate hot-bed, 

 which must be covered with mats, to screen them from 



the heat of the sun by day, and the cold by night. These 

 slips should be frequently but gently watered, until they 

 have taken root ; after which they may be exposed to the 

 open air, and in very dry weather they must be refreshed 

 with -water. On this bed they may remain until the fol- 

 lowing spring, being covered with mats in very severe 

 weather. In April they may be transplanted, either into 

 pots filled with light sandy earth, or into warm borders, 

 where, if the soil be dry, gravelly, and poor, they will endure 

 almost the severest cold of our climate ; but if planted in a 

 very rich soil, will often decay in winter. 



48. Astragalus Foetidus. Stemless : leaves prostrate, 

 viscid, sharply linear ; scapes erect, with few yellow flow- 

 ers. Native of Dauphiny and of Mount Cenis. 



49. Astragalus Halleri. Scapes leafless ; leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, smooth ; legumes inflated, hirsute, erect. Na- 

 tive of the mountains of the Valais, and of Piedmont. 



50. Astragalus Vulneraroides. Stemless, hirsute : scapes 

 longer than the leaves ; legumes inflated, ovate, in heads. 

 Native of Mount Cenis. 



51. Astragalus Tenuifolius ; Upright Milk Vetch* Cau- 

 lescent, erect : spikes peduncled ; banner twice as long as 

 the wings ; leaflets linear. Flowers in July and August ; 

 a native of Siberia. 



52. Astragalus Virescens; Green-cowered MM Vntr/t. 

 Caulescent, erect ; legumes bent back ; peduncles many- 

 flowered, longer than the leaf; leaflets lanceolate, acute. 

 It flowers in June, and is a native of Siberia. 



53. Astragalus Garbancillo. Stem shrubby, upright ; 

 pinnules ovate-oblong, somewhat tonu-ntose ; peduncle na- 

 ked, elongated ; spikes of flowers pale violet-coloured. It 

 is reported to be very hurtful to cattle. Native of Peru. 



54. Astragalus Hispidus. Caulescent, procumbent : leaf- 

 lets and legumes ovate-oblong, hispid; flowers an spikes, 

 yellow ; corollas shorter than the calix ; seeds very few, 

 kidney-shaped. Native of Mount Libanus. 



55. Astragalus Emarginatus. Almost Stemless ; scapes 

 very long ; heads globose; legumes woolly; flowers in u 

 globose head, purplish ; seeds very few, nearly kidney- 

 shaped. Native of Mount Libanus. 



56. Astragalus Lanatus. Stemless, with a naked scapo, 

 the length of the leaves : legumes in close spikes, woolly, 

 half cordate, three-sided, subulate ; leaves villose ; flowers 

 in a close spike, yellow ; seeds few, kidney-shaped. Na- 

 tive of Mount Libanus. 



57. Astragalus Leucophieus. Caulescent, procumbent : 

 legumes subcylindric, str.iight, smooth ; leaflets obcor- 

 date, villose underneath. Native country unknown. 



58. Astragalus Deflexus. Subcaulescent, prostrate : 

 scapes twice as long as the leaf; leerumes gaping; le 

 pectinate, right-angled. Native of the loftiest mountains 

 of Siberia. 



59. Astragalus Unifultus. Suffruticose, procumbent : 

 stipules solitary, stem-clasping, opposite to the leuM'-. 

 bifid. Native of Peru. 



60. Astragalus Varius. Caulescent, fruticulose, upright : 

 flowers in lose spikes ; legumes linear ; stipules fnliginose 

 downwards. This is a hoary little shrub, about a cubit 

 high, with flowers subsessile, purple, with linear, acute, 

 villose bractes ; stem upright, round, branched from the 

 base. Native of Siberia. 



(il. Astragalus Aristatus. Suffruticose, prostrate ; leaves 

 hairy ; petioles spinescent ; calires awned ; flowers purple. 

 Nati\e of Switzerland and Provence. 



62. Astragalus Pugnifonnis. Shrubby, proc uinbeat : 

 heads stein-clasping, touientose ; petioles ,uid leaves pun- 



