CON 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



CON 



351 



plants by twisting round them ; leaves alternate, hastate, 

 smooth, running out into two points behind ; corolla elegautly 

 variegated with red and white, sometimes wholly white; seeds 

 angular and brown. This plant is the pest of gardens and 

 arable land, and is more destructive than the second species, 

 because that keeps to the hedges for the sake of climbing, 

 whereas this wanders over whole fields, and cannot be rooted 

 out, except by repeated ploughings in dry weather, every 

 atom of which will grow as well as quick grass, its rival in 

 Creeping. Mr. Miller says, it is generally a sign of gravel 

 lying under the surface, and that the roots run very deep into 

 the ground, whence some country j>eopie call it dezil's guts. 

 It is called corn-bind in Yorkshire, in other parts with-bind, 

 , bind-weed, hare-bind, and Itedge-Mls. The blossoms give a 

 deep yellow or orange tincture to water, which is heightened 

 by nlum and alkalies. The root of this plant, says Meyrick, 

 is a rough purgative, and, to such constitutions as can bear 

 the operation, will prove serviceable in the jaundice, drop- 

 sies, and other disorders arising from obstructions of the 

 viscera. The best method of administering it is to bruise the 

 roots, and give their expressed juice in strong beer. It is 

 remarkable, that hogs devour the roots of this ami the next 

 species in large quantities, without tiny visible effect. The 

 best way to destroy this and the second species is, according 

 to Mr. Curtis, to plough them up repeatedly in dry weather, 

 and then pick out the roots and burn them. He declares, 

 that the more he cut and hoed them, the more they spread 

 and grew ; although Mr. Miller observes, that in an open 

 clear spot of ground, where the plants are carefully hoed 

 down for three or four months, they may be effectually de- 

 stroyed ; for when the stalks are broken or cut, a milky juice 

 flows out, and the roots, being thereby exhausted, soon decay. 

 ". Convolvulus Sepium ; Great or Hedge Bind-weed. 

 Leaves sagittate, truncate behind ; peduncles four-cornered, 

 one-flowered, -with heart-shaped bractes close to the flower. 

 Root perennial, white, the thickness of a goose-quill, creep- 

 ing, and propagating itself exceedingly, so as not to be de- 

 stroyed without great difficulty ; corolla large, and white. 

 It flowers in hedges, from July to September. The inspissated 

 juice of this plant, taken in doses of twenty and thirty grains, 

 is a powerful drastic purge. Can it then be worth while, 

 says Dr. Withering, to import Scammony from Aleppo, when 

 a medicine with the very same properties, grows sponta- 

 neously in many of our hedges ? The smallness of the roots, 

 however, in our common Bindweed, would prevent its juice 

 from being collected in the same manner with that which 

 flows on incision from the large root of the Scammony, and 

 which by hardening forms that purgative substance. The 

 country people in Northamptonshire use the root of this 

 plant, fresh gathered, and boiled in ale, as a purge. It 

 would certainly offend a delicate stomach; but it saves the 

 expense of an apothecary, and answers the purpose better 

 than any other medicine, for persons of a strong constitu- 

 tion. See the first species. 



3. Convolvulus Scammonia; Syrian Bindweed, or Scam- 

 mony. Leaves sagittate, truncate behind ; .peduncles round, 

 bearing about three flowers; corolla pale yellow. The roots 

 are three or four feet long, and from nine to twelve .inches 

 in circumference, covered with a light-gray bark, tapering, 

 branched at bottom, and containing a milky juice. Scam- 

 mony is a gummy resin, obtaiued from the milky juice of the 

 root, by clearing away the earth from the upper part of it, 

 and cutting off the tqp in an oblique direction, about two 

 inches below where the stalks spring from it; then,under the 

 most depending part of the slope, a shell or other convenient 

 .receptacle is fixed, to receive the juice, which gradually 



becomes hard, and is the genuine Scammony. It is brought 

 from Aleppo and Smyrna, and appears to have been well 

 known to the Greek and Arabian physicians, who used it for 

 various other purposes, as well as by way of purgative. It is 

 a stimulating cathartic, but somewhat uncertain in its opera- 

 tion, and is frequently, and indeed generally, employed in 

 composition with other ingredients. The dos>e is generally 

 from three to twelve grains. Meyrick calls it a rough and 

 powerful, but very useful purgative, of great service in rheu- 

 matic and other chronical disorders, for it will reach the seat 

 of many disorders that a common purge will not affect. It 

 should however seldom be given alone, and ought never to be 

 administered to those of irritable habits, or in inflammatory 

 complaints, though even then it is no more hurtful or danger- 

 ous than other strong cathartics. Hill says, that a great 

 misfortune is, that the compositions made with Scammony 

 are never perfectly to be depended upon, because there is so 

 much difference in several parcels of Scammony, that they 

 hardly seem the same medicine, some are so very strong, and 

 some so very weak. This plant will bear the open air of our 

 climate, and will thrive well on a dry soil. Sow the seeds in 

 the spring, on a border of light earth; keep the plants clean 

 from weeds, and thin them to the distance of three feet. 

 The stalks decay in autumn, but the roots will remain many 

 years. 



4. Convolvulus Sibiricus; Siberian Bindweed. Leaves 

 cordate, acuminate, even ; peduncles one-flowered. Root 

 annual ; stem six feet high, even, two angled from the de- 

 current stipules, but not ancipital ; leaves scarcely repand, 

 quite entire, ending in a point, the length of the leaf, paler 

 underneath, and veined; corolla whitish, or having a shade 

 of flesh-colour, with a yellowish bottom. It flowers in July 

 and August; and is a native of Siberia. 



5. Convolvulus Farinosus; Mealy-stalked Bindweed. 

 Leaves cordate, acuminate, repand ; peduncles three-flower- 

 ed; stem mealy. Corolla three times the size of the ealiu, 

 somewhat flesh coloured, acute, five-cleft; stigmas oblong. 

 Perennial: flowering in May and June. Native of Madeira. 



6. Convolvulus Medium; Arrow-headed Bindweed. 

 Leaves linear, hastate- acuminate ; ears toothed ; peduncles 

 one-flowered; oalices sagittate. Stem twining, not rooting. 

 It is annual, flowers in July and August; and is a native of 

 the East Indies. This, wnd tftie tenth, thirteenth, fourteenth, 

 seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first to the 

 twenty-sixth, twenty-eighth, thirtieth, thirty-first, thirty- 

 fifth to the forty-first, fifty-seventh, fifty-eighth, sixtieth, 

 sixty-second to the seventy-first, seventy-sixth, eighty-first, 

 and from the eighty-fifth to the hundred and ninth species 

 inclusive, being natives of warm climates, chiefly of the East 

 and West Indies, are tender. When raised from the seed, they 

 must be sown on a hot-bed in the spring; and when the 

 plants are fit to remove, they must be transplanted each into 

 a separate pot filled with light earth, and plunged into a 

 moderate hot-bed, observing to shade them from the sun 

 until they have taken fresh root ; tlien they should have a 

 large share of air admitted to them every day, to prevent their 

 drawing up weak, and also moderate waterings every other 

 day. When_the plants are become too tall for the hot-bed, 

 they must be shifted into larger pots, and placed in the bark- 

 stove, where, if they be allowed room, they will flower; but 

 they rarely produce seeds in England. Many of them, there- 

 fore, are propagated by cuttings. 



7. Convolvulus Japonicus. Leaves hastate-lanceolate, 

 the side-leaves one-toothed ; peduncles one-flowered. Stein 

 filiform, simple, smooth. It flowers from May to July ; and 

 is a native of Japan, where it is ; also -cultivated 



