212 



A S C I D I A. 



ness of most of its species. The infusion of the 

 root of the Asclepias decumbent excites a general 

 perspiration without raising the heat of the body 

 iiiucli, and it is used in Virginia in cases of pleurisy 

 or inflammation of the membrane lining the chest. It 

 lias also purgative properties, and has been adminis- 

 tered in dysentery. 



ASCLEPIADE.<B. a, flower ; b, vertical section of the same 

 magnified; c, fruit ; rf, horizontal section of the same; e, 

 apparatus of the pollen; /, seed. 



The root of Asclepias tuberosa, the butterfly-weed, 

 a plant found in the United States, is also used both 

 as a diaphoretic and purgative. The Asclepias curas- 

 saoica acts as an emetic. The root of the Asclepias 

 giganfed, or Ca/otropis mudarii, a native of Bengal, 

 when well washed and dried furnishes a substance 

 called mudar, which is a powerful sudorific, and 

 has been used, more especially by the native prac- 

 titioners in India, in cutaneous and glandular dis- 

 eases as well as in rheumatism. A peculiar prin- 

 ciple, mudarine, has been found to exist in it, which 

 differs from other known substances in gelatinising 

 by heat and becoming liquid on cooling. The Ascle- 

 pias Syriaca, Syrian dog's-bane, is poisonous to dogs, 

 and also to man. It yields a resin, and a considera- 

 ble quantity of caoutchouc. It is furnished with 

 appendages to the flower which act as fly-traps. The 

 young shoots when boiled become esculent, and 

 taste like asparagus. The application of heat in this 

 instance, as in many of the apocynese, deprives the 

 plant of its poisonous qualities. The Asclepias lacti- 

 j'era furnishes abundantly a sweet milky fluid which is 

 used as food by the Indians. The fibres of the 

 stem of the Asc/epias dcbilis are made into a sort 

 of flax, which has a rich gloss and possesses great 

 strength. 



The Cynanchum, another important genus of this 

 order, grows in northern latitudes. It is said, however, 

 to extend from 59 north latitude, to 32 south 

 latitude, a wider range than that usually enjoyed by 

 individuals of the vegetable world. The roots of 

 Cynanchum vincetojeicum, swallow-wort, tame poison, 

 have a nauseous odour and a bitter acrid taste, which 

 are lost by drying. They excite vomiting and purging. 

 The Cynanchum monspeliacwn furnishes a strong 

 purgative concrete juice, known in commerce as the 

 scammony of Montpelier ; while the Smyrna scam- 

 inony is furnished by the Periploca scammonis, 



another plant of this order. The leaves of the 

 Cynanchum oleitfoliiini, or argel, found in Nubia and 

 Egypt, are often mixed with those of senna ; they 

 possess similar properties with the latter, but are apt 

 to be too powerful and cause colic. The Cynanchum 

 ipecacuanha, a native of the Isle of France and 

 Bourbon, and called sometimes, from its properties, 

 vondtorium, has an acrid bitter root which is used as 

 a strong and active emetic. It is one of the species of 

 white ipecacuan. 



The stapelia is a peculiar and extensive genus 

 found in southern Africa. Its flowers are commonly 

 coloured, and have an offensive odour, while fleshy 

 stems supply the place of leaves. 



The Gymnema lactiferum, a plant found in Ceylon, 

 called by the natives kiriaghuna (from kiri, milk), 

 yields a nutritious milky juice, like the cow-tree of 

 the Caraccas, or the milk-tree of Demerara. 



The genus pagularia is esteemed for the fragrance 

 of its species. The young shoots of Pagularia edulia, 

 as well as those of Periploca esculenta, and Asclepias 

 aphylla, are used for food. Ceropegia is valued for 

 its singularity. Hot/a, is a climbing genus which, from 

 the clustered odoriferous waxy flowers of many of its 

 species, and the honey which they distil, must be 

 familiar to all who are in the habit of visiting green- 

 houses. 



ASCIDIA (Linnaeus, Lamarck). The body of 

 this molluscous animal is oval, conical, or cylindrical ; 

 sometimes club-shaped. It is contained in an exter- 

 nal envelope, more or less coriaceous, or subgelati- 

 nous, fixed by its enlarged or pedunculated base, and 

 posteriorly terminated by two short siphons, indistinct 

 and unequal, whose orifices are internally furnished 

 with radiated tentacula, but slightly salient. This 

 genus is divided into three : first, such as have no 

 very definite form rugose, coriaceous, and but little 

 or not at all extensible, of which the A. microsconnis 

 is an example ; the second possesses a soft skin, 

 flexible, and more or less extensible, A. intestinalis ; 

 and the third oval, regular, with a more or less elon- 

 gated peduncle, A. clavata. 



Ascidia Aust rails. 



The species of this genus amount to thirty-three, 

 according to Gmelin ; but Lamarck only enumerates 

 twenty-two. They appear to inhabit every part of 

 the ocean, but particularly the Northern Seas, where 

 they live attached to submarine bodies, frequently at 

 a great depth, it is extremely difficult to distinguish 

 their species. 



Their classification, in De Blainville's system of 

 Malacology, is setn by a reference to the article 

 ASCIDIACEA. 



