I 



WAKE ROBIN. DRAGON ROOT. 149 



herbaceous plants, mostly natives of hot climates. The roots are 

 fleshy, hot, and acrid ; but those of many species are eatable. They 

 are generally without stems, and constitute a very singular family. 

 The stalk of the leaves of one species are spotted like the belly of a 

 snake. The flowers smell so strongly like carion that they can hardly 

 be endured. They might be used in medicine and domestic economy. 

 The roots and parts of the leaves are boiled, and the latter, when 

 young, are often eaten raw. 



A. macularum (Wake Robin) has a tuberous root, the size of a nut- 

 meg, which is used as food and medicine. Their acrimony is lost in 

 drying, and they become fit for boiling or baking. They are exported 

 from the Isle of Portland, and sold as Portland sago. Medicinally 

 they are stimulent, diaphoretic, and expectorant. The berries are 

 devoured by birds. Dried and powdered, they are used by the French 

 as a wash for the skin, under the name of Cyprus powder. 3 species 

 are found in this country. 



The juice of these plants is particularly distinguished for its acrid- 

 ity. That of the Dumb Cane of the West Indies proves fatal in two 

 hours, if but two drachms be taken. Every part of the Wake Robin 

 is acrid ; but by boiling or heating, it loses this property, and the 

 white amylaceous powder is very nutritive. A. calocasia is cultivated 

 in Egypt for the nutritive properties obtained from the tubers, and A. 

 esculentum is cultivated in the West Indies for the same purpose. On 

 the Sandwich and other Pacific islands, also, this last, with the bread 

 fruit, is the chief food of the people. 



DRAGON ROOT, Arum triphyllum is indigenous to the U. S., growing 

 in damp woods, and is known here also as the Indian turnip and Wake 

 Robin. The root is perennial, and the tubers are round and flattened. 

 It sends up a purplish stem early in the season. At the extremity of 

 the stem is an ovate accuminate green spathe, striped with purple, 

 convoluted at bottom, flattened at top and bent over like a hood. The 

 male flowers are at the summit, and the female at the base. The 

 berries are clustered, scarlet ; leaves are long, sheathing ; petioles 

 composed of 3 ovate accuminate leaflets. The plant in all its parts 

 is extremely acrid, but this is more apparent in the roots, producing a 

 corrosive and burning sensation in the mouth, when chewed. This 

 acrid principle is very volatile, being driven off entirely by heat, or 

 drying ; but it is not imparted to water or alcohol. The root consists 

 almost entirely of fecula or starch, which can be obtained from it as 

 pure and white as that from the Arrow Root. When partially dried, 

 it possesses highly stimulating properties, increases the secretions, and 

 particularly those of the mucous coat of the bronchia?. It may there- 

 fore be efficaciously used in chronic bronchitis. The powder is used 

 applied to the apthae of the mouth of children. Dose 3j. Whilst so 

 much has been said of the nutritive properties of Salap, Arrow Root, 

 13* 



