102 THE USES OF PLANTS. 



chiefly from the root, which is a mild laxative and 

 tonic, and has been in use for centuries. 



Mikania Guaco, H. B., GUACO, a cure for snake- 

 bite, popular in South America and the West Indies, 

 has been recommended as a febrifuge and anthel- 

 mintic.* 



Siegesbeckia orientalis, L., ' Herbe de Flacq,' 

 1 GueVit vite/ is suggested for use as an alterative, 

 etc. It is used in Mauritius, and contains a principle 

 known as Darutyne.f 



Parthenium Hysterophorus, L., of the West Indies, 

 yields Parthenine, a suggested quinine substitute.^: 



Lactuca altissima, Bieb., possibly only a variety of 

 L. Scariola, L., a native of the Caucasus, now culti- 

 vated in Auvergne, the species just named, L.virosa, L., 

 and L. sativa, L., the Garden Lettuce, are the sources 

 of LACTUCARIUM, a sedative produced by the Fair- 

 grieve family near Edinburgh from about 1844, near 

 Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, from 1841, and near 

 Zell, in Rhenish Prussia, from 



LOBELIACE^E. 



Lobelia inflata, L., INDIAN TOBACCO, a North- 

 American species, in small doses is an expectorant, 

 useful in spasmodic asthma; in larger doses a powerful 

 emetic, or even an aero-narcotic poison. || 



* P. L. Simmonds, ' Pharm. Journ.,' x (1851), p. 534; xiii 

 (1854), p. 412 ; J. G. Baker, ibid., xi (1880), pp. 471, 369. 



f Christy, ' New Commercial Plants,' No. 9, p. 49, and No. 

 10, p. 85. 



| Ibid., No. 10, p. 99. 



* Pharmacographia/ p. 345 ; 'Pharm. Journ.,' viii (1877), 

 p. 202. Bentley and Trimen, iii., pi. 160, 161. 



|| Ibid., pi. 162. 



