URTICACEJE. 



619. M. nigra Linn. sp. pi. 1398. Willd. iv. 369. Woodv. 

 t. 243. Mo/jea *r\ <rvKo,}jt.nia,. Dioscor. Persia ; whence it has 

 been carried to other parts of the world. (Mulberry.) 



A small tree, with a very rugged bark. Young shoots downy, round. 

 Leaves roundish-cordate, pubescent, coarsely serrated, rough to the 

 touch, slightly acuminate ; stipules oblong, membranous, downy, the 

 length of the petiole or longer, deciduous. Fruit oblong, changing 

 from red to deep purple, succulent, subacid, juicy and pleasant. 

 Fruit cooling and laxative ; when not too ripe allays thirst and proves 

 exceedingly grateful in febrile diseases. When eaten too freely , as an 

 article of food, it is apt to occasion diarrhoea. Thomson. Bark said to 

 be cathartic and anthelmintic. 



620. M. alba Linn, sp.pl 1398. China and Persia. 

 Leaves deeply cordate, unequal at the base, ovate or lobed, unequally 



serrated, nearly smooth. Root said to be an excellent vermifuge. 



DORSTENIA. 



Monoecious ; flowers arranged upon a fleshy receptacle usually 

 flat and expanded and extremely variable in form. $ . on the 

 surface of the receptacle 2-lobed, fleshy, diandrous. ? im- 

 mersed in the receptacle, also 2-lobed in most species. Ovary 

 1-2-celled, with a single suspended ovule in each cell ; style 1 ; 

 stigma 2-lobed. Achenia lenticular, imbedded in the fleshy 

 receptacle ; from which they are projected with elasticity when 

 ripe Dwarf herbaceous plants with scaly rhizomata. 



Under the name of Contrayerba or Contrayerva there is im- 

 ported from the West Indies an officinal root, which has stimulant 

 sudorific and tonic qualities. It is used in malignant eruptive diseases, 

 dysentery, some kinds of diarrhoea, atonic gout, chronic rheumatism 

 and the fever attending dentition in weak infants. According to the 

 last edition of the London Pharmacopoeia this drug is produced by 

 Dorstenia Contrayerva ; Dr. Houston however asserted that it came 

 from D. Houstoni and another species referred by Botanists to 

 D. Drakena. Guibourt says there are two kinds, one furnished by 

 D. brasiliensis, and the other by D. Contrayerva, D. Houstoni and 

 D. Drakena. Finally Dr. Theodore Martius refers the drug to D. bra- 

 siliensis, Contrayerva, Houstoni, and an undescribed species which he 

 calls D. opifera, a sort which is more farinaceous than the others. 

 The only conclusion from all which is I think that Contrayerva is pro- 

 duced by several species. 



621. D. Contrayerva Linn. mat. med. 53. Willd. i. 683. 

 Blackw. t. 579. Jacq. ic. iii. t. 614. New Spain, Mexico, Peru, 

 Tobago, St. Vincent's, Willd. 



Caulescent; stem covered with spreading green scaly stipules. Leaves 

 palmate; the lobes lanceolate, acuminate, coarsely serrated and gashed, 

 occasionally almost pinnatifid. Receptacle on avery long stalk, quad- 

 rangular, wavy or plaited. 



622. D. brasiliensis Lam. encycl. ii. 314. Willd. i. 682. 

 D. cordifolia Swartz.fl. ind. occ. 275. Willd. 1. c. D. tubicina 



300 



