PHYTOLACCACE^;. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 210. 



PHYTOLACCA. 



Calyx 5-parted, coloured, permanent. Stamens and styles 

 10, or more. Fruit depressed, furrowed, 10- or more-celled, 

 covered with a succulent flesh. Seeds solitary. 



730. P. decandra Linn, sp.pl 631. Bot. Mag. t. 931. Bi- 



gelow med. bot. i. t. 3 North America. Supposed to have 



been introduced to the south of Europe, where it is now a com- 

 mon weed. " Pocan" is the Virginian name, whence " Poke" 

 the vulgar name ; also " Garget, Cocum, Jalap, Pigeon-berries" 

 in North America. 



Root of a large size, frequently exceeding a man's leg in thickness, 

 usually branched, fleshy, fibrous, and easily cut or broken ; inter- 

 nally distinctly marked with concentric rings of considerable thickness, 

 while its outer surface is covered with a very thin brownish bark, 

 which seems to be little more than a cuticle. Stems, which are annual, 

 frequently 6, or even 9 feet high, round, smooth, and very much 

 branched ; when young, their usual colour is green ; but in most plants 

 after the berries have ripened, they are of a fine purple. Leaves scat- 

 tered, stalked, ovate-oblong, smooth on both sides, ribbed underneath, 

 entire, acute. Flowers on long pedunculated racemes opposite to the 

 leaves. Peduncles nearly smooth, angular, ascending. Pedicels diva- 

 ricated, sometimes branched, green, white, or purple, furnished with a 

 small linear bract at the base, and two others in the middle. Calyx 

 whitish, consisting of 5 round-ovate, concave, incurved sepals. Sta- 

 mens 10, rather shorter than the sepals, with white, roundish, 2-lobed 

 anthers. Ovary round, depressed, 10-furrowed. Styles 10, short, re- 

 curved. Berries in long clusters, dark purple, almost black, depressed 

 or flattened, and marked with 10 furrows on the sides. Root an 

 emetic, approaching nearly to Ipecacuanha. Bigelow says, that " from 

 abundant experience, the result of many trials made in dispensary 

 practice, I am satisfied that, when properly prepared, it operates in the 

 same doses and with the same certainty " as that drug. Its exhibition 

 sometimes attended by slight narcotic symptoms. Externally applied it 

 excites a sense of heat and smarting ; it cures psora, and taenia ca- 

 pitis. 



351 



