FUNGACE^. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 419. 



*** There is only one plant of this order of which much use is 

 madefor the sake of its medicinal properties, namely theSpermoe- 

 dia Clavus or Ergot ; but there are many nutritious and a great 

 quantity of poisonous species. It would however extend this 

 work, already too long, beyond any moderate limits if such 

 plants were included ; and therefore the reader is referred to 

 books especially treating upon fungi for information concerning 

 all that may interest him, except the above-named medicinal 

 plant, and another or two also used medicinally in extra Euro- 

 pean countries. 



SPERMOEDIA. 



A solid elongated mass, growing from the inside of the ovary 

 of grasses, rootless, of a firm, mealy substance, with a concrete, 

 scaly or powdery crust. The interior composed of flocci and 

 sporules firmly compacted into a solid homogeneous mass. 



1323. S. Clavus Fries Syst. mi/col, ii. 268. Clavi Siliginis 

 Lonicer Hot. herb. Secalis mater Thai. here. p. 47. Secale luxu- 

 rians Bauh. pin, p. 23. Grana Secalis degenerati Brunner in 

 eph. nat. cur. dec. 5. ann. 2. p. 348. Secale cornutum Bald. diss. 

 Jen. 1771. Sclerotium Clavus DC. mem. mus. 416. t. 14. f. 8. 

 Fries monogr. 43. Grains of Rye ; also of Agrostis and several 

 other grasses according to Fries. (Ergot.) 



A curved purplish black body, of a cylindrical form, rounded at its 

 extremities, of a firm horny texture, dirty white inside, covered with a 

 powdery substance externally, the nature of which is not ascertained. 

 The mass appears to the eye, even when assisted by moderately high 

 magnifying powers, to be a homogeneous substance, in which no organ- 

 isation can be detected. But if sliced very thin, and examined in water 

 by a very powerful microscope, the mass is found to consist of fine flocci 

 or threads, branched,and bearing spherical sporules as transparent as 

 the flocci themselves ; the whole consolidated into a compact substance. 

 A dangerous poison if taken into the body mixed with food, pro- 

 ducing violent spasmodic convulsions and dry gangrene. If taken in doses 

 of as much as two drachms, giddiness, headach, and flushed face are 

 produced, together with pain and spasms in the stomach, nausea and 

 vomiting, with colic, purging and a sense of weight and weariness of the 

 limbs. In pregnant women it is also found to excite uterine action in a 

 very remarkable manner, bringing on abortion or facilitating parturition ; 

 hence ergot is called by Mr. Pereira a parturifacient. In medicine it is 

 extensively employed to promote uterine pains during the process of 

 parturition, to produce the expulsion of the placenta, contraction of the 

 uterus and to stop uterine haemorrhage. To a more limited extent it 

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