IH BUGLK. 



lous, with five nearly equal, pointed segments. The corolla is 

 monopetalous, irregularly labiate ; the upper lip short, erect, 

 composed of two very small teeth ; the lower one, larger, 

 spreading, with three lobes, the middle lobe emarginate, 

 ample. The filaments are incurved, longer than the upper 

 lip, didynamous. The germen is superior, four-lobed, de- 

 pressed in the centre, surmounted by a simple incurved style, 

 terminated by a bifid stigma. The fruit consists of four ovate- 

 oblong grains situated in the bottom of the persistent calyx. 

 Plate 9, fig. 1, («) an isolated flower; {b) the calyx; (c) the 

 pistil. 



This pretty vivacious plant abounds in moist meadows and 

 woods in Great Britain. It is also found in France, Holland, 

 Germany, Poland, Denmark, and other European countries. It 

 flowers from the end of April to the beginning of June. 



The derivation and meaning of the term Ajuga have some- 

 what puzzled etymologists. Some have derived it from abigo *, 

 to drive away, or from a jirivntive and jtcgum, a yoke. The com- 

 mon name, Bugle, is taken from Bugula, which is supposed 

 to be a diminutive of Buglossum, which this plant somewhat re- 

 sembles in medical properties. 



Qualities and general Uses.— The economical uses of this 

 plant are few. The Italians are said to eat the young shoots, 

 in spring, as a salad. 



Sheep and goats eat it, horses and swine refuse it. Brug- 

 mans considers it hurtfid in meadows, but he does not state for 

 what reason. 



The leaves are sweetish to the taste at first, subsequently 

 rather bitter and astringent. The root manifests a slight as- 

 tringency and a strong infusion is rendered black with sulphate 

 of iron. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — This plant, though long 

 banished from the pharmacopoeias, was highly extolled by some 

 of the ancient physicians, and is still occasionally resorted to in 

 rustic practice. It is well described by the author of the Flore 



• If so, it must be received in the same way as lucus a non lucendo, for 

 the ancients gave it just the opposite character. They thought it effica- 

 ciou8 in consolidating injured parts, or constringing tlie wounds of l)lood- 

 vesseln (hence the French name "■ Petite Consoude"). 



