360 TOAD-FLAX. 



vulgaris, bear some resemblance in figure to little birds perched 

 upon the branches of a tree. A singular variety of this plant, 

 the Peloria, with five spurs and five stamens to each flower, is 

 occasionally to be met with. Toad-flax is a troublesome weed 

 in sandy pastures. 



The foliage is refused by horses, cows, and swine, and is 

 seldom touched by sheep or goats. According to Dambourney, 

 the fresh herb when in blossom imparts an olive colour to 

 woollen cloth and silk. Linnaeus* states that an infusion of the 

 plant in milk is used in Smoland to destroy flies. 



Qualities. — The Toad-flax has a faint disagreeable smell, 

 somewhat resembling that of dwarf Elder, when the plant is 

 rubbed between the fingers ; to the taste it is bitterish, sub- 

 saline, herbaceous, and ungrateful. The aqueous infusion is of 

 a reddish colour, and has a dull bitterish taste ; it is not affected 

 by sulphate of iron. We have no account of its chemical pro- 

 perties. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — Toad-flax is generally 

 allowed by the older writers to be a powerful diuretic, 

 cathartic, and deobstruent ; hence it has been employed to 

 carry off the water of dropsies f, to remove obstructions of the 

 liver or mesenteric glands, obstinate hypochondria, and in 

 some affections of the kidneys and bladder. It is never used 

 in regular practice, but is a well known rustic medicine. " Its 

 action is rather rough, and sometimes accompanied with vomit- 

 ing ; if properly managed, however, it may be taken without 

 harm. The country people boil the whole plant in ale, and 

 drink the decoction ; some use the expressed juice, which 

 operates more powerfully still, and produces a copious flow of 

 urine." J. 



Toad-flax has, perhaps, enjoyed most reputation as an ex- 

 ternal remedy, in which character it is said to be anodyne and 

 repellent. It has been principally used to disperse and assuage 

 the pain of haemorrhoides caeca? §, or blind piles, in the form 

 either of ointment, cataplasm, or fomentation. The expressed 



* Fl. Suec. p. 218. 

 f Tragus, 357- 



+ Waller, Brit. Dom. Herb. p. 345. 



§ Horst. Obs. et Epist. Med. lib. iv. obs. 50. S. Pauli, Quad. Bot. 

 415. Chesnau, Obs. 3G0. 



