MUSTARD. 195 



used as adulterants for Musk and in perfumes. It is 

 also known as an insecticide, being dusted over woollens 

 to protect them from moths, &c. For medicinal pur- 

 poses the seeds are made into a paste with milk and 

 employed as a remedy for itch. 



Distinctive character The seeds are reniform com- 

 pressed, about inch in diameter, greyish brown, with 

 numerous brown striae which are concentric round the 

 hilum. Taste, oily and musky. Odour, musky when 

 rubbed. 



MUSTARD. Brassica nigra, Linn., Koch. 



Brassica alba, Boiss. 

 N.O. Crucifera. 



Syn. Sinapis alba, Linn. ; Sinapis nigra, Linn., Bras- 

 sica sinapioides, Roth. 



Part used Seeds. 



Action Irritant, stimulant, diuretic, emetic. Used 

 chiefly as a poultice in acute local pains, pneumonia, 

 bronchitis, and other diseases of the respiratory organs. 

 The volatile oil is a powerful irritant, rubefacient, and 

 vesicant, and combined with other remedies is an 

 excellent application in rheumatic pains, colic, &c. 



The black seeds yield by distillation, after maceration 

 with water, a volatile oil Ol. Sinapis volatile, B.P. 



Preparations Mustard paper (leaves). Liniment 

 B.P. 



Distinctive character Black mustard seeds are 

 between oval and spherical, dark reddish brown, about 

 ^inch in diameter and -fa grain in weight, more or less 

 covered with a whitish pellicle. Triturated with water 

 they form a yellowish emulsion, emitting the acrid vapour 

 of mustard and irritating the eyes and nose. Taste, at 

 first bitterish, but quickly pungent. The powdered 

 seeds are inodorous until moisture is absorbed, but the 



