260 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



posed to regard the whole story of the tobacco trade, and the uses made 

 of the herb, as an absurd and extravagant fable. In view of the facts 

 and circumstances, it does seem like sheer affectation, on our part, to 

 pretend to be astonished at the indulgence of the Chinese, and other 

 Asiatics, in the use of Opium. The habitual use of Tobacco is always 

 more or less injurious to the system especially the nervous system ; 

 and in many instances it is highly deleterious. I speak from long ob- 

 servation, and a personal experience of many years, having smoked and 

 chewed the herb, until its pernicious effects compelled me to es-chew it 

 altogether. 



OEDER LILT. GENTIANA' CE^E. (GENTIAN FAMILY.) 



Smooth herbs with a colorless bitter juice, opposite, entire and sessile leaves without stipules; 

 flowers regular ; stamens as many as and alternate with the lobes of the corolla, which are 

 convolute in the bud ; a 1-celled ovary with 2-parietal placentae ; the fruit a 2-valvcd , 

 septicidal many-seeded pod ; seeds with fleshy albumen. 



An Order containing many beautiful species a number of them valuable for their 

 bitter, tonic properties ; among which may be mentioned the Gentian of the shops (Gen- 

 tiana lutea, L.). Few or none, however, are of any agricultual importance. 



1. SABBAT'IA, Adam. OENTAURY. 



[Named after Liberatus Sabbali ; an Italian Botanist.] 



Calyx 5 -12-parted. Corolla sub-rotate, the limb 5 - 12-lobed, convo- 

 lute (twisted to the right) in the bud. Stamens as many as the corolla- 

 lobes ; anthers erect, opening by a longitudinal fissure, finally recurved. 

 Style 2-parted, the branches stigmatiferous, at length spirally twisted. 

 Capsule 2-valved, septicidal, 1-celled, with spongy placentas along the 

 sutures. Biennials or annuals with slender stems and handsome flowers 

 in a cymose panicle. 



1. S, angllla'ris, PursK. Stem acutely 4-angled, somewhat winged ; 

 leaves ovate, sessile and amplexicaul ; calyx-segments mostly 5, linear- 

 lanceolate, acute, much shorter than the corolla ; corolla mostly 5-parted, 

 the lobes ob ovate, rather obtuse. 

 ANGULAR SABBATIA. Centaury. 



Root annual? (biennial, DC.}. Stem liJ-18 inches high, often bushy with numerous 

 branches. Leaves about an inch long, 5-nerved. Flowers sometimes composed of 6 parts. 

 Corolla rose red, with a pale green star in the centre. Capsule oblong-ovoid, mucronate, 

 with a keeled suture on each side. Seeds rugosely pitted, under a lens. 



Sterile old fields : Canada to Carolina. Fl. July - August. Fr. September. 



Obs. This plant has but little connection with agriculture ; yet it is 

 so generally and deservedly popular as a bitter and tonic medicine, that 

 it would seem desirable for every farmer to be able to identify it, and 

 therefore I have inserted it. There is another plant in the South and 

 West belonging to this tribe, which is highly commended for similar 

 properties, namely, the Wild Colombo, (Fra'sera Carolinen'sis, Walt.) 

 I do not deem it necessarv, however, to do more than mention it here. 



