RADIX SERPENTARI^. 591 



powder, are sometimes employed to arrest the bleeding of a wound. 

 The infusion is taken for the cure of internal ha^moiThage. 



Substitutes — Several plants have at times been brought into the 

 market under the name of raatico. One of these is Piper aduncum L.^ 

 (Artanthe adwnca Miq.), of which a quantity was imported into London 

 from Central America in 1863, and first recognized by Bentley (1864). 

 In colour, odour, and shape of leaf it nearly agrees with ordinary matico ; 

 but differs in that the leaves are marked beneath by much more pro- 

 minent ascending parallel nerves, the spaces between which are not 

 rugose but comparatively smooth and nearly glabrous. In chemical 

 characters, the leaves of P. aduncum appear to accord with those of 

 P. angustifoliurn. 



Piper aduncum is a plant of wide distribution throughout Tropical 

 America. Under the name of Nhandi or Piper longuni it was men- 

 tioned by Piso in 1648- on account of the stimulant action of its leaves 

 and roots, — a property which causes it to be still used in Brazil, where 

 however no particular styptic virtues seem to be ascribed to it.^ The 

 fruits are there employed in the place of cubebs. Sloane's figure* of 

 " Piper longum, arbor folio latissimo " also shows Pijyer aduncum. 



According to Triana, P iper lanceoefoliurii HBK. {Artanthe Miq.), and 

 another species not recognized, yield matico in New Granada.* Wal- 

 fheria glomerata Presl {Sterculiacece) is called Palo del Soldado at 

 Panama and its leaves are used as a vulueraiy.'' In Riobamba and 

 Quito, Eupatonnum, glutinosuTn Lamarck, is also called Chusalonga or 

 Matico.'' 



AEISTOLOCHIACE^. 



RADIX SERPENTARI.^. 



Radix Serpentarice Virginiance ; Virginian Snake-root, Seiyentai^ 

 Root ; F. SerpentoAre de Virginie; G. Schlangemvurzel. 



Botanical Origin — Aristolochia Serpentaria L., a perennial herb, 

 commonly under a foot high, with simple or slightly branched, flexuose 

 stems, producing small, solitary, dull purple flowers, close to the ground. 

 It grows in shady woods in the United States, from Missouri and Indiana 

 to Florida and Virginia, — abundantly in the Alleghanies and in the 

 Cumberland JMountains, less frequently in New York, Michigan and the 

 other Northern States. The plant varies exceedingly in the shape of 

 its leaves. 



History— The botanists of the 16th century, being fond of appella- 

 tions alluding to the animal kingdom, gave the names of Serpentaria 



^ For a good figure, see Jacquin, Icones ' Exposition de 1867 — Catalogue de M. 



II. (1781-1793) tab. 210. Jose Triana, p. 14. 



- De Medicind Brasilienin, lib. 4. e. 57. * Seemann, Botariy of the Herald, 1852- 



* Langgaard, Dkcionario de Medicina 57. 85. 



domestica e popular, Rio de Janeiro, ii "Bentham, Plantae Hartwegiance, Lon. 



(1865) 44. 1839. 198, 



■* Voyage to Jamaica I. (1707) 135, and 

 tab. 88. 



