VRTICAGEM. 



>15 



counter-irritants, and which make the contact of certain tropical 

 species 1 so dangerous, their use in medicine would be very slight ; for 

 there is no great foundation for medical virtues 2 in the calcareous 

 salts contained in the Nettles, 3 or the nitrate of potash in Wall- 

 Pellitory 4 (figs. 542-546). Tasteless, and with scarcely any active 

 properties, the leaves or young shoots of several species of Urtica,* 

 Pilea, 6 Pouzohia, 7 Elatostema* &c, are only used in our country-dis- 

 tricts and several tropical countries as watery vegetables, as greens 

 and topical emollients, like Lettuce, Purslane, or Spinach. But the 



' These species, formerly regarded as Nettles, 

 generally belong to Daportea. D. crenulata 

 Gaedich. (Voy. Uran., Bot., 196; — Wedd., 

 Monogr., 133, n. 8; Prodr., 85, n. 16 ;— L. 

 gigantea Gaudich., loc. cit. ; — D. latifolia 

 Gatjdich. ; — Urtica javaensis J. ; — U. gigantea 

 Poie., Diet., Suppl., iv. 221; — U. crenulata 

 Koxb., Fl. Ind., iii. 591 ; — U. sinuata Bl. ; — ■ 

 U. Churta Ham.; — Urera javaensis Gaudich.; 



— U. gigantea GArDlCH.; — U. crenulata Wedd.j 



— U. Commersoniana Wedd. ; — Dendrocnide 

 crenulata Miq., PI. Jungh., 31) is famous from 

 Leschenault's account of his being stung in the 

 Calcutta Botanical Gardens by this plant, the 

 Mealum-ma, of which the Hindoos are very 

 much afraid. Though only three fingers were 

 pricked, severe inflammatory and tetanic symp- 

 toms came on, with intense pain, and only dis- 

 appeared after eight days. The sting of this plant 

 has been said to determine violent fever, and even 

 death. D. decumana Wedd. {Monogr., 127, n. 

 4; — Urtica decumana Rumph., Herb. Amboin., 

 vi. 171, t. 20, fig. 1 ;— Wight, Icon., ii. 689), is 

 the Dan gattal besaer of the Malays, much 

 used by them for systematic artication. The 

 part rubbed by the leaves reddetis, and often 

 blisters, unless the epidermis is too thick, as on 

 the sole of the foot. The pain is not severe ; it 

 is rather, if the friction be vigorous, an itching, 

 which soon disappears if the skin be afterwards 

 rubbed with oil. Men and women often have 

 recourse to this revulsive with great advantage. 

 D. stimulans Miq. {Urtica stinvulans L. fil., 

 Suppl., 418), of Java, produces, according to 

 Leschenault, the same effects as D. crenulata, 

 but less energetic. However, he relates that in 

 Java they rub buffaloes with it to excite them to 

 fight with tigers. Urtica ferox, of New Zea- 

 land {Ogna-wa of the natives), gives a painful 

 sting that lasts four days (Collenso) ; and U. 

 urentissima, of Timor (vulg. Daoun setan, or 

 Devil's Deaf), is said by the natives to produce 

 injuries that last a year, and may even cause 

 death. Eis'dlicher ascribes the causticity of the 



Nettles to carbonate of ammonia, but the liquid 

 has an acid reaction. The American species, 

 Urtica baccifera, caravellana, pumila, are also 

 cited as urticating (Rosenth., op. cit., 200). 



2 Certain peculiar properties are ascribed to 

 Boehmeria caudata (vulg. Asapeixe), used in 

 baths in Brazil, for hemorrhoids ; Pilea mucosa, 

 prescribed in dysuria ; and Urera baccifera, 

 much used as an aperient and resolvent in the 

 Antilles, in a decoction or poultice. 



3 Wedd., Monogr., 48. Urtica dioica was 

 formerly regarded as aperient, astringent, em- 

 menagogue, excitant (Guib., loc. cit., 239). Even 

 volumes have been written on its virtues, its 

 properties as a drug, a textile, a dye stuff, on its 

 oleaginous seeds as nutritious for man or beast. 

 U. pilulifera has been vaunted as a diuretic, 

 astringent, and anti-choleraic; its roots are used 

 as a yellow dye in Sweden. U. membranacea 

 was reputed an emmenayogue, aphrodisiac, &c. 



4 Parietaria officinalis L., Spec. (ed. 1), 1052. 

 — Wedd., Monogr., 506, u. 1 ; Prodr., 235 4 -, n. 

 1. — Meu. & Del, Diet. Mat. Med., v. 202.— 

 GriB., loc. cit., 329. — A. Rich., Diem., ed. 4, i. 

 247. — Gken. & Gode., Fl. de Fr„ iii. 109. — 

 Rev., in Fl. Med. du xix e Siecle, iii. 10.— P. 

 diffusa Koch, Sun., 636. — P.judaica Vill., Fl. 

 Davph., ii. 346 (nee alior). — P. maderensis 

 Reichb., in Bot. Zeit. (1831), 131 {Wall 

 Pellitory, Common Pellilory, Herbe du verre, de 

 none, de muraille, de Notre-Dame, Operatoire, 

 Cassepierre, Epinard de muraille, Morelle de 

 muraille, Espargoule, Panatage, Vitriole, Perce- 

 muraille). 



5 U. dioica, pilulifera, membranacea, simensis 

 {Sama of the Abyssinians), &c. 



6 Notably P. muscosa, peploides, Wightii, 

 htcens, &c. P. argentta DC. is used to make a 

 sort of tea. 



7 Wedd., Monogr., 46. The fleshy root of P. 

 tuberosa is eaten in India, raw or cooked. 



8 D. platypliyllum and lineolalum, among 

 others, from the East Indies. 



L L 2 



