184 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



herb with a rhizome plunging into the mud, having at each of its 

 nodes a bundle of adventitious roots. Its fruit has been prescribed 

 against asthma and pulmonary consumption. It has also been con- 

 sidered diuretic and antidiarrhoetic ; but it must never be forgotten 

 that it is a poisonous plant and sometimes causes the death of 

 animals. Meadow Saffron {^g. 103) owes its name to the colour of 

 its juice, a virulent poison, producing intestinal inflammation speedily 

 followed by delirium, convulsions and death. It is the more dan- 

 gerous as its root ' has a sweet and aromatic taste in eating which 

 no suspicion is excited of the deleterious character of the plant. 

 CE. jistulosa^ is nearly as poisonous. It was formerly employed 

 against gravel, hemorrhoids, scrofula, and to destroy moles and rats. 

 Several other European species have similar properties, particularly 

 CE, Lachenaliij^ apiifolia,^ peiicedanifolia,^ wcrassans,^ On the other 

 hand (E. pimpinelloides ^ has edible tubercles whose qualities are 

 nearly those of the Parsnip. From (E. inebrians, of the Cape, now 

 named Anesorhiza gummifera,^ the Hottentots prepare a fermented 

 beverage. 



Thapsia also comprises Umbellifers of great acridity. The best 

 known medicinally is T. garganica ^ (fig. 75, 76), a beautiful species 

 from the Mediterranean region, of w^hich the Greek and Koman 

 physicians are thought to have made great use and whose root is 

 gorged with an irritant, drastic, emmenagogic juice. The Arabs 

 obtain an energetic blistering by applying to the skin the inner sur- 

 face of the bark of this root. It is a plant which may produce 



aqtiatica Lamk. Diet. iv. 580. — Fhellandrium ^ GsiMi,.FL Bad. i. Ql%. 



aquaticum L. Spec. 366. — Hayn. Arzn. Gew. i. '* Brot. Fl. Lusit. i. 420 ; Phyt. t. 33. 



t. 40.—Liffusticum Phellandrum Cr. {Water ^ poL^. p«/. i. 289, fig. 3. 



Hemlock.) 6 Bort, ex Eosenth. op. cit. 536. 



1 (E. crocata L. Spec. 365.— Jacq. Hart. Vin- 7 L. Spec. 365.— DC. Prodr. n. 5, 



dob. iii. t. 55. — Smith, Fn^l. Fat. t. 2313. — ^ Bubon gummiferum L. Comm. Hart. Amst. 



Bull. Herb. t. 113.— DC. Prodr. iv. 138, n. 8. t. 68.— Glia gummifera Sond. Fl. Cop. ii. 548. — 



— Gren. et GoDR. Fl. de Fr. i. 713. — Guib. loc. Lichtensteinia pyrethrifolia DC. — L. inebrians 



cit. 236. — LiNDL. FL Med. 39. — Eosenth. op. E. Mey. — Lepisma paniculatum E. Mey (part). 

 CiY. 535.— Caz.^c. a^. 695. — (E. lusitauica BiiOT. ^ L. Mantiss. 57. — Gouan, III. et OLs. Bot. 



Fl. Lus. i. 420 ; Phyt. Tab. 33. 18, t. 10.— Desf. FL ML i. 262.— Sibth. //. 



2 L. Spec 365.— Drev. et Heyn. PL Cur. t. Gr(sc. t. 287.— Ait. Sort. Kew. (ed. 2) i. 156.— 

 98.— DC Prodr. n. 1.— Gren. et Godr. FL de DC. Prodr. iv. 202, n. 1.— Hook. f. Bot. Mag. 

 Fr. i. 715.— GuiB. loc. cit. 235.— Eosenth. op. t. 6293.— Boiss. FL Or. ii. 1067.— Guib. loc. cit, 



«^- 536. 216.— r. decussata Lagasc. Gen. et Sp. 12. 



