165 CHIMAPHILA CORYMBOSA 



States, but all parts of the plant have active properties, and the 

 leaves and stems are kept in the shops and frequently used together. 

 The stem and root have a pungent taste combined with bitter- 

 ness and astringency. 



The more important constituents of Chimaphila are tannic 

 acid, resin, bitter extractive, and a peculiar crystalline neutral 

 principle which has been called by Fairbank Chimaphilin. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Chimaphila possesses mild tonic, 

 astringent, and diuretic properties. It resembles Uva Ursi in its 

 action, but is less astringent than it. It has been used in 

 dropsies combined with great debility and loss of appetite ; in 

 chronic diseases of the urinary organs, as cystirrhoea and calculous 

 complaints ; and also in gonorrhoea, haematuria, &c. In the 

 United States it has been regarded as more especially valuable in 

 scrofula, from which circumstance it has even acquired the title of 

 " King's Cure " in some of the States. Besides its use internally 

 in scrofula, it has also been employed locally as a wash, in the 

 form of a ^decoction, to unhealthy scrofulous sores. 



Per. Mat. Med., by B. & R., p, 673 ; U. S. Disp., by W. & B., 

 p. 256 ; Steph. & Church., Med. Bot., by Burnett, vol. ii, pi. 93 ; 

 Fairbank, in Journ. and Trans, of the Md. Col. of Pharm., U. S., 

 March, 1860; Somerville, in Trans. Med.-Chir. Soc. Lond., 

 vol. v, p. 340 ; Paris's Pharrnacologia. 



DESCRIPTION OF PLATE. 



The flowering plant drawn from a specimen collected in Sweden, the fruit 

 from one collected in the Rocky Mountains, both in the British Museum. 



1. A flowering stem. 



2. A flower. 



3. Diagram of flower. 



4. Vertical section of same. 



5. Transverse section of ovary. 



6. Stamen with the anther in two positions. 



7. A specimen in fruit. 



8. A capsule. 



9. A seed. 



(2-6, 8 enlarged ; 9 greatly magnified.) 



