182 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



is the Javanese name for the S. tieute, which is a native of Java, and tieute' is 

 probably derived from chettik. Potatorum, Latin, drinking, and clearing nut, 

 are names due to the fact that it is used in the East Indies for clearing muddy 

 water. Toxifera, from Greek to^ikov, poison, and (pepeiv, bear, derives its 

 name from the fact that the Indians use it to poison their arrows. 



History. — This poison was discovered by the chemists Telletier and Caven- 

 ton in the seeds of Strychnos Ignatii and S. nux vomica. 



Use. — The medical properties are stimulant, tonic, and narcotic, — and it 

 is used as a remedy in rheumatic paralysis and lead poisoning. In large 

 doses it attacks the brain and spinal cord, producing dizziness, contraction of 

 the heart, and muscular spasms. Thirty grains of the powdered nut have 

 proved fatal, and three grains of the extract. Half a grain taken by mistake 

 caused the death of Dr. Warner. It is said that swine and goats are not 

 injured by it. It enters into the medical preparations of homoeopathic prac- 

 titioners for stomach disorders, and is by them regarded as a specific in 

 dyspepsia. It is largely used in the United States to destroy vermin, and 

 especially animals and birds injurious to agriculture. 



It has been charged that large quantities of strychnine are used in the 

 preparation of whiskey ; this is a mistake, as its intensely bitter properties 

 would render the liquor unpalatable and unsalable. The wood is hard, dura- 

 ble, and takes a good polish ; some of the species yield a snake-wood. 



The spinal cord is the seat of strychnine poisoning, and the effects are inter- 

 mittent tetanic convulsions. In some cases the respiratory muscles become 

 rigid, and death ensues from suffocation. Large doses of opium are said to 

 neutralize the effects of strychnine. 



Order XXXVIl. BORRAGINACE^. 



Flowers perfect, usually regular, axillary or terminal, solitary, or 

 mostly in 1-sided scorpioid cymes ; calyx persistent ; sepals united, 

 4-5-parted ; corolla regular, with scales under the middle of lobes, 

 hypogynous, with united petals, deciduous, bell-shaped or wheel-shaped ; 

 throat naked, or clothed with hairs or scales ; limb 5-lobed, imbricate 

 in the bud ; stamens 5, on the throat of corolla, alternate with its 

 divisions. Fruit, 4 distinct, nut-like akenes, sometimes united in 

 pairs. Mostly rough, hairy. Herbs. 



No. of genera, 68; species, 1,200; cosmopolitan. 



SYMPHYTUM, Tourn. Calyx 5-parted ; corolla tubular, bell-shaped ; 

 mouth closed by 5 awl-shaped scales, forming a cone. Fruit smooth 

 and ovoid. A perennial herb. 



S. officinale, L. (Comfrey. ) Stem stout, winged, 4 feet high, branching towards 

 the top, hairy. Leaves large, coarse, petioled, lower ones broad, lanceolate, 

 upper ones lanceolate. Flowers in racemes, and terminal ; sepals lanceolate ; 

 border of corolla divided into 5 recurved teeth ; yellow, white, pink, or red, 



Var. Bohemicum, Sch. has bright red flowers. 



Geography. — The geographical range of this plant is not great, but it 

 grows well about the middle of the temperate zone, and is found throughout 

 middle Europe and the older parts of the United States of America. 



