376 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



Besides the potato plant, several other plants belonging to the 

 Solanacese yield vegetables, as the Tomato plant {Solanum Lyco- 

 persicum) and the Egg plant {Solanum Melongena). Various 

 cultivated species of Capsicum annuum furnish the common red 

 peppers of the market. 



g. SCROPHULARIACE^ OR FIGWORT FAMILY.— 

 The plants are herbs, shrubs or trees with opposite or alternate 

 leaves and perfect, mostly complete and irregular flowers. The 

 corolla and stamens show some resemblance to those of the Labi- 

 atae in that the corolla is frequently more or less 2-lipped and the 

 stamens are didynamous. The fruit is a dehiscent capsule and 

 the seeds have a reserve layer and a straight or slightly curved 

 embryo. 



Leptandra virginica {Veronica virginica) or Culver's root, is 

 a perennial herb with leaves in whorls of 3 to 9, those on the upper 

 part of the stem being opposite. They are- lanceolate, serrate, 

 and pinnately veined; the flowers are white or bluish, tubular, and 

 in dense racemes. The rhizome and roots are official (p. 501). 



Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove.) is a tall, biennial, pubescent 

 herb, producing the first year a large number of basal leaves; 

 (Fig. 265), and the second, a long raceme of drooping, tubular,, 

 slightly irregular, purplish flowers ; the inner surface of the 

 corolla is spotted, the stamens are didynamous and the upper 

 calyx segment is narrower than the others. The leaves are official 

 in all the pharmacopoeias (p. 613). 



The Scrophulariaceas are well represented in the United States, 

 and a number of the plants have medicinal properties. The 

 common mullein {Verbascum Thapsus) contains a volatile oil, 

 two resins and a bitter principle. The flowers of mullein contain 

 the same principles and in addition a yellow coloring principle. 

 Other species of Verbascum are used in medicine in dififerent 

 parts of the world. 



BuTTER-AND-EGGS {Linaria vulgaris) contains a crystalline 

 principle, linariin, antirrhinic acid, a volatile oil, resin and tannin. 

 Several species of Scrophularia, as 5". nodosa of Europe and S. 

 marilandica of the Eastern United States, contain a pungent 

 resin and a trace of an alkaloid. Turtle-head {Chelone glabra) 

 contains a bitter principle and gallic acid. The entire plant o£ 



