RANUJNCULACEiE. 



87 



fallible vermifuge, and likewise beneficial in some asthmatic and mental 

 affections. From its violent action, it is however but seldom used, and might 

 with great propriety be discarded from the officinal lists. 



The H. orientalis, Lam., as has been stated, is the celebrated Melam- 

 podium of the ancients, and is still employed by Turkish physicians as a 

 drastic purgative, and is highly prized by them in the treatment of many 

 diseases. It is said by Allioni and others that the H. viridis is almost iden- 

 tical in its effects with the orientalis, and should be employed in preference 

 to the Black Hellebore, as more certain and energetic. 



Coptis. — Salisbury. 



Sepals 5 — 6 petaloid, caducous. Petals 5 — 6 cucullate. Stamens many, hypogynous. 

 Capsules many, stipitate, oblong, stellately diverging, 1 -celled, 4 — 8-seeded. 



These plants were included by Linnaeus in the genus Helleborus, but were 

 separated by Salisbury on account of the stipitate capsules and difference of 

 petals. They are herbaceous, with radical and somewhat coriaceous leaves, 

 and very slender, wide-spread roots. They are peculiar to the northern parts 

 of Asia and America. 



C. trifolia. — Linn. Leaves 3-foliolate ; leaflets broadly ovate, dentate. Scape short* 

 one-flowered. Roots filiform, creeping. 



Salisbury, Linn, trans., viii. 305 ; Bigelow, Med. Bot., i. 60 ; Barton, 

 Veg. Mat. Med., ii. 97 ; Rafinesque, Med.flor., i. 127. 

 Common names. Gold-thread, Mouth-root, &c. 



Description. — Roots perennial, 

 of a bright yellow colour, small Fig. 53. 



and creeping. Stems slen- 

 der, round, and furnished at 

 base with imbricate yellowish 

 sheaths. The leaves are ever- 

 green, on long slender petioles, 

 ternate and much veined. The 

 scapes are as long as the leaves, 

 slender, one-flowered, with a 

 small mucronate bract, below 

 the flower. The corolla has 

 from five to seven oblong, con- 

 cave, nectariform petals. The 

 calyx is from five to seven-se- 

 palled. The stamens are nume- 

 rous, with adnate globose an- 

 thers. The styles are short and 

 curved, with acute stigmas. 

 Capsules are oblong, rostrate, on 

 long divaricate pedicels, and con- 

 taining many small seeds at- 

 tached to one side. 



This species is found from 

 New York to Greenland, 

 and also in Siberia and Ice- 

 land. It grows in sphag- c. trifolia. 

 nous swamps and boggy 



woods. There are two other species which differ in many points from the 

 present, and have been considered as distinct genera by some botanists. It 



