242 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



and axillary racemes. The legumes are hispid and stinging, owing to their 

 being covered with very brittle, pungent hairs. 



M. pruriens, Linn. — Legumes with somewhat keeled valves. Leaflets hairy beneath, 

 acuminate ; the middle one rhomboidai, the lateral ones dilated externally. 



Dolichos pruriens, Linn., Sp. PI. 867; Woodville, iii. 172 ; Stokes, Bot. 



M. 



pruriens, 



De 



Mat. Med., iv. 22; Stephenson and Churchill, iii. 179; 

 Candolle, Prod., ii. 405 ; Lindley, Fl. Med. 253. 



Common Names. — Cow-itch, Cowhage. 



Foreign Names. — Pois a gratter, Fr. ; Fagiolo antelmintico, It. ; Kratz- 

 bohnen, Ger, 



Fig. 125. 



M. pruriens. 

 a. Flower, b. Stamens, c. United do. d. e. Separate do. 



and fibrous. The stem is herbaceous? 

 climbing, cylindrical, tomentose, divided 

 into many branches. The leaves are 

 ternate, petiolate. The central leaflet 

 is rhomboidai, and the two lateral ones 

 oblique, dilated externally, all of them 

 entire, acuminate, smooth on the upper 

 surface, and hairy beneath. The flow- 

 ers are large, inodorous, of a purplish 

 or violet colour, and collected by threes 

 in long, pendulous, axillary racemes. 

 The calyx is bilabiate, the lower lip 

 trifid, and the upper entire, semi-ovate. 

 The corolla consists of a vexillum, 

 which is roundish, concave, and double 

 the length of the calyx, but shorter than 

 the other petals. The carina is straight, 

 obtuse, and furnished on each side of the 

 apex with a short spur. The alee are 

 oblong, and as long as the carina. The 

 stamens are ten, diadelphous, five of 

 them supporting oblong, linear anthers, 

 and the others ovate, hirsute ones. The 

 ovary is oblong, villous, and furnished 

 with a slender style, with a small, orbi- 

 cular stigma. The legume is a coria- 

 ceous pod, compressed, curved like the 

 pungent, brittle hairs, somewhat terete, and 



letter /, thickly set with short, reddish 



keeled. The seeds are oval, and of a brown colour. 



This species is a native of the West Indian Islands, and has generally 

 been considered the same as the East Indian M. prurita, until the differences 

 were pointed out by Sir W. J. Hooker (Bot. Miscell., ii. 348). It does not 

 appear to have been known before it was described by Ray (Hist., 887.) It 

 is very uncertain when it was first used in medicine as an anthelmintic, 

 though it appears that, finding it employed for this purpose in the West 

 Indies, Drs. Bancroft and Kerr recommended it to the attention of the profes- 

 sion about the year 1780. Ainslie states that it was not in use in India as 

 an anthelmintic; and the writers on the Materia Medica, about the commence- 

 ment of the last century, speak of the beans being used in dropsies, but never 

 of the spicula? for the expulsion of worms. Sir Hans Sloane notices the diu- 

 retic qualities of the roots and pods, but says nothing of any vermifuge pro- 

 perties. Browne (Jamaica), it is true, states that a syrup is made of the 

 pods which is effectual against worms. The first account that entered 

 into any details, was that given by Dr. Kerr, in the Edinburgh Medical 

 Commentaries. The fullest, however, is that by Dr. Bancroft (Hist. Guiana), 



