390 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



quently dilated at base. Anthers included. Branches of styles mostly exserted and 

 elongated, cylindraceous, obtuse. Achenia 5-angled, without intermediate striae. Pappus 

 a single series of very slender capillary bristles, scabrous or minutely serrulate. 



An extensive genus of perennial herbs, or somewhat shrubby plants, the 

 larger portion American, with opposite, or sometimes alternate or verticillate, 

 simple or rarely-divided leaves. Flowers generally in corymbs, of a purple, 

 white, or blue colour, and with the leaves often covered with resinous dots. 

 Most of the species are bitterish and diaphoretic, and several of them are offi- 

 cinal. 



E. PERFOLiATUM, Linn. — Stem villous, hirsute, cylindrical ; leaves opposite, connate- 

 perfoliate, oblong, tapering, acute, serrate, rough above, tomentose beneath ; heads about 

 10-flowered. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 1174; Torrey and Gray, Fl. ii. 88; Barton, Veg. Mat. 

 Med. ii. 125; Bigelow, Med. Bot. i. 33; Rafinesque, Med. Flor. i. 174. 

 Common Names. — Boneset ; Thorough wort ; Fever wort, &c. 

 Foreign Name. — Eupatoire perfoliee, Fr. 



Description. — Root 

 perennial, horizontal, 

 crooked, sending up 

 many erect stems, 

 which are simple at 

 base, branched above, 

 round, hairy, of a gray- 

 ish-green colour. The 

 leaves are opposite, con- 

 nate or perfoliate, de- 

 cussating, gradually ta- 

 pering to a point, ser- 

 rated, rough above, and 

 tomentose beneath, of 

 the same colour as the 

 stalks. The upper leaves 

 and those of the branch- 

 es are merely sessile. 

 The flowers are in 

 dense, depressed, termi- 

 nal corymbs, formed 

 of smaller, fastigiate 

 ones ; the peduncles are 

 hairy as well as the 

 common calyx, each of 

 which contains from 

 twelve to fifteen florets. 

 Scales lanceolate, en- 

 tire. Florets tubular, 5- 

 toothed, white. Anthers 

 deep-blue or black, 

 united into a tube. 

 Seeds black, prismatic, 

 acute at base, on a 

 naked receptacle. Pap- 

 pus with scabrous hairs. 



There are several varieties, distinguished by greater or less pubescence of 

 the leaves, and a striking one in which the leaves are tcrnate ; this is far from 

 being uncommon in the vicinity of Philadelphia ; in some localities it is more 

 plentiful than any other. The Boneset is abundant in low grounds, and on 



E. perfoliatum. 



