ASTERACEiE. 



395 



supported on broad-winged petioles. Stem-leaves sessile, lanceolate, acute, sinuate, or 

 remotely serrate-toothed in the middle ; those of the branches lanceolate, entire, sessile. 

 Flowers in terminal, rarely lateral corymbs, numerous. The disk-florets are yellow, and 

 those of the ray capillary, white or pale-blue. 



This plant is common in most parts of the United States, and is now natu- 

 ralized in Europe. It has been described by most writers under the name 

 of heterophyllum, and is recog- 

 nised by that appellation in the 

 United States Pharmacopoeia ; but 

 the specific name of annuum hav- 

 ing the priority, must be adopted, 

 and has been so by Persoon, 

 Hooker, Torrey and Gray, . and 

 other distinguished botanists. It 

 is very closely allied to the E. 

 strigosum (E. Philadelphicum, 

 Barton, Veg. Mat. Med.), and spe- 

 cimens may be found which might 

 be referred to either species. They 

 are also identical in their medical 

 properties, and are employed indis- 

 criminately. The whole plant is 

 used, and should be gathered and 

 dried during the flowering season. 

 No analysis has been made of 

 either of them. When bruised 

 they have a peculiar but not un- 

 pleasant smell ; their taste is astrin- 

 gent and bitter. An oil of a pale- 

 yellow colour, of an acrid taste, is 

 said by Rafinesque to have been 

 obtained from them, as well as 

 from the E. canadense, which pos- 

 sesses extraordinary styptic pro- 

 perties. 



Medical Uses. — The most strik- 

 ing quality of the Erigeron is its 

 diuretic power, for which purpose 

 it has been used for a long time in 

 domestic practice, and has proved 

 highly successful in many cases in 

 the hands of regular practitioners. It 

 has been prescribed in complaints of 

 the bladder and kidneys, with much 

 relief to the patient, and has also 

 proved useful in the various forms 

 of dropsy, but cannot be relied upon as a curative means. In dysury, espe- 

 cially in children, it has been found very beneficial by Dr. Physick, and was 

 a favourite remedy with Dr. Dewees in cases of difficulty in urinating in 

 children. Dr. W. P. C. Barton likewise speaks of it in high terms, as reliev- 

 ing the painful micturition attendant on nephritis. It has also been given as 

 a diaphoretic and emmenagogue, for which latter purpose it was employed by 

 the Indians, who called it Squaw-weed. From all that can be gathered on 

 the subject, it is evident that the Erigeron is a valuable remedy, and one that 



E. strigosum. 



