ASTER AC E.E. 



401 



speaks of it as a powerful and prompt vesicant, and one that may be very ad- 

 vantageously employed. The plan which he found best to insure this effect 

 was to bruise the plant, and apply it in the form of a poultice ; he observes, 

 in addition, that unlike the blisters caused by other vegetable irritants, the 

 vesications readily heal. 



Anthemis. — Linn. 



Heads many-flowered; the rays pistillate. Scales of the involucrum imbricated in a 

 few series. Receptacle convex or conical, with membranous chaff among the flowers. 

 Achenia terete, or very obtusely quadrangular, striate, smooth, destitute of pappus, or 

 with a minute crown. 



A genus of odorous herbs, mostly natives of Europe and Asia, with pinnate 

 or bipinnate leaves, and a single ebracteate head of flowers, on the ends of the 

 branches, with their disk yellow, and the rays, in most cases, white. 



A. nobilis, Linn. — Stem decumbent, simple, downy, villose. Leaves sessile, pinnately- 

 parted, downy, leaflets divided into linear-setaceous lobes. Branches naked, one-flowered 

 at apex. Scales of the involucre obtuse, hyaline at margin. Palese of receptacle lanceo- 

 late, not pointed, rather shorter than the florets, eroded at the margin. 



Linn., Sp. PL 1260 ; Woodville, i. 47 ; Stokes, Med. Bot. iv. 242 ; Ste- 

 phenson and Churchill, i. 38; Lindley, Fl. Med. 458. 



Common Names. — Chamomile ; Common feverfew. 



Foreign Names. — Camomile Romaine, Fr.; Camomilla Romana, It.; 

 Roemische kamiler, Ger. 



Description. — Roots perennial, joint- 

 ed, fibrous. Stems trailing, round, fur- 

 rowed, downy. The leaves are pin- 

 nately-divided, and of a pale-green co- 

 lour. The segments are small, rather 

 flat above, somewhat downy, and gene- 

 rally divided into three or more linear, 

 setaceous lobes. The flowers are ter- 

 minal, solitary, with a convex, yellow 

 disk, and numerous white, spreading, 

 reflexed rays. The involucrum is hemi- 

 spherical, and composed of many close- 

 ly-imbricated scales, with thin, mem- 

 branous edges ; the disk florets are nu- 

 merous, yellow, perfect, tubular, divided 

 into five lobes ; those of the ray are 

 usually about eighteen, white, ligulate, 

 spreading, three-toothed. The stamens 

 are five, very short. The ovary is dbo- 

 vate, and supports a slender style, with 

 a bifid, reflexed stigma. The seeds are 

 ovate, compressed, and slightly crowned. 

 The receptacle is conical, with minute 

 chaffy scales, one to each floret. 



Chamomile is a native of many 

 parts of Europe, and is also exten- 

 sively cultivated there ; Mr. Nut- 

 tall states that it is naturalized 

 near Lewistown, in the State of 

 Delaware, but it has been detected 

 in no other place in this country. 



Fig. 184. 



A. nobilis. 

 Ray florets, b. Disk do. 



There are several varieties, depending on 

 26 



