ASTER AC E^E. 4H 



one yellow, soluble in water, and the other red, Cartha- 



mite or Carthamic acid, soluble in alkaline solutions. Fi s- 1R5 - 



It is this latter that renders the Safflower valuable as a 



dye, especially of silk, for which, and other tinctorial 



purposes, it is much used ; and from this principle is 



also prepared one of the kinds of rouge. 



Medical Properties. — In large doses, Safflower acts 

 on the bowels, and according to Barham (Hort. Jam.), 

 is used in Jamaica as a remedy in jaundice. In warm 

 infusion it possesses some sudorific properties, and has 

 been recommended instead of Saffron, to promote the &. 

 eruption in exanthematous diseases. 



The seeds, which are white, angular, and irregular 

 at their base, have been much more employed in medi- 

 cine than the flowers. They afford an oil by expression, c. tinctorius. 

 which is mentioned as purgative by Hippocrates (Sprengel, 

 Hist. Med.), and is still used for that purpose in India, as well as for an ex- 

 ternal application in rheumatic pains and paralytic affections, and also for 

 bad ulcers. (Ainslie, Mat. Ind.) Loureiro states that in Cochin China the 

 seeds are considered as purgative and emmenagogue ; they were likewise 

 employed in Europe in the form of emulsion, and entered into the composi- 

 tion of a purgative preparation called Diacarthami, but are now completely 

 gone out of use. 



Lappa. — Tournefort. 



Heads many-flowered ; flowers all perfect. Involucre globose ; the imbricated scales 

 coriaceous and appressed at the base, and subulate and spreading above, with their rigid 

 apex uncinate. Receptacle flat, somewhat fleshy, setose fimbriate. Corolla 5-cleft, 10- 

 nerved. Anthers tipped with filiform appendages, caudate at base ; filaments papillose. 

 Branches of the style free and divergent at apex. Achenia oblong, compressed, glabrous, 

 transversely rugose. Pappus of numerous, short, filiform, scabrous bristles, not united in 

 a ring, caducous. 



A genus of biennial much-branched herbs ; with large cordate and petio- 

 lated leaves, with slightly undulated margins, and their lower surface more 

 or less tomentose. Heads small, solitary, or somewhat corymbose. Corolla 

 purple, varying to white. 



L. major, Gartner. — Scales of the involucre all subulate, and with uncinate tips, 

 either glabrous or loosely arachnoid ; the upper cauline leaves ovate, the others large, 

 cordate. 



Linn., (Arctium) Sp. PI. 1143; Gsertner, Friw. ii. 379; Torrey and 

 Gray, Fl. ii. 462 ; Woodville, i. 32. 



Common Names. — Burdock ; Clot Burr ; Bat Weed, &c. 



Foreign Names. — Bardane, Glouteron, Fn ; Bardana, It. ; Gemeine 

 Klette, Ger. 



Description. — Root tapering, fleshy, biennial, of a brown colour externally. The stem 

 is erect, three or four feet high, succulent, pubescent, branching, furnished with large, 

 cordate, denticulate leaves, of a dark-green colour above, and whitish and tomentose be- 

 neath. The flowers are purple, in panicled heads. The involucre consists of imbricated 

 scales, with a horny, hooked extremity, by which they can attach themselves to objects. 

 The florets are all perfect, 5-cleft, with a 10-nerved tube. The stamens have papillose 

 filaments, and their anthers are terminated by filiform appendages, and have subulate 

 tails at base. The stigmas are free at the apex, diverging and curved outwards. The 

 receptacle is somewhat fleshy, flat, and furnished with stiff subulate fringes. The ache- 

 nia are oblong, smooth, with a rough, prickly pappus. 



