412 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



The Burdock is a native of Europe, but is extensively naturalized in this 

 country, and is found on road-sides, along fence-rows, and in waste places, 

 in rich soil. Three species are recognised by some writers in the Arctium 

 lappa, of Linnaeus, namely, the L. major, L. minor, and L. bardana, but 

 they are at most but varieties. The officinal parts are the root and seeds. 

 The first loses about four-fifths of its weight by desiccation. Its odour is 

 weak but unpleasant, and its taste mucilaginous and sweetish, with a little 

 bitterness and astringency. The seeds are aromatic, bitterish, and some- 

 what acrid. The roots have been analyzed and found to contain a Gummy 

 extractive, Sugar, a large quantity of Inuline, some salts, &c. According to 

 Lemery, this plant was known to Dioscorides, and the other ancient writers 

 on the Materia Medica. 



Medical Properties, — The root is diaphoretic and diuretic, and was at one 

 time much used in syphilis, rheumatism, and gout, but its great employment 

 was as a depurative, and there is strong evidence that it has proved highly 

 beneficial, though Cullen was of a contrary opinion. In diseases of the skin 

 Alibert states that it seldom fails in doing good where there is aridity of the 

 surface ; like Sarsaparilla, its use must be persevered in for a long time. It 

 has also been employed, according to Gmelin (Flor. Siber.), in hysteria. 



The seeds are said to be more diuretic than the root, and according to 

 Linnaeus, they also act as purgatives. The leaves have been used as an ex- 

 ternal application to ulcers, and are stated to have proved very beneficial in 

 tinea, especially when a decoction of the root is at the same time adminis- 

 tered internally. The juice of the leaves mixed with oil, so as to form a soft 

 ointment, was a favourite application of Baron Percy's, to obstinate ulcers. 



The decoction of the root is made by boiling two ounces of the recent root 

 with three pints of water down to two pints, of which one half is to be admi- 

 nistered daily. The dose of the seeds is about a drachm. 



Sub-order 2. Liguliflor^e. — Flowers all ligulate and perfect, disposed in a homoga- 

 mous radiated head. Pollen scabrous and many-sided, usually dodecahedral. 



Tribe 5. Cichorade.e. — Style cylindraceous above, the summit as well as the rather 

 obtuse branches, uniformly pubescent; stigmatic lines terminating 1 below or near the 

 middle of the branches. Plants with a milky juice. Leaves alternate. 



Hieracium. — Tournefort. 



Heads many -flowered. Scales of involucre imbricated or only in two series; the outer 

 short and somewhat calyculate. Receptacle scrobiculate or somewhat areolar, fimbriate. 

 Achenia oblong or columnar, often subclavate, rarely fusiform, striate or ribbed, not ros r 

 trate. Pappus of a single series of persistent, delicate, rough bristles, of a brownish- 

 white or fuscous colour. 



An extensive genus of perennial herbs mostly peculiar to the northern 

 hemisphere, with entire or dentate leaves, which are generally bristly and 

 pubescent ; the soft pubescence often stellate, the more rigid hairs glandular 

 or toothed. Flowers in most cases yellow, rarely white or orange. 



H. venosum, Linn. — Stem naked or with one leaf, slender, smooth, branched above, so 

 as to form a compound corymb ; radical leaves obovate or spathulate oblong, entire or 

 slightly dentate, glaucous beneath with purple veins, margins and midrib villous. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 1125; Torrey and Gray, Fl. ii. 477; Elliott, SL i\. 262. 

 Common Names. — Rattlesnake weed ; Hawk weed ; Blood wort. 



Description. — Root perennial, stem or scape one to two feet high, sometimes naked, 

 sometimes with one or more cauline leaves, glabrous, slender, several times dichotomouB, 



