520 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Fig. 224. 



rangular. Leaves subsessile or petiolate, lanceolate, acuminate, more or less serrated. 

 Flowers terminal in a dense short spike, each flower sessile and furnished with three 

 bracts, which are ovate, acute and entire. Calyx with five unequal imbricated segments, 

 oblong and obtuse. Corolla ringent, ventricose, convex above, five-lobed, two-lipped, the 

 lower lip bearded within. Stamens didynamous, with woolly anthers ; and a »short ste- 

 rile filament. Ovary ovate, with a slender style. Capsule oval, two-celle4 and two- 

 valved, with many small seeds having a membranaceous margin. 



There are numerous vari- 

 eties of this plant, differing in 

 the form and insertion of the 

 leaves and in the colour of 

 the flowers, which vary from 

 pure white to purplish. These 

 flowers are large and orna- 

 mental but inodorous, and re- 

 semble in form the head of a 

 snake or turtle. It is found in 

 most parts of the United States 

 in wet situations, and blossoms 

 from July until late in the 

 autumn. The part used is the 

 leaves ; these are inodorous but 

 excessively bitter. No analy- 

 sis has been made of them, but 

 they appear to contain Gallic 

 acid, and a Bitter extractive, 

 &c> ; they communicate their 

 properties to both water and 

 alcohol. 



Medical Properties. — These 

 are said to be tonic, cathartic 

 and hepatic, but no certain in- 

 formation has been afforded on 

 the subject, the only writer that mentions the plant being Rafinesque, who de- 

 rived his knowledge of it from the Shakers. He states that in small doses it is 

 laxative, but in full ones it purges actively, acting powerfully on the liver, and 

 also that it is held in much esteem by the Indians in a variety of complaints. 

 The dose is a drachm of the powder. It has been noticed here to draw at- 

 tention to it, for should it possess the powers attributed to it, it will prove a 

 valuable addition to the Materia Medica. 



C. glabra. 



Digitalis. — Linn. 



Calyx five-parted, unequal. Corolla campanulate, limb obliquely four-lobed, lobes une- 

 qual. Stamens four, didynamous, no vestige of a fifth. Stigma simple or bi-lamellate. 

 Capsule ovate acuminate. 



Most of the species of this genus are natives of warm climates, and many 

 of them appear to be merely varieties or hybrids of the D. purpurea and 

 lutea. They all are endowed with active qualities, though only one is offi- 

 cinal. The name is derived from the resemblance of the flower to a finger- 

 stall or thimble, digitalis, and was bestowed upon it by Fuchsius in 1542. 

 Pereira states that in a Saxon manuscript in the Cottonian library, older than 

 the Norman conquest of England, it is noticed under the name of Folks- 

 glove, which appears to be the earliest record of it, as none of the descriptions 

 of the earlier writers apply to it. 



