POLYGONACEiE. 539 



in milk is made by boiling the leaves in new milk ; the dose of this is about 

 a wineglassful. To form the electuary, the seeds are to be pulverised and 

 well mixed with honey or syrup. The best form is the essential oil, as this 

 has the active properties of the plant in the smallest compass, and at the 

 same time is not more offensive to the taste or stomach, than the other pre- 

 parations. The dose for a child of two years of age is from five to ten drops, 

 three times a day, increasing the quantity in proportion to the years. The 

 best mode of administering it is to drop the oil on a lump of sugar, which is 

 then to be grated into water. Care must be taken in very young children not 

 to make the dose too pungent and acrid. After taking if some time, a dose 

 of castor oil should be administered. Kalm speaks of a tincture being em- 

 ployed with much advantage. 



Two closely allied species, C. ambrosoides and C. botrys, have somewhat 

 the same properties, but are not as powerful, and are seldom or never used as 

 anthelmintics. The first has been favourably spoken of by Plenck and 

 others as an antispasmodic, and the latter is reported by French physicians 

 to be a valuable expectorant in catarrh. C. olidum, a native of Europe, has 

 a very nauseous odour, and has obtained some reputation as an antispasmodic 

 and expectorant, but is not employed in regular practice. C. baryosmon re- 

 sembles the last, in odour and properties. C. quinoa is a common article of 

 food in Peru. 



Order 87.— POLYGON ACEM.—Lindky. 



Calyx free, often coloured, with an imbricated aestivation. Stamens definite, and in- 

 serted on the calyx ; anthers with a longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary free, usually formed 

 by the cohesion of three carpels; 1-celled, with a solitary, erect ovule, having the fora- 

 men at top ; styles or stigmas as many as carpels. Fruit usually triangular, naked, or 

 protected by the calyx. Albumen farinaceous ; embryo curved or nearly straight, gene- 

 rally on one side, rarely in the axis. 



A .numerous and important order, consisting mostly of herbaceous plants, 

 rarely shrubby. The leaves are alternate, with stipules forming sheaths 

 round the stems. Flowers, occasionally unisexual, often in racemes. The 

 species are found in tnosl parts of the world. Their properties are various : 

 some have purgative roots, as the Rhubarb, and some Docks; some are as- 

 tringent, as Coccoloba ; others acid, as in some species of Sorrel ; and others, 

 again, acrid and caustic, as in many of the Polygonums. The root of Calli- 

 gonum pallasii, a leafless plant, found in Siberia, furnishes a gummy nutri- 

 tious substance, like Tragacanth, whilst the branches and fruit are acid. 

 The fruit of Muhlenbeckia adpressa have a sweetish taste, and are used in 

 Australia. 



Rheum. — Linn, 



Calyx petaloid, 6-parted, marcescent. Stamens about 9, inserted on the base of the 

 calyx. Styles 3, reflexed ; stigmas peltate, entire. Fruit, a triangular, winged achenium, 

 with the withered calyx at the base. Embryo in the centre of the albumen. 



This is a very important genus, as some of the species afford the purgative 

 root so well known as Rhubarb, but which of them, has not been ascertained 

 with certainty, notwithstanding the numerous researches made for that pur- 

 pose. The name is derived from that of Rha or JR-heon, applied by Dios- 

 corides to a root growing beyond the Bosphorus, and at one time generally 

 supposed to be the modern Rheum, but his description does not apply to any 

 species of this genus yet discovered. Pliny speaks of the same under the 



