662 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Tribe 6. Arundine^e, is more interesting. Thus some of the Brazilian 

 species of Gynerium are diuretic. A decoction of the root of G. parviflorum 

 is used as a wash to strengthen the hair ; and the stalk of G. saccharoides 

 affords much sugar. In Russia, Phragmites calamagrostis is considered 

 diuretic ; P. arundinacea has the same properties. The roots of JDonax 

 arundinaceus, of Southern Europe, have been employed in decoction to lessen 

 the secretion of milk in nurses, and are also recommended as astringent. 

 Arundo arenaria is of great utility for keeping together the shifting sands of 

 the seacoast, by means of its creeping suckers and tough, entangled roots. 



Tribe 7. Pappophore^e, and 8. Chlorejs, present nothing requiring 

 notice. 



Tribe 9. Aveneje contains several species of importance in many respects. 

 Thus Anthoxantum odoratum is very odorous, and is said to contain benzoic 

 acid. Ataxia horsfieldii possesses the same fragrance. Belonging to this 

 tribe is Avena. 



Avena. — Li?tn. 



Spikelets 3, many-flowered ; flowers remote, the upper one withered. Glumes 2, thin, 

 membranaceous, awnless. Paleae 2, herbaceous ; lower one awned on the back, awn 

 twisted, almost bicuspidate at tip ; upper one bicarinate, awnless. Stamens 3. Ovary 

 hairy at point. Stigmas 2, sessile, distant, villous-plumose ; hairs simple. Scales 2, 

 smooth, large, usually 2-cleft. Caryopsis long, somewhat terete, marked within by a 

 longitudinal furrow, hairy at tip, covered by the paleae, adhering to the upper one. 



A. sativa, Linn. — Panicle equal. Spikelets 2-flowered. Flo- 

 Fig. 314. rets smaller than the glumes, naked at the base, alternately 

 awned. Root fibrous, annual. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 61 ; Witldenow, Sp. PI. i. 446. 

 Common Name. — Oats. 



Foreign Na?nes. — Avoine, Fr. ; Avena, It. ; Haber, 

 Ger. 



The Oat was known to the Greeks, and is mentioned 

 by many of their authors. Its native country is not 

 known ; but it has been naturalized in Sicily, and is 

 said to have been found by Anson in the Island of Juan 

 Fernandez. It is principally cultivated as food for 

 horses, but also forms a large portion of the nutriment 

 of man in many places, as in the north of England and 

 of Scotland, in some parts of France, &c. The meal 

 is nutritious and somewhat laxative, and easily digesti- 

 ble, and therefore is an excellent diet for the invalid in 

 many cases. It is usually given in the form of gruel, 

 made with more or less of the meal, according to cir- 

 cumstances, and sweetened or flavoured as may be required. A cataplasm 

 of this meal with linseed flour, is a good emollient application to painful or 

 suppurating tumours. 



Tribe 10. Festuc^e is very extensive, and possesses several plants of con- 

 siderable interest to the medical botanist. 



Bromns mollis is stated by Pereira (i. 122), on the authority of Loudon, 

 to occasion vertigo in the human species and quadrupeds, and is fatal to 

 poultry. B. catharticus, of Chili, is said by Feuillee to be purgative in de- 

 coction (Chili, ii. 705); but Pereira is of opinion that there may be some 

 mistake in this, as B. secalinus, also reported to be active, has been found by 

 M. Cordier to be bland. The plant noticed by Frazier as growing near Lima, 



A. sativa. 



