Orontium aquaticum, s 



state, however, they are supposed to be poisonous. The seeds 

 well dried and boiled in water, give out a fecula ; but in their crude 

 state they are very acrid. 



The genus of which the only North American species is here 

 figured, is the .?»»n,» of the Greeks, but the etymology of the word is 

 entirely lost in obscurity. The name is said to have belonged to an 

 herb used in baths or fomentations for the jaundice ; and we are told 

 by Dr. Smith, that some have suspected it to be a corruption of the 

 word Origanum, while Professor Martyn thinks it likely that the word 

 comes from •*«», to see, a notion founded on a gratuitous assertion 

 of the plant being serviceable to the eye-sight. 



The Orontium Japonicum is the only other known species of this 

 genus. It is a native of Japan. 



The plate represents Orontium aquaticum of its natural size, in 

 flower. 



