100 The Collinsia. 



the plate, is the most common. It is about two feet in height i 

 the leaves are very deeply cut, covered with prickles, and of n 

 bluish-green color, which is varied with white blotches along 

 the principal veins. The capsule is oblong, and also studded 

 with prickles. From this circumstance, and from the shape 

 of the capsule, it was called by the Spaniards, at their inva- 

 sion of Mexico, Figo del inferno, or Devil's fig. The whole 

 plant abounds in a yellow juice, glutinous and milky, which 

 when hardened in the air, is not distinguishable from gamboge 

 is used for the same purposes, — and is probably of equal effi. 

 cacy, in cases of dropsy, jaundice, and cutaneous diseases. 

 (The true gamboge probably comes from a species of Garcinia 

 which belongs to the order Guttiferae.) It is also used in mala- 

 dies of the eye, and is said to form a principal ingredient in 

 certain eye ointments. The narcotic quality of the seeds is 

 said to be much stronger than that of Opium, and an oil is 

 pressed from them, which is used in Mexico by painters, and 

 for polishing wood. When cultivated, the seeds are to be 

 sown early in the spring, and the plants require little attention. 

 They flower from August to October. 



Another species of Argemone, is named ochroleuca. It is a 

 large plant, and the flowers are cream colored. The hand- 

 somest species is A. grandijlora, whose flowers are a pure 

 white, and frequently four inches in diameter. 



COLLINSIA— THE COLLINSIA. 



Natural Order, Scrophularineae. Linnrean Class, Didynamia; Order, Angiog- 

 permia. Generic Distinctions: — corolla, gibbous above the base; limb, 

 very irregular ; capsule, two-valved ; valves, two-parted. 



C, heterophilla. — Lower leaves, trilobate; upper ones, ovate, acuminate: 

 peduncle, shorter than the flower ; calyx, covered with a glandular pubes- 

 cence ; segments of the corolla, rounded at the apex, crenate ; middle 

 tube of the lower lip, acute ; border of the upper lip, nearly entire — 

 Plate 17. 



This is a genus of very beautiful plants, and was named by 

 Nuttall in nonor of Mr. Collins, formerly of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences. The species are all North Ameri- 

 can plants, and the first discovered was C. verna, which Nuttall 



