FUMARIA FUMITORY. 



91 



Ovary oval; style filiform, about as long as the stamens,* deciduous. Pod 

 roundish, somewhat heart-shaped, 1-seeded, indehiscent. 



A small, leafy, much-branched annual, about 1 foot high. Leaves Li- 

 pinnate, the pinnulaB mostly 3-lobed, of a pale green color. Flowers 

 small, reddish-purple, in dense spikes or racemes. 



Habitat. — A native of Europe but naturalized here, growing in waste 

 places about dwellings and in 

 cultivated grounds. 



Part Used. — The herb — not 

 official. 



Constituents. — Fumitory has 

 a bitter, disagreeable taste, 

 strongly marked in the fresh 

 herb and still more so in the 

 dried specimen. It has yielded 

 to analysis a peculiar crystal- 

 lizable acid, termed fumaric 

 acid, and an alkaloid, also 

 crystalline, termed fumarine. 

 These are supposed to be the 

 active constituents of the plant, 

 but experiments in support of 

 the supposition appear to be 

 lacking. 



Preparations. — None are of- 

 ficial. The expressed juice of 

 the fresh plant is an efficient 

 preparation ; the decoction and 

 infusion are also eligible forms 

 of administration. 



Medical Properties and Uses. 

 — Fumitory was highly es- 

 teemed by the ancients as a blood purifier, and was also believed to exert 

 a special influence upon the eyes. In more recent times it has been re- 

 garded as tonic and depurative, and £s being specially beneficial in dis- 

 eases of the skin. At one time or another it has, therefore, been em- 

 ployed with asserted benefit in a great variety of cases. Cullen found it 

 more beneficial in skin diseases than in any other class of cases. Others 

 have used it in scrofulous and scorbutic affections ; others as a vermifuge, 

 though as Cazin remarks, it is no more anthelmintic than other bitters. 

 It is sometimes employed externally in cutaneous affections, in the form 

 of a decoction made by boiling the plant in milk. 



Fig. 104. — Fumaria officinalis. 



