TUSSILAGO — COLTSFOOT. 



173 



Preparations.— Of E. perfoliatum : Extractum eupatorii fluidum— fluid 

 extract of eupatorium— United States Pharmacopoeia. The infusion and 

 decoction are efficient preparations, and are most commonly employed. 

 Of E. purpureum there are commercial fluid extracts, but, as with the other 

 species, it is most commonly administered in decoction or infusion. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Of domestic remedies few are better 

 known or more largely used than boneset. It is tonic, diaphoretic, emetic, 

 and cathartic, the different effects depending largely upon the size of the 

 dose and mode of administra- 

 tion. The infusion, taken cold 

 in moderate doses, is tonic, and 

 is employed in debility of the 

 digestive organs and in conva- 

 lescence. Taken warm in large 

 doses, the infusion or decoction 

 produces copious diaphoresis, 

 and is employed in the acute 

 stages of catarrhal affections and 

 in fevers, especially those of an 

 intermittent or remittent type. 

 In still larger doses the warm 

 infusion or decoction produces 

 emesis or catharsis ; these effects 

 are, however, seldom sought. 



E. purpureum, or gravel-root, 

 is said to be diuretic and to have 

 been employed in urinary affec- 

 tions, but it has not attained an 

 established reputation and is 

 seldom used. 



TUSSILAGO. —Coltsfoot. 



Tussilago Farfara Linne. 



— Coltsfoot. 



Description, — Heads radiate, many flowered ; ray-flowers numerous, 

 narrowly ligulate, pistillate, fertile, in many rows, bright yellow ; tubular 

 disk-flowers few, staminate. Scales of the involucre oblong, obtuse, nearly 

 in a single row. Receptacle flat, naked. Style abortive in the disk-flow- 

 ers, 2-cleft in the ray-flowers, the branches nearly round. Achenia of the 

 ray-flowers cylindrical-oblong, smooth ; in the disk, abortive. Pappus 

 capillary, copious in the ray-flowers, in a single series in the disk. 



A perennial herb, with a rather thick rhizome. Stems simple, often 

 growing in tufts, erect, about 6 inches high, woolly and scaly, 1-flowered. 

 Leaves all radical, appearing after the flowers, cordate, angular-toothed, 



Fig. 183.— Tussilago Farfara. 



