LAPPA BURDOCK. 



185 



A perennial herb, 1 to 2£ feet high. Badical leaves orbicular or round- 

 ish-ovate, mostly cordate, crenate-serrate, petiolate ; the lower cauline 

 lyrate, the upper lanceolate, cut-pinnatifid, sessile or partly clasping. 

 Heads in an umbel-like corymb, appearing in May and June. A very va- 

 riable species. 



Habitat. — In swamps, marshes, and wet places ; common everywhere. 



Part Used. — The entire plant — not official. 



Constituents. — Unknown. 



Preparations. — Commonly employed in decoction. There are commer- 

 cial fluid extracts and a so-called senecin. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Said to be diaphoretic, diuretic, tonic, and 

 emmenagogue. Considerably used and praised — by eclectics. 



Several other species of senecio are said to possess similar properties. 



LAPPA. — Burdock. 



Lappa officinalis Allioni. — Burdock. 



Description. — Heads many-flowered ; the flowers all tubular, perfect, 

 the corolla regularly 5 -cleft, 10- 

 nerved. Involucre globular, the 

 imbricated scales coriaceous and 

 appressed at the base, subulate 

 and spreading above, tipped 

 with a hooked appendage. Re- 

 ceptacle flat, fleshy, and some- 

 what bristly. Achenia oblong, 

 compressed, glabrous, wrinkled 

 transversely. Pappus of numer- 

 ous short rough bristles, not 

 united at the base, deciduous. 



A coarse, ill-scented, bien- 

 nial herb, 1 to 4 feet high. 

 Lower leaves very large, cor- 

 date, slightly undulate on the 

 margins, more or less tomen- 

 tose beneath, smoother above ; 

 the upper ovate. Heads rela- 

 tively small, solitary or some- 

 what corymbose ; flowers pur- 

 ple, varying to white, appear- 

 ing from July to autumn. FlG - l»--i*w» officinalis. 



Habitat, — Introduced from Europe ; common in waste places every- 

 where. 



Parts Used. — The root — United States Pharmacopoeia. The seeds are 

 also employed, but are not official. 



