218 



SOLANACE^E, 



tapering at the base, entire or sparingly repand-toothed. Flowers solitary, 

 axillary, greenish-yellow, darker in the centre, appearing late in summer. 



Habitat. — In dry or sandy soil, from Pennsylvania to Florida and west- 

 ward. 



Parts Used. — The herb and fruit of C. Alkekengi — not official. 

 Constituents. — The herb contains a peculiar bitter principle termed 

 physalin ; the berries sugar and citric acid. 



Preparations. — The herb has been employed in powder, decoction, and 

 vinous tincture ; the fruit, fresh, or dried and powdered. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Physalis appears to be entirely destitute 

 of acrid and narcotic properties, so common in the solanaceoe. Alkekengi, 

 by virtue of its bitter principle, appears to be tonic and febrifuge. It has 

 been employed in Europe in intermittents with satisfactory results. The 

 berries are pleasant to the taste, and are cultivated for the same purposes 

 as other small fruits of the garden. They have been employed medicinally 



in urinary diseases, and in gout, 

 but, considering their constitu- 

 ents, one would not naturally 

 expect them to be very active. 



The indigenous species above 

 described probably possesses 

 similar properties. Several 

 other North American species 

 might also be included in the 

 same statement. 



HYOSC Y AMUS. —Henbane. 



Hyoscyamus nigerLinne. 



— Henbane. 



Description. — Calyx bell- 

 shaped or urn-shaped, 5-lobed, 

 persistent, the lobes broad, stiff, 

 almost prickly. Corolla funnel- 

 form, about 1 inch long, the 

 border 5-lobed, and more or less plaited. Stamens declined. Capsule 

 globular, enclosed in the persistent and enlarged calyx, 2-celled, many- 

 seeded, opening by a lid at the top. 



An annual or biennial herb, erect, 1 to 2 feet high, more or less hairy 

 and viscid, with a fetid, nauseous smell. Leaves rather large, sessile ; the 

 upper ones clasping, ovate, irregularly pinnatifid. Flowers sessile, in one- 

 sided leafy spikes ; corolla pale dingy -yellow, with purplish vines. 

 Habitat. — Introduced from Europe ; naturalized in waste places. 

 Parts Used.— The leaves collected from plants of the second years' 



Fig. 147. — Hyoscyamus niger. 



