By the Rev. Robert Walsh. 51 



knobs of the root are the parts used. It is the KiWpo? of 

 Dioscorides,* which he describes as having an angular stem, 

 knobs on the root like olives, and growing in a humid soil. 



Centaur ea Solstitialis. 

 This pretty plant is found sparingly on the hills about 

 Constantinople. 



Momordica Elaterium. 

 The peculiarities and properties of this curious plant were 

 well known and described by the ancients. The name of 

 Elaterium (ab eXaa) was given to it, according to Pliny,+ 

 from the powers the capsule possesses of ejecting its seeds, 

 which it does with such force, as to endanger the eyes of a 

 bystander, " etiam oculorum periculo." This property is very 

 extraordinary. The plant grows in tufts, from which per- 

 pendicular foot-stalks issue, supporting on their summits the 

 capsules, forming acute angles with the stalks. On the 

 slightest motion these capsules detach themselves, and shoot 

 out all their seeds with considerable force, so that a passenger 

 is frequently struck in the face, by merely walking by the 

 plant. The mechanism by which this is effected, is totally 

 different from that by which the Impatiens, Cardamine, and 

 other plants eject their seed, which they do merely by the 

 elasticity of the valves of the capsule causing the parts to se- 

 parate ; but the capsule of the Elaterium is a tube, without 

 valves, from whence the seeds seem to be projected by a pro- 

 cess similar to that of shot from an air gun, namely, the 

 expansion of some elastic fluid within the tube. Forskal 



* Lib. i. cap. 4. f Hist Nat. lib. xx. c. 1, 



