260 



WEEDS AXD USEFUL PLAXTS. 



posed to regard the vrhole story of the tobacco trade, and the uses made 

 of the herb, as an absurd and extravagant fable. In view of the facts 

 and ch'cumstauces, it does seem like sheer afiectation, on our part, to 

 pretend to be astonished at the indulgence of the Chinese, and other 

 Asiatics, in the use of Opium. The habitual use of Tobacco is always 

 more or less injurious to the system — especially the nervous system ; 

 and in many instances it is highly deleterious. speak from long ob- 

 servation, and a personal experience of many years, having smoked and 

 cheu-ed the herb, until its pernicious effects compelled me'to es-chew it 

 altogether. 



Order LIII. GENTIAN A' OE^. (Gentian Famil.y.) 



Smootli herbs with a colorless Utter juice, opposite, entire and sessile leaves without stijndes ; 

 fiowers regular ; stamens as many as and alternate with the lobes of the corolla, which are 

 convolute in the bud ; a 1-celled ovary with 2-parietal placentae ; the fruit a 2-valveQ^ 

 septicidal many-seeded pod ; seeds with fleshy albumen. 



An Order containing manj- beautiful species — a number of them valuable for their 

 bitter, tonic properties ; among which may be mentioned the Gentian of the shops (Geu- 

 tiaua lutea, L.). Few or none, however, are of any agricultual importance. 



1. SABBAT'IA, Centaury. 



[Named after Liberatiis Sabbaii ; an Italian Botanist.] 



Calyx 5 - 12'parted. Corolla sub-rotate, — the limb 5 - 12-lobed, convo- 

 lute (twisted to the right) in the bad. Stamens as many as the corolla- 

 lobes ; anthers erect, opening by a longitudinal fissure, finally recurved. 

 ' Style 2-parted, — the branches stigmatiferous, at length spirally twisted. 

 Capsule 2-valved, septicidal, l-celled, with spongy plar^^'ut^ along the 

 sutures. Biennials or annuals with slender stems and handsome flovrers 

 in a cymose panicle. 



1. S, angula'ris, Pw-sh. Stem acutely 4-augled, somewhat winged ; 

 leaves ovate, sessile and amplexicaul ; calyx-segments mostly 5, linear- 

 lanceolate, acute, much shorter than the corolla ; corolla mostly 5-parted, 

 the lobes ob ovate, rather obtuse. 

 Angular Sabbatia. Centaury. 



Root annual? (biennial, JDC). Stem 12-18 inches high, often bushy with numerous 

 branches. Leaves about an inch long, 5-nerved. i^Zorcers sometimes composed of 6 parts. 

 Corolla rose red, with a pale green star in the centre. Capsule oblong-ovoid, mucronate, 

 with a keeled suture on each side. Seeds rugosely pitted, under a lens. 



Sterile old fields : Canada to Carohna. Fl. July - August. Fr. September. 



Obs. This plant has but little connection vrith agriculture ; yet it is- 

 so generally and deservedly popular as a bitter and tonic medicint., that 

 it would seem desirable for every farmer to be able to identify it, and 

 therefore I have inserted it. There is another plant in the South and 

 \ West belonging to this tribe, which is highly commended for similar 

 roperties, namely, the AVild Colombo, (Fra'sera Carolinen'sis, Walt.) 

 do not deem it necessary, however, to do more than mention it here. 



