QQ AGRIMONIA EUPATORIA. 
the corolla consists of five obovate white petals; the filaments are 
more than twenty, tapering, inserted into* the calyx, and furnished 
with yellow anthers; the germen is round, and supports a simple 
style, crowned with a globular stigma ; the fruit is a superior oval 
drupe, consisting of a sweet fleshy pulp, covered with a purple 
coloured pellicle, and including in the centre an almond-shaped nut 
or stone. 
Sensible Qualities, &c.— Plumbs or prunes, when perfectly 
ripe, have a pleasant sweetish subacid taste, but are nearly inodorous. 
They are composed, chiefly of mucus combined with saccharine 
matter, and a large proportion of malic acid. Prunes lose much of 
their acidity by drying, and from this circumstance the dried fruit 
is considered more wholesome than the recent. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Prunes considered medi- 
cinally are emollient, cooling and laxative; and form a pleasant 
addition to purgative decoctions and electuaries. They are found to 
be peculiarly useful in costive habits, and may be taken ad libitum, 
either in their dry state, as they are met with in the shops, or boiled 
down to a soft pulp, in which state tjiey form an useful laxative for 
young children. The recent fruit when perfectly ripe, and taken in 
a moderate quantity, proves a pleasant and wholesome food ; but in 
an immature state, or when taken too freely, is very liable to pro- 
duce diarrhoea, colic, &c. 
Off. The dried Fruit. 
AGRIMONIA EUPATORIA. 
Common Agrimony * 
Class DODECANDRIA.— OrfZer DiGYNIA. 
Nat, Ord. Senticosje, Linn. Rosacea, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx five-toothed, guarded by another. Petals 
five. Seed two, in the bottom of the calyx. 
* Fig. a. the caljx. 6, The styles and stigmata. «. The capsule, d. Seeds. 
