FUCUS VESICULOSUS. 
m 
and heavy, neither worm eaten nor very fibrous, about the thickness 
of the little finger, and two or three inches in length. 
Medical Properties and Uses. The root of zedoary is 
esteemed tonic, carminative and cordial, and as such it formerly 
entered into the aromatic confection of the London Pharmacopoeia. 
In modern prSttice it is very little used, although as a stomachic it 
is certainly a very agreeable medicine. By Avicenna,* and the 
Arabians it was highly extolled, and esteemed as an antidote for 
almost every disease. The modern Arabs esteem it to be tonic, 
deobstruent and aphrodisiac ; and the Hindoos make use of it in 
their bathings and purifications. 
Off. The root. 
FUCUS VESICULOSUS. 
Bladder-wrack. 
Class Cryptogamia. — Order Algm. 
Nat. Ord. AlGjE. 
Gen. Char. Male. Vesicles smooth, hollow, with villose 
hairs within, interwoven. 
Female. Vesicles smooth, filled with jelly, 
sprinkled with immersed grains, prominent 
at the tip. Seed solitary. 
Spec. Char. /?Vo«c/flat, linear, dichotomous, ribbed, entire. 
Vesicles in pairs. 
This species of Fucus is a perennial plant, bearing its fructifica- 
tion in the spring : it is a native of Britain, growing on our shores 
and rocks; it forms one of a very numerous tribe of plants, generally 
known under the popular name of sea weeds. This plant does not 
* Vide Canon. Med. lib. ii. tract, ii. p. 118. 
+ Fig. a. longitudinal section of a vesicle, h. Part of a receptacle magnified. 
c. Tubicle. rf. Seeds. /. Contents of a seed, c, Horizontal section of a receptacle. - 
