ALLIUM SATIVUMi 
Sensible Properties, &c. The roots (the officinal part of 
the plant,) have no smell, but a sweetish and somewhat astringent 
taste, accompanied with a slight degree of bitterness. The seed$ 
are aromatic, slightly bitter, and subacid. 
Medical Properties and Uses. The medicinal virtues of 
burdock are not very powerful, but the roots and seeds are both 
said to be diuretic and sudorific, and have been successfully em-i 
ployed in many chronic diseases,* viz. rheumatism, lues venerea, 
gout, scurvy, phthisis, nephritic complaints, &c. We are told by 
the late Dr. Woodville, that he " never had an opportunity of ob-* 
serving the effects of this root, except as a diuretic, and in this wajt 
we have known it succeed in two dropsical cases, where other power- 
ful medicines had been ineffectually used ; and as it neither excite^ 
nausea nor increases irritation, it may occasionally deserve a triaj 
where more active remedies are improper." In calculus and nephritic 
disorders the seeds have been given with considerable success, in the 
form of emulsion, in doses of one drachm. The root, however, is 
generally preferred to the seeds, and is used in the form of decoction^ 
prepared by boiling two ounces of the recent root in three pints of 
water to one quart, which quantity should be taken in divided doses 
in twenty-four or forty-eight hours. 
— — 
ALLIUM SATIVUM. 
Cultivated Gar lie. ■\ 
Class Hexandria. — Order Monogynia. 
Nat. Ord. Spathace^, Linn. Asphodeli, Juss, 
Gen. Char. Corolla six-parted, spreading. Spathe many 
flowered. Umbel heaped together. Capsule superior. 
Spec. Char. Stem Leaves flat. Bulbs compound. Stamens 
three-cleft. 
* Vide Riverius, Obs. 41. 
t Fig. a, the germen. b. The anther, c. The flower. 
