54 
NAT. ORDER. LOBELIACEiE. 
present unable to determine, as the plant is but very little known, and 
probably has never been introduced for culture into this countr3^ 
The drawing accompanying this description was taken from a 
plant which flowered in the hot house of Messrs. Grimwood & 
Co., Kensington, who spared no pains or expense in procuring all 
the rare ajid curious exotic plants for culture, and more particu- 
larly, to promote the cause of botany. It begins to flower in 
January and February, and continues to blossom during most of 
the summer months, and is easily increased by cuttings. 
Medical Properties and Uses. — The medicinal properties of this 
plant, but more particularly the root, are considered invaluable 
by the Indians of this country. They administer it with astonish- 
ing success in the treatment of cancers, ulcers, tumors, and syphil- 
itic affections, of the most virulent kind. Five or six of the 
plants, including the roots, are boiled in water, and the patient 
drinks as much as he can of this decoction, in the morning, and 
during the day. It soon purges, and the strength of the decoction 
is increased or lessened, as the patient can bear the evacuation. 
If any part is sore, it is to be washed with this decoction, by which 
process, in the course of two or three weeks, a perfect cure is 
effected. Every part of this plant abounds with a milky juice, 
and has a very disagreeable, rank smell. The root, which is the 
part preferred in medicine, in taste, resembles tobacco, and 
sometimes excites vomiting. A handful of it, dried, is boiled in 
twelve pints of water, till they are reduced to eight ; the patient 
begins taking half a pint, morning and evening, then more fre- 
quently, if the purgative effect is not too violent. Should it prove 
so, the medicine must be omitted for three or four days, and then 
again taken, till the cure is completed. The ulcers are to be 
washed with a decoction of the roots, and if deep and foul, 
sprinkled with the powder of the inner bark of the Ceanothus 
A7nericanus, New Jersey Tea, or Red-root, and which is sometimes 
used as a substitute. The leaves of this plant were used during 
