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NAT. ORDER. CAMPANULACE^. 
vant, and was first introduced into England in the year 1787, by 
Mons. L. Heritier, who first gave it the name of Michauxia, and 
wrote a Monographia, or particular treatise upon it. We have 
frequently before observed, that when a plant has been named in 
honor of any particular person, that name should, under any cir- 
cumstances, be retained in all countries, however uncouth its pro- 
nunciation may be. It is now generally understood by botanists, 
that several varieties of this most beautiful plant are natives 
of the north of Asia, Europe, and many parts of North America, 
and scarcely known in the hot regions of the world. In the 
meadows, fields and forests of the countries they inhabit, they con- 
stitute the most striking ornament. Some curious species are 
also found in the Canaries, St. Helena, and Juan Fernandez. M. 
Alphonse Decandolle remarks, that "it is within the 36° and 47° N. 
lat., that, in our hemisphere, the greatest number of species is 
found ; the chain of the Alps, Italy, Greece, Caucasus, and the 
Altai range, are their true countries. In whatever direction we 
leave these limits, their number of species rapidly decreases. In 
the southern hemisphere, the Cape of Good Hope, (lat. 34° S.,) is 
another centre of habitation, containing not less than sixty-three 
species. This locality has a climate so different from that of our 
mountains, that it may be easily imagined that the species capable 
of living there differ materially from those of our own hemisphere ; 
in fact, they belong to other genera." Of three hundred species, 
only nineteen are found within the tropics. . 
Medical Properties and Uses. The roots and young shoots of 
this plant are occasionally used as an article of food. The milky 
juice is rather acrid, and possesses considerable diaphoretic and 
expectorant properties. It is sometimes administered in coughs 
and bronchial affections, but is more valued for its beauty than as 
a medicine. The dose of the dried root is from twenty to forty 
grains. That of the tincture, half a fluid ounce, made by adding 
one ounce of the fine dried root to a pint of diluted alcohol. It 
may be taken from two to three times a day. 
