NAT. ORDER. 
Trilliacece. 
TRILLIUM LATRIFOLIUM. CLOVER TREEFOIL. 
Class V. Pentandria. Order I. Monogynia. 
Gen. Char. Corolla, hirsute. Stigma, bifid. Capsule, one-celled. 
Spe. Char. Leaves, ternate. 
^his plant is quite common in the eastern parts of Europe. 
It grows in low and marshy meadows, producing its flower at the 
end of a long terminal spike, which is of a very peculiar shape, 
and appears in the latter part of June, and beginning of July ; 
the scape or stalk rises from one to three feet in height ; the petals 
are sometimes entirely white, but most generally rose-colored ; the 
root'is perennial, creeping and jointed, sending forth many long, 
slender filaments. The lat7-ifolium is easily distinguished from the 
other species of Trillium by its ternate leaves, which have been, 
thought to resemble those of the common garden bean ; hence, 
the English formerly called it the Buck Bean. 
The whole plant is so extremely bitter, that in some coun- 
tries it is used as a substitute for hops, in the preparation of malt 
liquor ; yet Linnaeus observes that the largest portion of the poor 
people in Lapland make a bread of the powdered roots mixed 
with meal, but at the same time he acknowledges that it is a very 
unpalateable food. 
Medical Properties and Uses. The blackness manifested by 
adding a solution of green vitriol to the juice, or to a strong in- 
fusion of the leaves of this plant, is a sufficient test of its astrin- 
gency ; while a drachm of the powdered root or leaves seldom 
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