NAT. ORDER. AROIDEiE. 
85 
are uniformly low wet lands, and abundance wherever appearing, 
might easily have led to the imaginary endowment of those pesti- 
lential qualities which distinguish permanent marshes. 
The flowers of the Symplocarpus augustispatha are of a purplish 
hue, inflorescent, and profusely cover the spadix, which is simple, 
almost spherical, and supported by a peduncle, of a light amber 
color ; the leaves, which do not present themselves till several weeks 
after the flowers, forming large bunches, petiolate, attain from eight 
to eighteen inches in length, and two-thirds of the same in breadth ; 
they are strongly veined, the middle rib projecting below, and fur- 
nished with large oblong sheathes ; the fibres of the root are cylind- 
rical, whitish, with brown rings, near the fourth of an inch in diam- 
eter, and often two feet in length. A funiculus, which for twelve or 
eighteen months is exceedingly minute, and apparently inert, con- 
nects the seminal tubercle, which is roundish and turbinate, solid, 
and carneous with the embryo ; the seeds are numerous, spotted, 
and more particularly imbued with the allicaceous odor of the plant, 
from which the flowers, as noted, are so singularly exempt. 
Medical Properties and Uses. This plant contains a volatile 
principle, which has not been insulated beside the acrid matter 
which is known to many of the Araceaj. Each part of it is endowed 
with anti-spasmodic qualities, so strong as to make it eminent in 
that class of medicines. When musk and other kindred applications 
have failed, it has proved effectual ; as in a case of violent hysteria, 
when but two tea-spoonsful of the powdered root were given. The 
rapidity and completeness of its effects are alike remarkable. Its 
medicinal powers were ascertained at a very early period, when used 
as an expectorant, and for the relief of phthisical coughs. For these 
purposes it is still employed, whilst it is moreover an assured palli- 
ative in the paroxysms of asthma. While the latter continue, thirty 
or forty grains, at such times as may seem needful, may be adminis- 
tered and continued thereafter till the patient is entirely cured. It 
has been known to relieve the spasms which affect the abdominal 
