ORDER HEXAXDRIA. 
237 
of use, after the clear and plain description just given ; you will 
have no difficulty in procuring specimens of this plant for anal- 
ysis ; a variety of species are in flower in June and July. 
The Apocynum, or dogsbane, with some other genera, which 
were formerly placed in the 5th class, are now classed here. 
HEXANDRIA. 
The 6th order contains the Virginia snake-root, (Aristolo- 
chia serpenlaria,) a perennial plant, with brown fibrous roots ; 
it is found in shady woods, from New England to Florida : the 
root is highly valued in medicine; it possesses an aromatic 
smell, somewhat similar to spruce. It is said to have been 
found, by a chemical analysis, to contain “ pure camphor, a 
resiu, a bitter extractive, and a strong essential oil. It* It was 
used by the Indians as a remedy for the bite of a snake ; from 
this circumstance is derived its name. This plant has medical 
properties unlike the Polygala senega or Seneca snake-root, 
and the mistaking one for the other, might, in critical stages of 
disease, be attended with fatal consequences.t 
decandria. 
In the 10th order, we find the wild ginger, (Asarcm ;) this is 
a native plant, so low that its flowers are almost concealed in the 
ground ; the roots are creeping and aromatic, having the taste 
and smell of the snake-root, (Aristolochia.) 
We have now finished a review of the class Gynandria ; al- 
though many species of it are native to this country, you will 
not so readily procure specimens of this as of most other native 
plants. The ladies’-slipper, milk-weed, and dog’s-bane, you can 
often find, but many of the plants of this family, particularly 
the Orchis tribe, opposing all attempts at cultivation, are to be 
found only in the depths of the forest, or places little frequented 
by man ; we may, in this respect, compare them to the aborigi- 
nal inhabitants of America, who seem to prefer their own na- 
tive wilds to the refinements and luxuries of a civilized life. 
* Rafincsque’s Medical Flora. 
t A physician prescribed for an infant the Seneca snake-root, Polygala 
senega,) as a medicine in a case of extreme sickness ; an ignorant apothe- 
cary sent in answer to the prescription, the Virginia snake-root, (Aais-ro- 
lochia serpentaria.) The physician had fortunately remained to inspect 
the medicine which he had ordered, and the mistake was seasonably dis- 
covered ; this instance shows the importance of botanical knowledge, par- 
ticularly in those who attempt to deal in medicine ; had the mother of the 
child understood botany, she might have discovered the mistake, had the 
physician not been present. 
Order Hexandria — ^ irginia snake-root — Order Decandria — Wild-ginger 
— Many plants of this class cannot be cultivated. 
