PARIS QUADRIFOLIA.-- HERB PARIS, ONE-BERRY, OR TRUE-LOVE. 
Class VIII. OCTANDRIA. Order IV. TETRAGYNIA. 
Natural Order, ASPHODELEAE. — THE ASPHODEL TRIBE. 
The figure represents an entire plant with its creeping root, four-leaves, and four-fold single flower; (a) the flower separate, with its 4 
sepals, 4 petals, 8 stamens, and 4 stigmas ; (6) the berry entire, with the persistent perianth ; (c) a section of the same to show 
the 8 seeds; (d) thegermen separate, with its 4 styles; (e f) seeds. 
Of the genus Paris two species only are known, Paris quadrifolia, which is a native of most countries of 
Europe, and Paris polyphylla, a plant which has lately been discovered in Nepal. The former is a peren- 
nial plant, growing in groves and moist woods in many parts of Britain, but rare. It occurs plentifully in a 
grove at Cossey, near Norwich, and was found by Mr. Miller, in a wood near Hampstead; by Mr. Blackstone, 
in Hanging-wood, near Hareford, Middlesex; at Selborne, in Hampshire, by Mr. White, at Kimbolton, by 
Mr. Fernie ; and in Scotland, in a wood about a mile South of Newbattle, near Dalkeith, by Dr. Parsons. 
It flowers in May and June. 
The rhizoma is creeping. The stem rises about a foot high ; it is simple, erect, smooth, round and 
naked, except at top. The leaves, whose number is usually four, sometimes five or six, are ovate, pointed, 
entire, smooth, of a dull green colour, with three principal veins, and spreading horizontally in a sort of 
whorl on the top of the stem. The flower is solitary, on an erect angular peduncle, about an inch in length. 
The calyx consists of four lanceolate green leaves : the corolla of four linear acute ones, of a similar colour, 
and both remain till the fruit be ripe. The stamens, eight in number, have short filaments ; the anthers, 
which are long, are inserted on both sides into the middle of the subulate threads, which continue beyond 
their apices. The germen is somewhat globular, of a violet colour, supporting four styles shorter than the 
stamens, with simple stigmata. The fruit is a purplish-black, four-celled berry, containing in each cell six 
or eight seeds in a double series. The generic name Paris, derived from par, equal, is said to have been 
given to the plant in reference to the regularity of its parts, four, or its multiples, prevailing both in the 
foliage, the flowers, and the fruit. 
Qualities. — The leaves have a narcotic odour, and a peculiar taste, which is not disagreeable. 
Medical Properties. — Herb Paris is one of the tribe of vegetables called narcotic, which, when 
received into the stomach in any considerable quantity, produces violent effects upon the nervous system, 
such as nausea, vomiting, vertigo, delirium and convulsions; hence it has been ranked by most writers on 
the materia medica, among the class of poisons. Every part of the plant seems to possess this property, 
but the leaves and berries are supposed to be the most active. Linmeus assures us that the root, in doses 
of twenty to forty grains, operates as a gentle emetic, like ipecacuanha. MM. Coste and Willemet, who 
have investigated, with considerable ardour and success, the properties of plants indigenous to France, also 
recommend the root, in doses of from one to two scruples, as a substitute for that useful medicine. They 
state, that it sometimes operates as a purgative. Gesner asserts that the berries prove noxious to poultry; 
and Krocker was credibly informed that a child died in consequence of eating them. Bergius recommends 
the herb to be used externally in fomentations as a discutient, and internally as an antispasmodic, in the 
hooping cough, and various convulsive diseases. Parkinson says, “ the roots boiled in wine help the colic, 
and the leaves applied outwardly repress tumours and inflammations.” The root of the exotic species, Paris 
polyphylla, is known to be a very active poison. 
The vegetable system, says the Author of “ The Phenomena and Laws of Vegetation/’ like the animal 
machine, is a curious structure, though its form be less complicated. The plant will be found admirably 
