DESCRIPTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
57 
POLEMONIACEiE. (Polemonium Family.) 
Polemonium reptans, L. Abcess-root. Low, smooth peren- 
nial, with alternate-pinnate leaves, the upper leaflets some- 
times confluent, smooth throughout or slightly pubescent; 
stems weak and spreading, 6-10' high, never creeping, as the 
name denotes; leaflets 5-15, ovate-lanceolate or oblong; 
corymbs few-flowered, flowers nodding. Calyx bell-shaped, 
herbaceous. Stamens equally inserted at the summit of the 
very short tube of the open bell-shaped or short funnel-form 
corolla ; filaments slender, declined, hairy-appendaged at the 
base. Corolla light-blue, wide, capsules about 3-seeded,. 
Woods, in all parts of the State. Early flowering. The 
root should be collected after flowering season. 
HYDROPHILLACEAE. (Waterleaf Family.) 
Hydrophyllum Virginicum, L. Waterleaf. Succulent peren- 
nial, smoothish, 1-2° high; leaves pinnately divided; the 
divisions 5-7, ovate-lanceolate or oblong, pointed, sharply 
cut-toothed, the lowest mostly 2-parted, the uppermost con- 
fluent; peduncles longer than the petioles of the upper 
leaves, forked. Calyx-lobes narrowly linear, bristly ciliate, 
5-parted, with minute appendages. Corolla bell-shaped, 5- 
cleft; the tube furnished with 5 longitudinal linear append- 
ages opposite the lobes, which cohere by their middle, while 
the edges are folded inward, forming a nectariferous groove. 
Stamens and style exserted, filament 5-bearded. Capsule 
ripening 1-4 seeds. Woods in the higher mountains of East 
Tennessee. The creeping, scaly-toothed rootstock is used 
in homeopathic practice. 
Lithospermum arvense, L. Gromwell. Minutely rough-hoary 
annual; stems erect 6-12' high ; leaves lanceolate or linear, 
veinless. Flowers on one side of the branches of a reduced 
cyme, imitating a spike or raceme, which is rolled up from 
the end and straightens as the blossoms expand. Corolla 
funnel-form, nearly white, scarcely longer than the calyx, 
destitute of appendages. Nutlets tubercled and pitted, gray 
