212 
NEW AMERICAN REMEDIES. 
tion of the root of service in epidemic dysentery.* * * § It has long acquired a 
popular reputation in like diseases. The Eclectic practitioners also use it 
extensively in scarlatina, typhus, and in threatened or existing mortification. 
Besides the use of this plant as a remedial agent, a blue colouring matter, resem¬ 
bling indigo, may be prepared from it. This dyeing agent is, however, very in¬ 
ferior to true indigo. Similar parts of an allied species, the Baptism alba of 
R. Brown, commonly termed the Prairie Indigo, is used for similar medicinal 
purposes as the above in Michigan.f No mention is made of the Baptisia tine - 
toria in the United States Pharmacopoeia, neither is it alluded to by any of the 
leading writers on "therapeutics in the States of North America. 
Synonyms. —This plant has been variously named at different periods by 
botanists. It is the Sopliora tinctoria , Linn. Sp. PI. 534, and Reich, vol. ii. 
243 ; the Podalyria tinctoria , Willd. vol. ii. p. 513 ; Bot. Mag. t. 1099 ; and 
Lam. Ill. t. 327 ; and the Baptisia tinctoria , R. Brown, in Hort. Kew. vol. iii. 
p. 5 ; Elliott, vol. i. p. 467: Hook. FI. Bor. Amer. vol. i. p. 129 ; De Cand. 
Prod. vol. ii. p. 100 ; and of Torrey and Gray’s FI. North America, vol. i. p. 386. 
The last name is that now commonly adopted by botanists and by writers on 
Materia Medica and Therapeutics, and hence we have used it here. In common 
language the Baptisia tinctoria has been termed Wild Indigo, Dyer’s Baptisia, 
Horsefly Weed, etc. 
Etymology. —The generic name Baptisia is derived from fianra) to dye, in 
allusion to the dyeing properties of some of the species. The specific name tinc¬ 
toria has a similar origin. The common names of Dyer’s Baptisia and AVild 
Indigo, are also derived, as may be at once seen, either from the dyeing pro¬ 
perties of this species, or from the resemblance of the dye which may be pre¬ 
pared from it, to true Indigo. 
Botany.— The genus Baptisia belongs to the Natural Order Leguminosse of 
most botanists, or the Fabacete of Lindley. Lindley places it in the suborder 
Papilionaceae, tribe Podalyrieae.ij: De Candolle places it in the suborder Papi- 
lionacese, tribe Sophoreae.§ 
Generic Character .— Calyx , somewhat bilabiate, persistent, half 4-5-cleft. 
Corolla of five nearly equal somewhat united petals ; vexillum with the sides 
reflexed. Stamens , ten, distinct, deciduous. Ovary stalked ; ovules numerous. 
Legume inflated, stalked, mostly by abortion, few-seeded. Perennial herbs, with 
simple or ternate leaves, and racemose flowers. Native of North America.j| 
Specific Character. — Boot perennial, from which arise several much branched 
smooth stems, about two feet high. Leaves very shortly petiolate, alternate, 
ternate ; leaflets roundish-obovate or cuneiform ; stipules minute, deciduous. 
Flowers in short, few flowered, terminal racemes, yellow. Bracts minute. Calyx 
4-cleft. Corolla with a roundish, crenulate vexillum, obovate wings, and a 
keel of 2 obovate, somewhat united petals. Stamens nearly equal, as long as the 
keel. Ovary smooth. Legume on a long stalk, with boat-shaped valves. Seeds 
small, somewhat reniform.^f 
Habitat. —This and the other species of the genus Baptisia are exclusively 
natives of North America. According to Torrey and Gray, the Baptisia tinc¬ 
toria extends from Canada to Florida, and west to the Mississippi. It is abun- 
* ‘ New York Journal of Medicine/ vol. iv. p. 358. 
f “Medicinal Plants of Michigan,” by Frederick Stearns, in Proceedings of American 
Pharmaceutical Association for 1858, p. 24-7. 
£ Lindley’s Yeg. King. p. 553; and Bentley’s ‘Manual of Botany,’ p. 526. 
§ De Candolle’s ‘ Prodromus/ vol ii. p. 100. 
|| De Candolle’s ‘Prodromus,’ vol. ii. p. 100; Lindley’s ‘Flora Medica/ p.237; and Torrey 
and Gray’s ‘ Flora of North America,’ vol. i. p. 383. 
1 L>o' Candolle’s ‘ Prodromus/ vol. ii. p. 100; Lindley’s ‘ Flora Medica/ p. 237; and 
Torrey and Gray’s ‘ Flora of North America/ vol. i. p. 386, 
