HYDRANGEA AKBORESCENS. 
311 
from time to time appeared in the same journal and elsewhere, more or less 
confirmatory of its remedial virtues in the diseases first recommended by Din 
B utler.* * * § Amongst other physicians who have thus written of, or testified to its 
advantages, we may mention, Dr. Monkur, of Baltimore; Dr. Bates, of New 
Lebanon Springs; Dr. D. Horsley and Drs. Atlee, and JolmNeill,of Philadelphia.! 
Parrish also, in his ‘ Practical Pharmacy,’! thus speaks of this remedy :—“ I have 
prepared fluid extract of hydrangea for several years, during which time I have 
dispensed it, under the direction of several practitioners, to numerous patients., 
and with general satisfactory results, in irritable conditions of the urethra, though 
its value as a specific remedy requires confirmation.” Probably this remedy may 
turn out, when tried in this country, to be of little, if any, value in the diseases 
for which it has been so highly recommended in various parts of North America; 
but a drug which will in any degree tend to prevent, or interfere with the forma¬ 
tion of calculi and gravelly deposits in the bladder, and thus save our constant 
resort to the painful and frequently dangerous operations of lithotrity and litho¬ 
tomy, would be an immense boon to suffering humanity ; and with this view, 
we especially introduce to the notice of the medical profession in this country, 
a new remedy which is stated to have that effect; and we trust it will have a 
careful and extended trial, in order to confirm or otherwise its reputed medicinal 
properties. 
Synonyms.— This plant is the Hydrangea arborescens , Linn. Spec. ; Lam. 
Ill. t. 370 ; Bot. Mag. t. 437 ; Willd. Spec. vol. ii. p. 633 ; De Cancl. Prod. vol. 
iv. p. 14 ; and Torrey and Gray’s FI. North America, vol. i. p. 591. It is the- 
Hydrangea vulgaris , Michaux, FI. vol. i. p. 26S ; and Pursli, FI. vol. i. p. 309, 
according to Torrey and Gray’s FI. p. 591, but De Candolle, in his 1 Prodro- 
mus,’ vol. iv. p. 14, refers Pursh’s plant in part to Hydrangea cordata. It is 
the Hydrangea frutescens , Mcench. The first name is that now commonly 
employed, and hence has been adopted by us. In common language the plant 
has been termed the Common Hydrangea, Seven-Barks, and Wild Hydrangea. 
Etymology. —The generic name, Hydrangea , is derived from vdcop, water, 
and ayyeiov, a vessel. The genus obtained this name, either from the vase-like 
shape of the fruits of some of the species, or, more probably, on account of the 
common garden species, Hydrangea liortensis , requiring for its successful culti¬ 
vation in the summer months, an enormous supply of water ; a large plant, it 
is said, as much as ten or twelve gallons daily.§ The specific term, arborescens , 
refers to the shrubby character of the species now under notice. The origin of 
the common names of Wild Hydrangea and Common Hydrangea is at once 
evident, but that of Seven-Barks is not manifest. 
Botany.— The genus Hydrangea has at different times been variously 
placed by systematic botanists. By Schultz and others it was put into the 
Natural Order Cunoniacem; by Adanson, in Portulacese; by Jussieu, in Saxi- 
fragacese ; by De Candolle, Torrey and Gray, and others, it is referred to the 
Natural Order Saxifragacese, suborder Ilydrangese ; by Siebold and Zuccarini, 
and also by Lindley, it was put in Hydrangeaceae; and following Lindley’s 
example we have placed it in our ‘ Manual of Botany’ in Hydrangeacese. || 
Generic Character. — Flowers either all fertile, or more commonly the marginal 
ones sterile. Sterile Flower: — Calyx membranaceous, coloured, 4-5-parted. 
Petals , stamens , and carpels , rudimentary, or absent. Fertile Flower : — Calyx 
* ‘ Reporter/ as above, Sept. 1854, pp. 393 and 416; Oct. 1854, p. 426, and March, 1855, 
p. 115. 
f Amer. Journ. Mat. Med., vol. iii. Feb. 1861, p. 53. 
J Parrish’s e Practical Pharmacy/ 2nd edit. 1859, p. 205. 
§ Loudon’s ‘ Encyclopaedia of Plants/ 366. 
|| For the diagnostic characters of tire Hydrangeacen? refer to Lindley’s £ Vegetable King¬ 
dom/ p. 569, and Bentley’s ‘ Manual of Botany,’ p. 540. 
