670 POLYANDRIA. POLYGYNIA. Anemone 
streaked with white. Sheath conical; large, pale green. Berries red, 
growing in a naked cluster. 
Wake Robin. Cuckoo-pint. (Cows and Calves : Lords and La¬ 
dies : with other fanciful names. Irish: Clovas a Gachir. Welsh: 
Qatar getlilydd; Pidyn y gog. E.) Shady places, ditch-banks and 
rough grounds, (both in England and Scotland, though not so frequent in 
the latter. Woods at Dalhousie. Maughan. Grev. Edin. E.) P. May.* 
ANEMO'NE.f Cal. generally none: Petals five to ten, imbri- 
* (The scarlet berries about the close of summer render the hedge-banks gay, when 
flowers are no more, and their own foliage has long disappeared. E.) The root and the 
leaves, when recent, are so extremely pungent, that it is highly disagreeable to taste them. 
The root has been employed in medicine as a stimulant, but when reduced to powder it 
loses much of its acrimony, and there is reason to suppose that the compound powder, 
which takes its name from this plant, owes its virtues chiefly to other ingredients. Dried 
and powdered, it is used by the French as a lotion, and is sold at a high price, under the 
name of Cypress Powder. It is undoubtedly a good and innocent cosmetic.—After the 
acrimony of the roots has been extracted, either by boiling or baking, they afford a very 
mild and wholesome farinaceous nutriment, resembling Salep. Many nations prepare the 
only bread they have from plants as acrimonious as this; first dissipating the noxious 
qualities by heat. 
(Wedelius conjectures that the plant named Chara , on which, mixed with milk and 
made into a sort of bread, Caesar’s soldiers were subsisted at Dyrrachium during a scarcity 
of provisions, was either this species of Arum , or one much resembling it, which seems not 
improbable from the nutritive and farinaceous qualities of the root. Vid. Orobus tuherosus. 
Formerly Cuckoo-pint was well known by the name of Starch-wort , a pure and white 
starch being obtained from it. Dioscorides reports that the leaves may also be eaten, after 
being dried and boiled. Gerard asserts a curious fact from Aristotle, ALIimus, and other 
ancient authorities—that “ Beares after they have lien in their dens forty daies without 
any maner of sustenance, (but what they got with licking and sucking their owne feete), 
as soone as they come forth, eate the herbe Cuckow-pint: ” which seems to prove a sure 
restorative.—In severe snowy winters, according to the observations of Mr. White, the 
roots are scratched out of the dry banks of hedges and eaten by thrushes. Its economical 
uses appear to be well known abroad. In France it bears the name of Chou Poivre , 
(Pepper Cabbage), and Pain de Lidvre , (Hare’s Bread), as though eaten by those animals. 
—In a recent and acrimonious state its virtues as a carminative and stomachic may be such 
as described by old authors, but its power is soon lost by drying.—As a stimulant, 
producing copious perspiration, it has been recommended in rheumatic pains. For 
medicinal purposes the roots should be gathered after the leaves decay, and not, as is too 
commonly practised, when the plant is in full foliage ; which error may have greatly 
tended to bring its virtues into disrepute. It has been latterly much used in England as a 
substitute for the Maranta, or Indian Arrow-root, and is frequently sold in the shops as the 
genuine article. In Portland Island, where the Arum flourishes abundantly even upon the 
stubble lands, Mr. Griffith observed a number of women engaged in digging up the roots for 
this purpose for the supply of the London dealers, which they stated to be their regular em¬ 
ployment.—Repeated washing, or soaking in fresh water many hours, is said to dissipate the 
pernicious quality. At Weymouth many cwts. are sold annually for starch, or as nourishment 
for young children and invalids ; and also used in pastry, puddings, &c. From the Flat 
Holmes might be collected a sufficient quantity to be worthy the attention of Bristol market. 
In some parts of Worcestershire it is designated Bloody-men’s-Jingers, and some commenta¬ 
tors have imagined it to be the Long-purples of Shakspeare, rather than Orchis mascula , 
which see, though with less probability. The flower of this plant has been cited as 
affording a remarkable instance of the spontaneous heat generated in vegetables ; which, 
according to the observations of Lamarck and Senebier, is evolved in a very obvious 
degree, for several hours subsequent to the first opening of the spatha. Dr. Swediaur 
recommends the powdered root in dyspepsia, headaches, and intermittent fevers, in doses of 
gr. x. xx. or xxx. E.) 
*f* (From ’Avep.og y the wind; being readily agitated, or its petals easily scattered, as 
