Am .  Jour.  Pharm.  | 
July,  1885.  J 
Useful  Plants  of  Verbenacece. 
333 
Brazil  as  capitdo  da  matto  (Bentley),  and  as  did  de  frade,  or  chd  de 
pedestre  (Peckolt). 
The  widely  distributed  Lippia  (Zapania,  Lamarck),  nodiflora,  Rich- 
ard, is  a  procambent  or  ascending  perennial  with  small  whitish, 
yellowish  or  reddish  flowers,  possesses  mild  aromatic  and  tonic  proper- 
ties, and  has  also  been  employed  as  an  antispasmodic  and  against  snake 
bites.  It  groAvs  in  most  tropical  countries  and  is  frequently  met  with 
in  our  Southern  States  in  damp  localities.  It  is  known  asfogfniit  like 
the  closely  allied  Lippia  lanceolata,  Michaux,  which  is  a  weed  extend- 
ing northward  into  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  Illinois,  and  westward  to 
Colorado. 
The  so-called  lemon  verbena,  Lippia  (Aloysia,  Ortega),  citriodora,. 
Kuntli,  s.  Verbena  triphylla,  L'Heritier,  is  a'well-known  ornamental 
shrub  of  our  gardens  and  conservatories,  indigenous  to  Peru  and  other 
parts  of  South  America.  In  Mexico  it  is  officinal  under  the  name  of 
eedron,  and  in  France  as  verveine  odorante,  also  known  as  verveine- 
citronelle.  Oliva  who  examined  the  plant  found  in  it,  besides  volatile 
oil,  the  usual  common  constituents  of  plants  like  sugar,  gum,  fat,  tan- 
nin and  coloring-matter.    It  is  employed  as  an  antispasmodic. 
Dr.  Podwissotzki  ('^Phar.  Zeitschr.  Russl.,''  1883,  p.  920)  has  sub- 
mitted  the  herb  of  Lippia  mexicana  to  analysis,  and  obtained  tannin, 
a  quercetin-like  crystalline  principle,  liquid  volatile  oil  of  a  lemon-like 
odor,  and  lippiol,  a  camphor  melting  between  25°  and  30°C.,  having 
the  composition  of  menthol,  and  representing  the  medicinal  activity  of 
the  plant ;  it  acts  as  a  diaphoretic,  nauseant  and  soporific.  I  have  not 
had  the  opportunity  of  consulting  the  paper  referred  to  as  originally 
published,  but  have  seen  only  abstracts  of  the  same.  On  examining 
several  works  on  Botany,  general,  as  well  as  specially  referring  to 
Mexico,  I  was  unable  to  find  a  plant  of  the  name  given  by  Podwis- 
sotzki. A  plant  having  a  strong  somewhat  lemon-like  odor  is  Cedro- 
nella  mexicana,  Bentham,  which  has  been  admitted  into  the  Mexican 
Pharmacopceia  under  the  name  of  toronjil,  it  being  used  as  an  anti- 
spasmodic; its  volatile  oil  is  similarly  employed  and  also  as  a  perfume. 
It  seems  likely  that  Podwissotzki^s  researches  have  reference  to  this 
plant  (which  belongs  to  the  natural  order  of  Labiatse)  or  to  Aloysia 
citriodora. 
The  Mexican  Pharmacopoeia  has  admitted,  under  the  name  of  yerba 
dulce,  two  indigenous  species  of  Lippia,  L.  graveolens,  Kunth,  and  L. 
dulcis,  Trevlranus,  which  are  used  in  the  form  of  infusion  for  their 
