Ami£™m<?rm'}  Indigenous  Plants  of  Medical  Interest.  47 
plant  of  fine  appearance  but  short  duration,  exceedingly  delicate  in  foliage  as 
well  as  in  fragrance  of  flowers.  Species  of  Corydalis  are  also  used  as  the  above, 
principally  in  combination  with  other  drugs,  whereby  their  properties,  real  or 
supposed,  are  quite  well  concealed.  The  species  found  here  are  Corydalis 
gtauca,  C.fiavula  and  C.  aurea. 
In  that  large  order,  Cruciferae,  few  plants  are  at  present  used,  although  nearly 
all  contain  virtually  the  same  principles  or  constituents.  Shepherd's  purse, 
Capsetla  Bursa-pastoris,  though  not  a  native,  makes  its  home  here,  and  is  com- 
ing out  in  new  remedies,  when  we  shall  see  what  it  can  do. 
The  order  Cistaceae  sends  us  rock  rose  or  frost  weed,  Helianthemum  cauadense 
to  add  to  our  list,  but  whose  life  history  is  more  interesting  than  its  therapeu- 
tical record  at  present.  We  refer  to  the  crystals  of  ice  shooting  out  from  the 
bark  of  the  stem  at  its  base  in  late  fall. 
The  order  Violaceae  has  12  species  and  several  varieties  represented  in  this 
neighborhood  ;  but  in  order  to  get  a  pansy  for  officinal  use,  we  must  accept  a 
little  foreigner,  Viola  tricolor,  sparingly  introduced,  but  not  for  that  purpose. 
Thus  the  number  13  proved  fatal  again,  and  our  fine  native  species  have  felt 
pretty  blue  over  the  insult  ever  since. 
Geranium  maculatum  is  a  valuable  astringent  drug,  and  it  had  been  hoped 
ere  this  to  have  become  more  popular  with  our  physicians.  But  they  probably 
know  best  for  general  good  why  it  is  not  so.  It  is  a  beautiful,  common  plant 
and  delights  in  borders  of  fields  and  woodlands  in  spring.  Several  plants  of  two 
other  genera  of  this  order  deserve  mention,  viz  :  Oxalis  acetosella  and  O.  corni- 
culata,  variety  stricta  and  Impatiens  pallida  and  /.  fulva  Both  genera  are 
quite  common,  especially  the  latter,  jewel  weed,  which  can  be  found  in  nearly 
all  wet  spring  places,  and  ranks  well  in  size  for  a  season's  growth. 
Xanthoxylum  Americanum  and  Ptelea  trifoliata  are  the  only  shrubs  we 
have  of  the  order  Rutaceae.  The  former,  known  as'  prickly  ash,  is  found  in 
Bucks  County  ;  the  latter,  called  wafer  ash,  is  a  very  fine  shrub,  principally  in 
cultivation,  and  has  large  cymes  of  greenish-white  flowers,  not  so  disagreeable 
in  odor  as  some  authorities  assert.  Ailanthus  glandulosa  may  be  put  in  here, 
not  to  overpower  the  Ptelea,  which  is  an  easy  affair,  but  because  it  follows  the 
others  very  naturally.  It  is  used  to  a  very  limited  extent  in  medicine.  A 
mortal  needs  but  to  pass  within  several  rods  of  this  "  Tree  of  Heaven,"  when 
in  bloom,  to  obtain  an  odor  that  is  not  from  "Araby  the  Blest,"  but  of  our 
foreign  fumes  the  worst.  This  odor  is  said  to  be  characteristic  of  its  physio- 
logical action,  extremely  nauseating.  We  might  call  your  attention  specially 
to  good  specimens  of  Ptelea  trifoliata  within  the  city  limits.  They  are  on  a 
small  strip  of  land  immediately  at  the  divergence  of  the  West  Chester  Railroad 
from  the  Wilmington  and  Baltimore  branch.  Here  they  were  very  abundant, 
but  fiends  of  destruction  have  been  on  hand  and  these  fine  specimens  will 
soon  be  gone. 
Among  the  Hollies,  or  order  Ilicineas,  the  officinal  Prinos  or  Ilex  vcrticillata , 
commonly  called  black  alder,  is  widely  distributed  in  both  States,  New  Jersey 
and  Pennsylvania,  and  forms  quite  an  article  of  interstate  commerce,  if  not 
more  so  than  one  of  materia  medica.  Another  species,  I.opaca,  with  ever- 
green spiny  leaves  and  with  abundant  bright  red  berries,  tends  to  make  our 
winters  cheerful  as  well  as  it  can. 
Buonymus  is  the  only  genus  of  the  order  Celastraceie  that  yields  an  officinal 
