280. 
| the sea-shores of Great Britain. 
ASTRAGALUS. 
duous herbs, varying in height from 1 foot to 3 
feet. The species of the broad-leaved division, 
latifolii, are about 35 in number, exclusive of 
numerous varieties ; they have entire, broad, 
ovate, oblong, or lanceolate leaves, and many- 
flowered stems: most are natives of America; 
all are hardy, perennial, deciduous herbs ; several 
are very handsome; and one, the spurious, is 
eminently beautiful. The species of the serrate- 
leaved division, serratifoliz, are more numerous 
than even those of the preceding division; they 
have ovate and lanceolate leaves,—the lower ones 
serrated; all, with the exception of one biennial, 
are hardy, perennial, deciduous herbs, varying in 
height from 1 foot to 8 feet; and one, Aster tri- 
polium, growing 2 feet high, and producing blue 
flowers in August and September, is a native of 
The species of 
the heart-leaved division, cordifoli, are nine in 
number; and, except for having serrated heart- 
shaped leaves, possess the same general charac- 
ters as the four preceding divisions. 
ASTER (CHina or ANNUAL). 
ASTER. 
ASTRAGALUS. A very extensive and impor- 
tant genus of herbaceous plants of the pea tribe. 
Most of the species are popularly called milk- 
vetch; and several have a close resemblance to 
the well-known forage plant saintfoin. See arti- 
cles Mrzx-Vercn and Sarntrorn. An interesting 
species, known on the European continent under 
the name of Swedish coffee, but hitherto known in 
Great Britain almost solely by its botanical name 
See CHINA- 
| Astragalus boeticus, is cultivated to a considerable 
extent in Germany, and has been recommended 
for field cultivation in Britain as a substitute for 
coffee. It is a hardy trailing annual, usually 
grows to the height of about a foot, produces 
| cream-coloured flowers in June and July, and 
was introduced to Britain from the south of Hu- 
rope, as an ornamental plant, in 1759. The 
mode of culture is precisely the same as for the 
pea, only the pods are gathered as they ripen. 
Two-thirds of the seeds are mixed with one-third 
of coffee beans; and the two ingredients are 
roasted together, preserved in well-corked bottles 
or thoroughly closed vases, and taken out as they 
are wanted to be ground. Adam Ferguson, Esq., 
of Woodhill, reports, in the Highland Society’s 
Transactions of Feb. 1831, an experimental sow- 
ing, with half a pound of seed in drills, on a por- 
tion of ground in a thin gravelly soil, in the 
Highlands of Perthshire. “Circumstances,” says 
he, “ unfortunately retarded the period of sow- 
ing until the 3d of June, at least two months 
later than it ought to have been. In addition to 
this, the rainy and backward season rendered the 
ripening of the pods almost a total failure. The 
plants vegetated with great luxuriance; some of 
the straw, resembling fine tares, measured 3 feet 
|! in length, and generally bore 4 pods upon each 
_ stalk, and about 6 seeds in each pod. From an 
|| anxiety to obtain some of these in a ripe state, 
ASTRINGENT MEDICINES. 
the crop was allowed to stand until the middle 
of December, when a severe night of frost sud- 
denly blasted every hope. It is certainly, how- 
ever, sufficiently hardy to ripen in any part of 
Scotland; and it may be remarked, that in a 
sharp frost which destroyed the potato stems 
about the middle of October, the astragalus dis- 
played an important elasticity of constitution ; 
for although it had been severely touched by the 
frost during the night, it recovered, instead of 
sinking as the potato does, under the genial 
rays of the sun.” The Astragalus boeticus is pro- 
bably the best substitute for coffee which has 
yet been tried; and is well worth experimental 
cultivation in either the garden or the field. 
Vicia cracca, some kinds of lathyrus, and several 
other hardy leguminous plants, are likewise de- 
serving of attention as substitutes for coffee — 
The Astragalus tragacantha, popularly called 
goat’s thorn, yields the gum tragacanth of the 
drug shops, and forms the type of one of several 
divisions of the astragalus genus. ‘This species 
is an undershrub, ranks as a medicinal plant 
throughout the east, and‘is called by the Per- 
sians Kim, and by the Arabs Kétad and Kus- 
sad. See article TracacantH. — The Materia 
Medica of Hindostan.— Dr. Christison’s Dispen- 
satory.—The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 
ASTRAGALUS. A bone of the foot; so called | 
because it is shaped like the die used in ancient | 
games. 
ASTRANTIA. See Masterworr. 
ASTRINGENT MEDICINES. Substances 
which contract and strengthen the animal fibres. 
They are administered principally in cases of dy- 
sentery and diarrhoea, and will be noticed, in 
their remedial combinations, in our articles on 
these diseases. Their general effects are mani- 
fested by greater firmness of the muscular fibres, 
greater rigidity of the blood-vessels and diminu- 
tion of their caliber, and contraction of the ex- 
haling secreting orifices, whereby they check 
hemorrhage, and diminish exhalation and secre- 
tion. In the mouth, they produce a styptic or 
astringent taste. In moderate doses, they are 
capable of producing the same constitutional 
effects as tonics, but they are principally em- 
ployed for their local effects, to obviate relaxa- 
tion of the fibres and tissues, and to prevent and 
check excessive discharges. Astringents may be 
divided into two sections, the vegetable and 
mineral. The vegetable astringents owe their 
peculiar properties to the presence of tannin or 
tannil, which is found in all of them. They dif- 
fer only in the proportion of the latter principle, 
and in the other ingredients with which it is as- | 
sociated. The mineral astringents have nothing 
in common, but their property of astringency. « 
To the former belong oak bark, galls, kino, cate- 
chu, logwood, rhatany, geranium, tormentil, bis- 
tort, pomegranate -rind ; to the latter, alum, 
the preparations of lead, zinc, and iron, and sul- 
phuric acid. 
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