90 THE NEW ZEALAND FAMILY HERB DOCTOR. 
SENEKA (Potyeata SenzGA), 
This plant has a perennial branching root, from which 
several erect, simple, smooth, round, leafy stems annually 
rise from nine inches to a foot in height. The stems are 
occasionally tinged with red or purple below, but are green 
near the top. The leaves are alternate or scattered, lance-. 
shaped, smooth, bright green on the upper surface, paler 
beneath, and supported on very short footstalks. The flowers. 
are small and white, and form a close spike at the summit of 
the stem. The calyx is their most conspicuous part. It 
consists of five leaflets, two of which are wing-shaped, white, 
and larger than the others. It is grown in North America. 
Seneka is a stimulating expeectorant and diuretic, and in large 
doses emetic and cathartic. It appears, indeed, to excite, 
more or less, all the secretions. Its actionis especially directed 
to the lungs, as its expectorant virtues are those for which 
it is chiefly employed. As an expectorant it is prescribed in 
cases not attended with acute inflammatory action, or in which 
the inflammation has been in great measure subdued. It is 
peculiarly useful in chronic catarrhal affections and the 
secondary states of croup, employed so as to purge and as 
an emetic. It has proved useful in rheumatism and some 
cases of dropsy are said to have been cured by it. The dose 
of powdered seneka is from ten to twenty grains, but the 
medicine is never used in substance. The dose of syrup 18 
one or two fluid drachms; of the extract trom one to three 
orains. The decoction of an ounceot’the bruised root to the 
pint; dose: half to two tablespoonfuls is, we think, the best 
way to get all its virtues. 
BLOOD-ROOT (Sancurnarnia CANADENSIS), 
(Red Puccoon), 
Is second only to lobelia as an expectorant. The plant grows 
plentifully in Canada and the United States. It is perennial. 
The root is about the thickness of a finger, fleshy, of a reddish 
brown colour outside and red within. When it is cut or 
