The Botanist's Companion, Volume II · Chapter 13Sect. VII.—Plants Useful in Medicine. (4)
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Similar Plant.—Gentiana lutea, which see.
287. VERONICA Beccabunga. BROOKLIME. Herb. L. D.—This plant was formerly considered of great use in several diseases, and was applied externally to wounds and ulcers; but if it have any peculiar efficacy, it is to be derived from its antiscorbutic virtue.
As a mild refrigerant juice, it is preferred where an acrimonious state of the fluids prevails, indicated by prurient eruptions upon the skin, or in what has been called the hot scurvy.—Woodville's Med. Bot. 364.
288. VITIS vinifera. GRAPE VINE. Raisins and different Wines. L. E.— These are to cheer the spirits, warm the habit, promote perspiration, render the vessels full and turgid, raise the pulse, and quicken the circulation. The effects of the full-bodied wines are much more durable than those of the thinner; all sweet wines, as Canary, abound with a glutinous nutritious substance; whilst the others are not nutrimental, or only accidentally so by strengthening the organs employed in digestion: sweet wines in general do not pass off freely by urine, and heat the constitution more than an equal quantity of any other, though containing full as much spirit: red port, and most of the red wines, have an astringent quality, by which they strengthen the tone of the stomach and intestines, and thus prove serviceable for restraining immoderate secretions: those which are of an acid nature, as Renish, pass freely by the kidneys, and gently loosen the belly: it is supposed that these last exasperate, or occasion gout and calculous disorders, and that new wines of every kind have this effect.
The ripe fruit of grapes, of which there are several kinds, properly cured and dried, are the raisins and currants of the shops: the juice of these also, by fermentation, affords wine as well as vinegar and tartar.
The medical use of raisins is, their imparting a very pleasant flavour both to aqueous and spiritous menstrua. The seeds or stones are supposed to give a disagreeable relish, and hence are generally directed to be taken out: nevertheless I have not found that they have any disagreeable taste.—Lewis's Mat. Med.
289. ULMUS campestris. ELM. Bark. L. E. D.—The leaves have a bitterish astringent taste, and are recommended in powder, to the extent of at least two drams a-day, in ulcerations of the urinary passages and catarrhus vesicae. The powder has been used with opium, the latter being gradually increased to a considerable quantity, in diabetes, and it is said with advantage. Some use it for alleviating the dyspeptic symptoms in nephritic calculous ailments.—Lewis's Mat. Med.
290. RHODODENDRON Chrysanthemum. YELLOW-FLOWERED RHO-DODENDRON. E. The Leaves.—This species of Rhododendron has lately been introduced into Britain: it is a native of Siberia, affecting mountainous situations, and flowering in June and July.
Little attention was paid to this remedy till the year 1779, when it was strongly recommended by Koelpin as an efficacious medicine, not only in rheumatism and gout, but even in venereal cases; and it is now very generally employed in chronic rheumatisms in various parts of Europe. The leaves, which are the part directed for medicinal use, have a bitterish subastringent taste, and, as well as the bark and young branches, manifest a degree of acrimony. Taken in large doses they prove a narcotic poison, producing those symptoms which we have described as occasioned by many of the order Solanaceae.
Dr. Home, who tried it unsuccessfully in some cases of acute rheumatism, says, it appears to be one of the most powerful sedatives which we have, as in most of the trials it made the pulse remarkably slow, and, in one patient, reduced it 38 beats. And in other cases in which the Rhododendron has been used at Edinburgh, it has been productive of good effects; and, accordingly, it is now introduced into the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia.
The manner of using this plant by the Siberians was, by putting two drams of the dried leaves in an earthen-pot with about ten ounces of boiling-water, keeping it near a boiling heat for a night, and this they took in the morning; and by repeating it three or four times it generally affected a cure. It is said to occasion heat, thirst, a degree of delirium, and a peculiar sensation of the parts affected.— Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 239.
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SECT. VIII.—MEDICINAL PLANTS not contained in either of the BRITISH DISPENSATORIES.
For the use of the Medical Student I selected in the foregoing section such plants as are contained in the Pharmacopoeias of the present day: but there are many mentioned in Woodville's Medical Botany, Lewis's Dispensatory, &c. which, although discarded from the College list, are nevertheless still used by medical practitioners and others.
It would be difficult to give a full history of all the plants that have from time to time been recommended for medical uses. The old writers, as Gerard, Parkinson, Lyte, &c. attributed medical virtues to all the plants which came under their notice; and, on the other hand, as we observed above, the vegetable department of the Pharmacopoeias has from time to time been reduced so much, that, if we had confined ourselves to that alone, we fear our little treatise on this head would, by many persons, be thought defective. The following list is therefore given, as containing what are used, though probably not so much by practitioners in medicine, as by our good housewives in the country, who, without disparagement to medical science, often relieve the distresses of their families and neighbours by the judicious application of drugs of this nature, and many of which are also sold for the same purposes in the London herb-shops.
291. ACANTHUS mollis. SMOOTH BEARS-BREECH. The Leaves.—Are of a soft sweetish taste, and abound with a mucilaginous juice: its virtues do not seem to differ from those of Althea and other mucilaginous plants.
292. ACHILLA Ptarmica. SNEEZEWORT. The Root.—The roots have and acrid smell, and a hot biting taste: chewed, they occasion a plentiful discharge of saliva; and when powdered and snuffed up the nose, provoke sneezing. These are sold at the herb-shops as a substitute for pellitory of Spain.
293. ACHILLEA Ageratum. MAUDLIN. The Leaves and Flowers.—This has a light agreeable smell; and a roughish, somewhat warm and bitterish taste. These qualities point out its use as a mild corroborant; but it has long been a stranger in practice, and is now omitted both by the London and Edinburgh Colleges. It is however in use by the common people.
294. ACHILLEA Millefolium. YARROW. The Leaves.—The leaves have a rough bitterish taste, and a faint aromatic smell. Their virtues are those of a very mild astringent, and as such they stand recommended in haemorrhages both internal and external, diarrhoeas, debility and laxity of the fibres; and likewise in spasmodic hysterical affections.
295. AJUGA reptans. BUGLE. The Leaves.—These have at first a sweetish taste, which gradually becomes bitterish and roughish. They are recommended as vulnerary medicines, and in all cases where mild astringents or corroborants are proper.
296. ALCHEMILLA vulgaris. LADY'S MANTLE. The Leaves.—These discover to the taste a moderate astringency, and were formerly much esteemed in some female weaknesses, and in fluxes of the belly. They are now rarely made use of; though both the fresh leaves and roots might doubtless be of service in cases where mild astringents are required.
297. AMMI majus. BISHOPS-WEED. The Seeds.—The seeds of common bishops-weed are large and pale-coloured: their smell and taste are weak, and without any thing of the origanum flavour of the true ammi, which does not grow in this country. They are ranked among the four lesser hot seeds, but are scarcely otherwise made use of than as an ingredient in the theriaca.—Lewis's Mat. Med.
298. AMYGDALUS Persica. ALMONDS. Flowers.—They have a cathartic effect, and especially to children have been successfully given in the character of a vermifuge for this purpose; an infusion of a dram of the flowers dried, or half an ounce in their recent state, is the requisite dose. The expressed oil of almonds has been for a long time, and is at present, in use for many purposes in medicine. The concentrated acid of the bitter almond is a most dangerous poison to man and all other animals.
299. ANAGALLIS arvensis. PIMPERNEL. The Leaves.—Many extraordinary virtues have been attributed to them. Geoffroy esteems them cephalic, sudorific, vulnerary, anti-maniacal, anti-epileptic, and alexiteral.
300. ANCHUSA angustifolia. BUGLOSS. The Roots, Leaves, and Flowers.— Bugloss has a slimy sweetish taste, accompanied with a kind of coolness: the roots are the most glutinous, and the flowers the least so. These qualities point out its use in hot bilious or inflammatory distempers, and a thin acrimonious state of the fluids. The flowers are one of the four called cordial flowers: the only quality they have that can entitle them to this appellation, is, that they moderately cool and soften, without offending the palate or stomach; and thus in warm climates, or in hot diseases, may in some measure refresh the patient.
301. ANEMONE Hepatica. HEPATICA. The Leaves.—It is a cooling gently restringent herb; and hence recommended in a lax state of the fibres as a corroborant.
302. ANTIRRHINIUM Elatine. FLUELLIN. The Root, Bark, and Leaves.—They were formerly accounted excellent vulneraries, and of great use for cleansing and healing old ulcers and cancerous sores: some have recommended them internally in leprous and scrophulous disorders; as also in hydropic cases.
303. ANTIRRHINIUM Linaria. TOAD FLAX. The Flowers.—An infusion of them is said to be very efficacious in cutaneous disorders; and Hammerin gives an instance in which these flowers, with those of verbascum, used as tea, cured an exanthematous disorder, which had resisted various other remedies tried during the course of three years.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 372.
304. AQUILEGIA vulgaris. COLUMBINE. The Leaves, Flowers, and Seeds.—It has been looked upon as aperient; and was formerly in great esteem among the common people for throwing out the small-pox and measles. A distilled water, medicated vinegar, and conserve, were prepared from the flowers; but they have long given place to medicines of greater efficacy.
305. ARISTOLOCHIA longa. LONG BIRTHWORT. The Roots.—This is a tuberous root, sometimes about the size of the finger, sometimes as thick as a man's arm: great virtues used to be ascribed to this plant as a specific in most uterine obstructions and gout: the outside is of a brownish colour; the inside yellowish.
306. ARTEMISIA vulgaris. MUGWORT. The leaves.—These have a light aromatic smell, and an herbaceous bitterish taste. They are principally celebrated as uterine and anti-hysteric: an infusion of them is sometimes drunk, either alone or in conjunction with other substances, in suppressions of immoderate fluxes. This medicine is certainly a very mild one, and considerably less hot than most others to which these virtues are attributed.
307. ASCLEPIAS Vincetoxium. SWALLOW WORT. The Root.—This root is esteemed sudorific, diuretic, and emmenagogue, and frequently employed by the French and German physicians as an alexipharmic, sometimes as a succedaneum to contrayerva; whence it has received the name of Contrayerva Germanorum. Among us it is rarely made use of.
308. ASPERULA odorata. SWEET WOODROOF. The Flowers.—It has an exceedingly pleasant smell, which is improved by moderate exsiccation; the taste is sub-saline, and somewhat austere. It imparts its flavour to vinous liquors. Asperula is supposed to attenuate viscid humours, and strengthen the tone of the bowels: it was recommended in obstructions of the liver and biliary ducts, and by some in epilepsies and palsies: modern practice has nevertheless rejected it.
309. ASPLENIUM Ceterach. SPLEENWORT.—It is recommended as a pectoral, and for promoting urine in nephritic cases. The virtue which it has been most celebrated for, is that which it has the least title to, i. e. diminish the spleen.
310. ASPLENIUM Scolophendrium. HARTS-TONGUE. The Leaves.—These have a roughish, somewhat mucilaginous taste. They are recommended in obstructions of the viscera, and for strengthening their tone; and have sometimes been made use of for these intentions, either alone, or in conjunction with maiden-hair, or the other plants of similar properties.
311. ATROPA Mandragora. MANDRAKE. The Leaves.—The qualities of this plant are very doubtful: it has a strong disagreeable smell resembling that of the narcotic herbs, to which class it is usually referred. It has rarely been any otherwise made use of in medicine, than as an ingredient in one of the old officinal unguents. Both that composition and the plant itself are rejected from our Pharmacopoeias.
312. BALLOTA nigra. BASE HOREHOUND. The Leaves.—These are doubtless an useful aperient and deobstruent; promote the fluid secretions in general, and liberally taken loosen the belly. They are an ingredient only in the theriaca.
313. BELLIS perennis. DAISIES. The Leaves.—They have a subtile subacrid taste, and are recommended as vulneraries, and in asthmas and hectic fevers, and such disorders as are occasioned by drinking cold liquors when the body has been much heated.
214. BERBERIS vulgaris. BERBERRY. The Bark and Fruit.—The outward bark of the branches and the leaves have an astringent acid taste; the inner yellow bark, a bitter one: this last is said to be serviceable in the jaundice; and by some, to be an useful purgative.
The berries, which to the taste are gratefully acid, and moderately restringent, have been given with good success in bilious fluxes, and diseases proceeding from heat, acrimony, or thinness of the juices.
315. BETONICA officinalis. WOOD BETONY. The Leaves.—These and the flowers have an herbaceous, roughish, somewhat bitterish taste, accompanied with a very weak aromatic flavour. This herb has long been a favourite among writers on the Materia Medica, who have not been wanting to attribute to it abundance of good qualities. Experience does not discover any other virtue in betony than that of a mild corroborant: as such, an infusion or light decoction of it may be drunk as tea, or a saturated tincture in rectified spirit given in suitable doses, in laxity and debility of the viscera, and disorders proceeding from thence.
316. BETULA alba. BIRCH TREE. The bark and Sap.—Upon deeply wounding or boring the trunk of the tree in the beginning of spring, a sweetish juice issues forth, sometimes, as is said, in so large quantity, as to equal in weigth to the whole tree and root: one branch will bleed a gallon or more a day. This juice is chiefly recommended in scorbutic disorders, and other foulnesses of the blood: its most sensible effect is to promote the urinary discharge.
317. BORAGO officinalis. BORAGE. The Flowers.—An exhilarating virtue has been attributed to the flowers of borage, which are hence ranked among the so called cordial flowers: but they appear to have very little claim to any virtue of this kind, and seem to be altogether insignificant.
318. BRYONIA alba. WHITE BRYONY. The Roots.—This is a strong irritating cathartic; and as such has sometimes been successfully exhibited in maniacal cases, in some kinds of dropsies, and in several chronical disorders, where a quick solution of viscid juices, and a sudden stimulus on the solids, were required.
319. CALENDULA officinalis. MARIGOLD. The Flowers.—These are supposed to be aperient and attenuating; as also cardiac, alexipharmic, and sudorific: they are principally celebrated in uterine obstructions, the jaundice, and for throwing out the small-pox. Their sensible qualities give little foundation for these virtues: they have scarcely any taste, and no considerable smell. The leaves of the plant discover a viscid sweetishness, accompanied with a more durable saponaceous pungency and warmth: these seem capable of answering some useful purposes, as a stimulating, aperient, antiscorbutic medicine.
320. CANNABIS sativa. HEMP. The Seeds.—These have some smell of the herb; their taste is unctuous and sweetish; on expression they yield a considerable quantity of insipid oil: hence they are recommended (boiled in milk, or triturated with water into an emulsion) against coughs, heat of urine, and the like. They are also said to be useful in incontinence of urine; but experience does not warrant their having any virtues of this kind.
321. CARTHAMUS tinctorius. SAFFLOWER. The Seeds.—These have been celebrated as a cathartic: they operate very slowly, and for the most part disorder the bowels, especially when given in substance; triturated with aromatic distilled waters, they form an emulsion less offensive, yet inferior in efficacy to more common purgatives.
322. CENTAUREA Cyanus. BLUE-BOTTLE. The Flowers.—As to their virtues, notwithstanding the present practice expects not any from them, they have been formerly celebrated against the bites of poisonous animals, contagious diseases, palpitations of the heart, and many other distempers.
323. CENTAUREA rhapontica. GREATER CENTAURY. The Root.—It has a rough somewhat acrid taste, and abounds with a red viscid juice; its rough taste has gained it some esteem as an astringent; its acrimony as an aperient; and its glutinous quality as a vulnerary: the present practice takes little notice of it in any intention.
324. CHELIDONIUM majus. GREAT CELANDINE. The Leaves and Juice.—This is an excellent medicine in the jaundice; it is also good against all obstructions of the viscera, and, if continued a time, will do great service against the scurvy. The juice also is used successfully for sore eyes, removing warts, &c. It should be used fresh, for it loses the greatest part of its virtue in drying.
325. CHENOPODIUM olidum. STINKING GOOSEFOOT. The Leaves.—Its smell has gained it the character of an excellent anti-hysteric; and this is the only use it is applied to. Tournefort recommends a spiritous tincture, others a decoction in water, and others a conserve of the leaves, as of wonderful efficacy in uterine disorders.
326. CHRYSANTHEMUM Leucanthemum. OX-EYE DAISY. The Leaves.—Geoffroy relates that the herb, gathered before the flowers have come forth, and boiled in water, imparts an acrid taste, penetrating and subtile like pepper; and that this decoction is an excellent vulnerary and diuretic.
327. CISTUS ladanifetus. GUM CISTUS.—The gum labdanum is procured from this shrub, and is its only produce used in medicine. This is an exudation from the leaves and twigs in the manner of manna, more than of any thing else. They get it off by drawing a parcel of leather thongs over the shrubs. It is not much used, but it is a good cephalic.—Hill's Herbal, p. 72.
328. CLEMATIS recta. UPRIGHT VIRGIN'S BOWER.—The whole plant is extremely acrid. It was useful for Dr. Stoerck to employ the leaves and flowers in ulcers and cancers, as well as an extract prepared from the former; yet the preparation which he chiefly recommended was an infusion of two or three drams of the leaves in a pint of boiling water, of which he gave four ounces three times a-day, while the powdered leaves were applied as an escharotic to the ulcers.—Wood-ville's Med. Bot. p. 481.
329. COCHLEARIA Coronopus. SWINES-CRESS.—This is an excellent diuretic, safe and yet very powerful. The juice may be taken; and it is good for the jaundice, and against all inward obstructions, and against the scurvy: the leaves may also be eaten as sallet, or dried and given in decoction.—Hill's Hebal, p. 105.
330. CONVALLARIA Polygonatum. SOLOMON'S SEAL. The Root.—The root has several joints, with some flat circular depressions, supposed to resemble the stamp of a seal. It has a sweetish mucilaginous taste. As to its virtues, practitioners do not now expect any considerable ones from it, and pay very little regard to the vulnerary qualities which it was formerly celebrated for. It is used by pugilists to remove the black appearance occasioned from extravasated blood, and for curing bruises on the face, particularly black-eyes obtained by boxing.
331. CONVALLARIA majalis. MAY LILY. The Roots and Flowers.—The roots of this abound with a soft mucilage, and hence they have been used externally in emollient and maturating cataplasms: they were an ingredient in the suppurating cataplasm of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia. Those of the wild plant are very bitter: dried, they are said to prove a gentle errhine; as also are the flowers.
332. CONVOLVULUS sepium. BIND-WEED.—The poor people use the root of this plant fresh gathered and boiled in ale as a cathartic; and it is found generally to answer that purpose. It would, however, nauseate a delicate stomach; but for people of strong constitutions there is not a better medicine.
333. CUSCUTA europaea. DODDER. The whole plant gathered green is to be boiled in water with a little ginger and allspice, and this decoction operates as a cathartic; it also opens obstructions of the liver, and is good in the jaundice and many other disorders arising from the like cause.—Hill's Herbal.
334. CYNOGLOSSUM officinale. HOUNDS-TONGUE. The Root.—The virtues of this root are very doubtful: it is generally supposed to be narcotic, and by some to be virulently so: others declare that it has no virtue of this kind, and look upon it as a mere glutinous astringent.
335. CYPERUS longus. LONG CYPERUS. The Root.—This is long, slender, crooked, and full of knots: outwardly of a dark-brown or blackish colour, inwardly whitish; of an aromatic smell, and an agreeable warm taste: both the taste and smell are improved by moderate exsiccation. Cyperus is accounted a good stomachic and carminative, but is at present very little regarded.
336. DICTAMNUS albus. WHITE or BASTARD DITTANY. The Root.—The cortical part of the root, dried and rolled up into quills, is sometimes brought to us. This is of a white colour, a weak, not very agreeable smell; and a durable bitter, lightly pungent taste. It is recommended as an alexipharmic.
337. EQUISETUM palustre. HORSE-TAIL. The Herb.—It is said to be a very strong astringent: it has indeed a manifest astringency, but in a very low degree.
338. ERYSIMUM officinale.—It is said to be attenuant, expectorant, and diuretic; and has been strongly recommended in chronical coughs and hoarseness. Rondeletius informs us that the last-mentioned complaint, occasioned by loud speaking, was cured by this plant in three days. Other testimonies of its good effects in this disorder are recorded by writers on the Materia Medica, of whom we may mention Dr. Cullen; who for this purpose recommends the juice of the Erysimum to be mixed with an euqal quantity of honey and sugar; in this way also it is said to be an useful remedy in ulcerations of the mouth and throat.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 407.
339. ERYSIMUM Alliaria. SAUCE ALONE.—The leaves of this plant are very acrimonious, and have a strong flavour of onions. It is considered as a powerful diaphoretic, diuretic, and antiscorbutic.—Woodville's Med. Bot.
340. EUPATORIUM cannabinum. HEMP AGRIMONY, &c. Leaves.—They are greatly recommended for strengthening the tone of the viscera, and as an aperient; and said to have excellent effects in the dropsy, jaundice, cachexies, and scorbutic disorders. Boerhaave informs us, that this is the common medicine of the turf-diggers in Holland, against scurvies, foul ulcers, and swellings in the feet, which they are subject to. The roof of this plant is said to operate as a strong cathartic.
341. EUPHORBIA Esula. SPURGE FLAX. Its Berries.—These are useful in removing warts and excrescences, if bruised and laid thereon. They are so acrid in their nature as to be altogether unfit for internal use.
342. EUPHRASIA officinalis. EYEBRIGHT. Leaves.—It was formerly celebrated as an ophtalmic, both taken internally and applied externally. Hildanus says he has known old men of seventy, who had lost their sight, recover it again by the use of this herb.
343. FRAGARIA vesca. THE STRAWBERRY. The Leaves and Fruit.—They are somewhat styptic, and bitterish; and hence my be of some service in debility and laxity of the viscera, and immoderate secretions, or a suppression of the natural evacuations depending thereon: they are recommended in haemorrhages and fluxes; and likewise as aperients, in suppressions of urine, obstructions of the viscera, in the jaundice, &c. The fruit is in general very grateful both to the palate and stomach: like other fruits of the dulco-acid kind, they abate heat, quench thirst, loosen the belly, and promote urine.
344. FUMARIA officinalis. FUMITORY. The Leaves.—The medical effects of this herb are, to strengthen the tone of the bowels, gently loosen the belly, and promote the urinary and other natural secretions. It is principally recommended in melancholic, scorbutic, and cutaneous disorders; for opening obstructions of the viscera, attenuating and promoting the evacuations of viscid juices.
345. GALEGA officinalis. GOAT'S RUE. The Herb.—This is celebrated as an alexipharmic; but its sensible qualities discover no foundation for any virtues of this kind: the taste is merely leguminous; and in Italy (where it grows wild) it is said to be used as food.
346. GALIUM Aparine. GOOSEGRASS, OR CLEAVERS. The Leaves.—It is recommended as an aperient, and in chronic eruptions; but practice has little regard to it.
347. GALIUM verum. LADIES BEDSTRAW, OR CHEESE-RENNET. The Herb.—This herb has a subacid taste, with a very faint, not disagreeable smell: the juice changes blue vegetable infusions to a red colour, and coagulates milk, thus exhibiting marks of acidity. It stands recommended as a mild styptic, and in epilepsy; but has never been much in use.
348. GERANIUM robertianum. HERB ROBERT. The leaves.—They have an austere taste, and have hence been recommended as astringent: but they have long been disregarded in practice.
349. GLECHOMA hederacea. GROUND-IVY. The Leaves.—This herb is an useful corroborant, aperient, and detergent; and hence stands recommended against laxity, debility, and obstructions of the viscera: some have had a great opinion of it for cleansing and healing ulcers of the internal parts, even of the lungs; and for purifying the blood. It is customary to infuse the dried leaves in malt liquors, to which it readily imparts its virtues; a practice not to be commended, unless it is for the purpose of medicine.
350. HEDERA helix. IVY. The Leaves and Berries.—The leaves have very rarely been given internally; notwithstanding they are recommended (in the Ephem. natur. curios. vol. ii. obs. 120.) against the atrophy of children; their taste is nauseous, acrid, and bitter. Externally they have sometimes been employed for drying and healing ichorous sores, and likewise for keeping issues open. The berries were supposed by the ancients to have a purgative and emetic quality; later writers have recommended them in small doses, as diaphoretics and alexipharmics; and Mr. Boyle tells us, that in the London plague the powder of them was given with vinegar, with good success, as a sudorific. It is probable the virtue of the composition was rather owing to the vinegar than to the powder.
351. HERNIARIA glabra. RUPTUREWORT. The Leaves.—It is a very mild restringent, and may, in some degree, be serviceable in disorders proceeding from a weak flaccid state of the viscera: the virtue which it has been most celebrated for, it has little title to, that of curing hernias.
352. HYPERICUM perforatum. ST. JOHN'S WORT. The Leaves and Flowers.—Its taste is rough and bitterish; the smell disagreeable. Hypericum has long been celebrated as a corroborant, diuretic, and vulnerary; but more particularly in hysterical and maniacal disorders: it has been reckoned of such efficacy in these last, as to have thence received the name of fuga daemonum.
353. JASMINUM officinale. JASMINE. The Flowers.—The flowers have a strong smell, which is liked by most people, though to some disagreeable: expressed oils extract their fragrance by infusion; and water elevates somewhat of it in distillation, but scarcely any essential oil can be obtained from them: the distilled water, kept for a little time, loses its odour.
354. IRIS Pseudoacorus. FLOWER-DE-LUCE. The Root.—The roots, when recent, have a bitter, acrid, nauseous taste, and taken into the stomach prove strongly cathartic; and hence the juice is recommended in dropsies, in the dose of three or four scruples. By drying they lose this quality, yet still retain a somewhat pungent, bitterish taste: their smell in this state is of the aromatic kind.
355. IRIS florentina. FLORENTINE IRIS, OR ORRIS-ROOT.—The roots grown in this country have neither the odour nor the other qualities that those possess which are grown in warmer climates: so that, for the purposes of medicine, they are usually imported from Leghorn.
The root in its recent state is extremely acrid, and, when chewed, excites a pungent heat in the mouth which continues several hours; but on being dried, this acrimony is almost wholly dissipated, the taste becomes slightly bitter, and the smell approaching to that of violets. It is now chiefly used in its dried state, and ranked as a pectoral or expectorant. The principal use of the roots is, however, for the purposes of perfumery, for which it is in considerable demand.
356. LACTUCA sativa. GARDEN LETTUCE. The Leaves and Seeds.—It smells strongly of opium, and resembles it in its effects; and its narcotic power, like that of the poppy heads, resides in its milky juice. An extract from the expressed juice is recommended in small doses in dropsy. In those diseases of long standing proceeding from visceral obstructions, it has been given to the extent of half an ounce a-day. It is said to agree with the stomach, to quench thirst, to be greatly laxative, powerfully diuretic, and somewhat diaphoretic.
357. LAMIUM album. WHITE ARCHANGEL, OR DEAD NETTLE. The Flowers.—The flowers have been particularly celebrated in female weaknesses, as also in disorders of the lungs; but they appear to be of very weak powers.
358. LAVENDULA Stoechas. ARABIAN STOECHAS, OR FRENCH LAVEN-DER. The Flowers.—They have a very fragrant smell, and a warm, aromatic, bitterish, subacrid taste: distilled with water, they yield a considerable quantity of a fragrant essential oil; to rectified spirit it imparts a strong tincture, which inspissated proves an elegant aromatic extract, but is seldom used in medicine.