Flora Medica

AGRIMONIA.from 7 to 20. Carpels 2, sometimes 3, in the bottom ofthe calyx, ovate, compressed ;style lateral, simple, the lengthof the stamens ; stigmas obtuse, undivided. Achenia 2, occasionally1, or 3, ovate, smooth, compressed, pointed, erect,inclosed in the hardened tube of the calyx.460. A. Eupatoria Linn. sp. pi. 643. Eng. Bot. t. 1335.Woodv.t.258. Fl. Dan. t. 588. ii.DC.prodr. 587. SmithEng.fl. ii. 346. Common among bushes throughout Europe.(Agrimony.)Root tapering, reddish, branched at the summit, not creeping ; itsflavour very astringent. Herb deep green, covered with soft silkyhairs, and when slightly bruised exhaling a peculiar, but grateful, aromaticscent. Stem about 2 feet high, scarcely branched. Leaves alternate,a span long, of several pair of coarsely serrated leaflets, withvarious small intermediate ones; the terminal leaflet more or lessstalked, the size of the former ; stipules of the upper leaves .rounded,palmate. Flowers very numerous, yellow, in a dense tapering spike,with lobed bracts. Calyx of the fruit encircled with a thick whorl ofhooked prickles, which attach themselves to any thing that comes intheir way, like burs. Smith. Celebrated as a vermifuge; also used indecoction as an astringent gargle and lotion. A common ingredient in" herb teas."RUBUS.Calyx flattish at the bottom, 5-cleft, without bracteoles.Petals 5. Stamens numerous, inserted on the calyx along withthe petals. Achenia numerous (sometimes only 6), collected intoStyles slightlyinverted Shrubs, or rather perennial herbaceous plants. Stemsusually biennial, often rooting, sometimes unarmed, but more generallyprickly. Leaves petioled, sometimes pinnate or palmate,sometimes simple. Fruit eatable.461. R. villosus Ait. hort. Kew. ii. 210. Bigelow med. hot. ii.t. 38. DC. prodr.ii.563. Common infields in the United States.Stem tall, branching, prickly, more or less furrowed and angular.Leaves mostly in threes on a channelled hairy petiole ;a few solitary,and some quinate ; leaflets ovate, acuminate, sharply and unequallyserrate, covered with scattered hairs above, and with a thick softpubescence underneath the terminal :stalked, the two sides one sessile;petiole and back of the midrib commonly armed with short recurvedprickles. Flowers in erect racemes with a hairy, pricklystalk ; pedicelsslender, an inch or 2 in length, with glandularhairs and lanceolatebractes. Segments of calyx ovate, hairy, ending in an acuminate pointor a lanceolate leaflet. Petals white, ovate, or oblong, concave,contracted into a short claw at base. Fruit black and shining.Bark of the root a pure strong astringent. Professor Chapman ofPhiladelphia considers it among the most active and decidedly efficaciousin cholera infantum, diarrhoea, &c.227 Q2