Flora Medica

RANUNCULACEJE.Root from a somewhat tuberous crown, with many long simple fibres.Stem 2 feet high, erect, round, hollow, leafy, clothed with close-pressedhairs; branched above, and many flowered. Radical leaves on longupright hairy footstalks, in 3 or 5 deep lobes, which are variously subdividedand cut, more or less hairy; stem-leaves nearly sessile, withfewer and narrower segments ; uppermost much smaller, in 3 linearentire lobes ;or sometimes simple and linear. Flowers bright yellow,on round even stalks, covered with close hairs, and not furrowed.Calyx hairy, spreading, deciduous. Carpels lenticular, smooth, with asmall slightly curved point.Smith. Extremely acrid. Mr. Curtissays, that even pulling up the plant and carrying it a little way, hasproducedinflammation of the hand.21. R. glacialis Linn. sp. pi. 777. Jacq. coll i. t .8, 9.DC. prodr.\. 30. Among rocks near the limits of perpetualsnow, on the alps of Europe ; Lapland; and Iceland.Radical leaves stalked, palmated, 3-parted or trifid ;the lobes ratherblunt and thick. Stem usually 1 -flowered. Calyx extremely shaggy.Petals white. Carpels compressed, sharp-edged. The mountaineersof Dauphiny call this " Carline," or " Caralline," and employ an infusionof it in hot water as a powerful sudorific in cold and rheumatism.22. R. Flammula Linn. sp. pi. 772. Fl. Dan. t. 575. Eng.Bot. t. 387. DC. prodr.i. 32. S. and C. ii. t. 82. Wet placesin Europe, Asia, Barbary and North America.Plant quite smooth. Stem rooting at the base, then decumbent,afterwards rising up, branched, leafy, hollow ;sometimes hairy near thetop. Leaves on flat channelled half-sheathing stalks, alternate usuallyovate-lanceolate, but varying much in breadth, often serrated. Flowersterminal and oppositethe leaves, on smooth round naked peduncles.Petals bright yellow, much larger than the spreading calyx, which isoften rather hairy. Carpels small, smooth. Leaves vesicant. Thedistilled water said by Withering to be an emetic more instantaneousand less offensive than sulphate of zinc. He even prefers it to anyother known emetic.HELLEBORUS.Sepals 5, permanent, rounded, blunt, large, often herbaceous.Petals 8-10, very short, tubular, nectariferous, narrowed to thebase. Stamens 30-60. Ovaries 3-10. Stigmas terminal,orbicular. Capsules leathery seeds ; arranged in two rows, elliptical,umbilicated.23. H. niger Linn. sp. pi. 783. Jacq. fl.austr. t. 201. Bot.t.mag. 8. Woodv. med. hot. t. 18. S. and C. i. t. 11. Subalpinewoodland regions in the midland and southern parts ofEurope. (Christmas Rose.)Rhizoma black, tuberculated, horizontal, scaly, with many dependentfibres, whitish internally. Leaves all radical, on cylindrical stalks from48 inches long, pedate, quite smooth, and almost evergreen, of astrong firm texture, pale green and shining above, paler and stronglyreticulated beneath ;lobes cuneate-obovate entire and unequal at the6