Flora Medica

ASARUM.awl-shaped, half the length of the calyx. Anthers attached tothe inner side of the filaments, below the summit, each of 2round, separated cells. Ovary turbinate. Style columnar, furrowed,nearly as long as the stamens. Stigma in 6 deep, stellated,recurved segments. Capsules coriaceous, of 6 cells, notbursting. Seeds several in each cell, obovate, with a pale longitudinalcrest.716. A. europaeum Linn. sp. pi. 633. Woodv. t. 86. Eng.Bot. t. 1083. Eng. Fl. ii. 342. Mountainous woods in variousparts of England. (Asarabacca.)Roots creeping, entangled, with numerous, branching, stout fibres,their scent when bruised very peculiar, partaking of pepper and gingerStems very short and simple, round, each bearing 2 dark green, shining,kidney-shaped, rather downy, leaves, 2 inches wide, on long, downystalks, and 1 drooping flower, not an inch long, fleshy in substance, of alurid and singular aspect. The powdered leaves are used to provokesneezing ;a few grains at a time may be safely taken, and they producea considerable discharge of fluid by the nostrils. Smith. Roots purgative,emetic, and diuretic. Called Cabaret in France, because, asis said, drunkards use it to produce vomiting.717. A. canadense Linn. sp. pi. 633. Bigelow med. bot.i. t. 15. Woods and mountainous tracts from Canada to Carolina.(Canada snakeroot, wild ginger.)Rhizoma creeping, fleshy, and somewhat jointed. Leaves kidneyshaped,pubescent on both sides, with long, round, hairy petioles.Flower solitary, growing from the fork of the stem, on a penduloushairy peduncle. Calyx very hairy or woolly, consisting of 3 broad, concaveleaflets, which are mostly of a brownish or dull purple on the insideat top and bottom, and terminated by a long, spreading, inflectedpoint, with reflexed sides the colour varies : greatly according to theamount of light which the plant enjoys, being sometimes nearly green.Subulate processes 3, below the sinuses of the calyx in the inside of thetube. Stamens 12, inserted on the ovary at a distance from the calyx,the alternate ones longer. Anthers adnate, shorter than the subulatefilaments. Ovary inferior, somewhat hexagonal; style conical, striated,parted at top into 6 recurved, radiating stigmas. Rhizoma agreeablyaromatic, very unlike that of A. europaeum. A warm stimulant anddiaphoretic, acting like Aristolochia Serpentaria ; not emetic as has beenisserted.346