Flora Medica

PYROLACE^:.Nat.syst.ed. 2. p. 219.CHIMAPHILA.Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5. Stamens 10. Filaments sigmoid,ciliated and fleshy at the base. Style short, immersed in theovary, straight. Stigma auriculate, orbicular, 5-lobed. Capsule5-celled, opening from the summit ;the valves bearing the dissepimentsin the middle, and not united by a connecting web.775. C. corymbosa Pursh.fi. am. i.sept. 300. C. umbellataNutt. gen.i. 274. Pyrola umbellata Linn. sp. pi. 567. Bot.mag. t. 778. Torrey fl. i. 435. Bigelow med. hot. ii. t. 21Shady woods in northern countries North; America, Siberia,Europe. (Common names are " Winter Green and Pipsisewa,")Rhizoma woody, creeping. Stems ascending, somewhat angular,and marked with the scars of former leaves. Leaves in irregular whorls,of which there are from 1 to 4 ; evergreen, coriaceous, on very shortpetioles, cuneate-lanceolate, acute, serrate, smooth, shining, the lowersurface somewhat paler. Flowers nodding in a small corymb, thepedicels with linear bractes about their middle. Calyx of 5 roundishacute teeth or segments, much shorter than the corolla. Petals 5,roundish, concave, spreading, cream-coloured, with a tinge of purple atbase. Stamens ten, hypogynous ;filaments sigmoid, the lower halffleshy, triangular, dilated, and slightly pubescent at the edges; theupper half filiform. Anthers 2-celled, each cell opening by a short,round, tubular orifice, which points downwards in the bud, but upwardsin the flower. Pollen white. Ovary roundish, depressed, furrowed,obscurely 5-lobed, with a funnel-shaped cavity at top. Style straight,half as long as the ovary, inversely conical, inserted in the cavity of theovary, and concealed by the stigma. Stigma large, peltate, convex,obscurely 5-rayed. Capsule erect, depressed, 5-celled, 5-valved, thepartitions from the middle of the valves. Seeds linear, chafly,verynumerous and minute. Leaves bitter-sweet ;stalk and roots the samewith a little pungency. A palliative in strangury and nephritis ;adiuretic in dropsy ;a useful external stimulant ; it also alleviates theardor urinae in gonorrhoea. The fresh leaves appear to be acrid and toact as vesicants and rubefacients. Its stomachic and tonic propertiesrender it particularly valuable. It has also a popular reputation as aspecific against scrophula ;and is believed to be the means used by anotoriously ignorant quack who in London employs North Americanremedies, as a cure for scrophula in its worst forms.375 BB 4