Flora Medica

CAPRIFOLIAC&S:.Stamens 5. Stigmas 3, sessile. Berry roundish, pulpy, 1 -celled,3-4-seeded, hardly crowned by remains of the calyx.897. S. Ebulus Linn. sp. 345. Eng. Bot. t. 475. Eng. Fl.ii. 109. DC. prodr. iv. 322. Most parts of Europe in cultivatedground. (Dwarf Elder.)Root fleshy, creeping, difficult of extirpation. Stems annual, simple,erect, leafy, about a yard high, roundish, though very deeply and unequallyfurrowed. Leaves dark green, nearly smooth, with ovatelanceolate,acute, sharply serrated leaflets, unequal at their base, someof them 4 or 5 inches long. Stipules large, leafy, cut, sometimes accompanying2 or 3 of the lowest pairs of leaflets, as well as the main footstalk.Cymes first 3-cleft, then variously and copiously branched, hairy.Flowers all stalked, of a dull purplish hue, with thick, upright, whitefilaments, whose anthers are reddish. Berries globose, black, notalways perfected. Seeds 3 or 4. Smith. Roots cathartic.898. S. nigra Linn. sp. 385. Eng. Bot. t. 476. Eng. Fl.ii. 109. DC.prodr. iv. 322. Common in Europe, the Caucasus,Siberia, and even Japan. (Common Elder.)A small tree or large bush. Stem much and irregularly, thoughalways oppositely, branched, of quick growth ;branches after a year'sgrowth, clothed with smooth grey bark, and filled with a light spongypith. Leaflets deep green, smooth, usually 2 pairs, with an odd one.Cymes large, smooth, of numerous cream-coloured flowers, with asweetish but faint and heavy smell; some in each cyme sessile. Berriesglobular, purplish-black ; their stalks reddish. The inspissated juice ofthe fruit is regarded as cooling, laxative, and diuretic. The inner barkis purgative, or in large doses emetic. The flowers are diaphoretic, andin French pharmacy are commonly employed as expectorants.GALIACEvE, OR STELLA'OE.Nat. syst.ed. 2. p. 249.RUBIA.Limb of calyx hardly any. Corolla rotate, 5-parted. Stamens5, short. Styles 2, short. Fruit didymous, globose, baccate,juicy.899. R. tinctorum Linn. sp. pi. 158. Lam. ill. t.60. f. 1. DC.prodr. iv. 589. Decaisne recherches. p. 58 Levant, and theSouth of Europe. (Madder.)Stem diffuse, brittle, branched, angular, very rough, with sharp hooks.Leaves 4-6 in a whorl, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, mucronate,somewhat membranous, with pinnated veins. Flowers small, white.Lobes of the corolla ovate-lanceolate, apiculate. Anthers ovate oblong.Stigmas conical. Chiefly used as a valuable dying root. Said howeverto be tonic, diuretic and emmenagogue.446