Flora Medica

PLUMBAGINACKE.garly called " Pissblume " in Germany, as an active diuretic. From2 drachms to an ounce of the flowers freshly gathered and quicklydried should be gently boiled and the patient allowed to drink of thedecoction ad libitum. Some aromatic, as anise or cinnamon, is addedto the decoction. The remedy appears to cause the excretion of urinein a direct manner. Med. gaz. xx. 144.N.B. The common Thrift of English Gardens is A. maritima Willd.PLUMBAGO.Calyx tubular, pentagonal, 5-toothed, covered with stalkedglands. Corolla hypocrateriform, with a 5-cleft limb. Stamenshypogynous, dilated at the base. Style simple ; stigma 5-cleft.Fruit seed-like, enclosed in the valve-like bases of the filaments,crowned by the conical base of the style.978. P. europaea Linn. sp. pi 215. Willd. i. 837. Bot. Mag.1249. Schhuhr. handb. t. 36. South of Europe.t.An erect, branching, smooth, herbaceous plant. Stems slender, angular,rather flexuose, with spreading rigid branches. Leaves obovatelanceolate,sessile, rather scabrous, amplexicaul, slightly toothed at theedge, the uppermost much narrower, and more linear. Flowers interminal capitate interrupted spikes. Calyx naked at the base, coveredwith stalked glands towards the upper end. Corolla funnel-shaped,twice as long as the calyx, lilac-coloured, striped.A very acrid plant.It has been used to remove toothache whence its French name ofDentelaire. In decoction it has been recommended as a stimulatingwash to old and sluggish ulcers, and as a kind of potential cautery tocancers but ; Sauvage de la Croix says that a young woman, who hadit applied, affirmed that the pain it occasioned was intolerable, and thatshe felt as if being flayed alive. Administered internally in small dosesit is said to be as effectual an emetic as Ipecacuanha. Burnett.979. P. rosea Linn. sp. pi 215. Bot. t.mag. 230. ? Radixvesicatoria Rumph. v. 453. t. 168. (Rheede x. 17. t. 9.)Various parts of the East Indies.An erect herbaceous plant, with a round striated stem, and ascendingor erect branches. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, flat, rather obtuse, orapiculate, stalked, slightly toothletted and ciliated; with the petioleclasping the stem. Flowers distant, in long slender spikes. Calyxclosely covered with numerous spreading stalked glands. Corollahypocrateriform, bright reddish-pink, with a slender tube much longerthan the calyx ;lobes of the limb oblong, obtuse, flat, apiculate.This is usually believed to be the Radix vesicatoria of Rumph, whichbeing sliced and applied to the skin produces blisters, but less rapidlyand effectually than Cantharides. It however appears to me verydoubtful whether the Amboyna plant is the same species as this.980. P. scandens L. from the West Indies ; and,981. P. zeylanica L. are said to have similar properties.480