Flora Medica

LEONURUS.lower spreading, trifid, with the middle lobe obcordate.Stamensdidynamous. Anthers approximated in pairs, with paralleltransverse cells and naked valves. Achaenia truncate at theapex.1024. L. Cardiaca Linn. sp. pi. 817. Eng. Sot. t. 286.Smith Eng. Fl. 104. Benth. lab. 518. allHedges over Europeand the middle of Asia. (Motherwort.)Herb bitter, with a pungent disagreeable smell. Stems 2 or 3 feethigh, wand-like, minutely downy, acutely quadrangular, with intermediatechannels, purplish, beset with numerous pairs of long-stalked,dark green, somewhat downy, leaves ;the lowermost broadest, anddeeply jagged upper ones ; acutely 3-lobed ;those about the summitlanceolate and undivided. Whorls numerous, axillary, many-flowered.Calyx rigid and pungent. Corolla purplish the ; upper lip clothedwith dense, white, shaggy, upright hairs ;lower deeply coloured, variegated,smooth, in 3 nearly equal entire lobes. The reputed tonicpowers of this herb, and its use in palpitations of the heart, or in thatdisease of the stomach called heart-burn, are now little regarded. Yethence originated its old appellation of Cardiaca. Smith. A stimulant,which has been extolled by the Russians as a preservative against caninemadness. Burnett.1025. Galeopsis ochroleuca Lam. is well spoken of as an expectorant,and in phthisical complaints.STACHYS.Calyx tubular, campanulate, 5-10-ribbed, with the mouthequally or obliquely 5-toothed. Corolla with an equal cylindricaltube, usually incurved upwards, not dilated at the throat ;upper lip erect, lower spreading, and 3-lobed, with the middlelobe very large. Stamens didynamous, usually, after bursting,turning towards the sides of the throat ;filaments naked ;anthersapproximated, with distinct parallel divaricating or divergingcells. Style equally bifid. Achaenia obtuse.1026. S. Betonica Benth. lab. 532. Betonica officinalis Linn,sp. pi. 810. Eng. Bot. t. 1 14-2. Smith Eng. Fl. iii. 97. Inmost parts of Europe, and in Russia in Asia. (Betony.)Root rather woody. Stem leafy, rough with reversed bristles.Leaves oblong, with numerous, strong, bluntish serratures the;lowermoston long stalks. Flowers crimson, rarely white, forming a densespike, various in length ;the lowest whorl a little remote, with a pairof small sessile leaves beneath. Bracteas purplish, lanceolate, entire.Lower lip of the corolla more or less notched, or slightly cloven.This herb is scarcely aromatic, but the fine rigid hairs, which cover thesurface, cause it when powdered to produce sneezing. Hence Betonyis generally made an ingredient in herb-snuffs. The root is said to beemetic and purgative. Smith.493