Flora Medica

PHYSALIS.Berry smooth, 2-celled, covered with the angular membranousinflated calyx.1071. P. somnifera Linn. sp. pi 261. Cav. ic. ii. 1 103. Fl.Grcec. t. 233. P. flexuosa Linn, sp.pl. 261. Jacq. eel. t. 23.Roxb. fl.ind. \.(Kheede iv. t. 55.) Rocky places on theseacoast of the South of Europe and the East Indies.Stems several, erect, shrubby, branched and forked, round, downy.Leaves in lateral pairs, short-stalked, ovate, a little scolloped, downy,from 2 to 4 inches long. Flowers axillary, subsessile, crowded, small,greenish-yellow, or whitish. Calyx ovate-pyramidal, greenish-yellowor reddish. Corolla campanulate. Berry red, smooth, size of a pea.This plantis thought to have been the 'SrpvxvoQ VTTVUITIKOQ of Dioscorides.It is reputed to be narcotic, diuretic, and alexipharmic. Theleaves steeped in oil are, in India, applied to inflammatory tumours ;and they are used in a similar way in Egypt. Kunth recognised thisplant in Egyptian mummies.1072. P. Alkekengi Linn. (The winter Cherry)is diureticand employed in veterinary practice.1073. Nicandra physalodes Gcertn. (Atropa physalodes Z/m.)is also said to be diuretic.SOLANUM.Calyx permanent, 5-10-parted. Corolla rotate, in 4>, 5, or6 divisions. Anthers 4-6, converging into a cone, opening bypores at the apex. Fruit succulent 2 6-celled.1074. S. nigrum Linn, sp.pl. 266. t.Eng.Bot. 566. Woodv.226. Smith Eng. Fl. i. 318. Waste places all over thet.world.Root fibrous. Herb foetid, narcotic, bushy, with numerous, angular,or winged, leafy branches. Leaves undivided, lengthened out at thebase, smooth. Umbels from the intermediate spaces between theleaves, solitary, stalked, simple, downy. Flowers white, with a muskyscent. Berries globular, black jsometimes as it is reported yellow.A grain or two of the dried leaf have sometimes been given to promotevarious secretions, possibly by exciting a great, and rather dangerous,agitation in the viscera. Smith. It is a narcotic, and according toOrfila, its extract possesses nearly the same power as Lettuce-opium.In Brazil it is called Carachichu, or Erva Moira ; and when bruised isapplied either in poultices or baths to painful wounds ;and in generallyinflammatory cases with a predominant excitement of the nervoussystem. Martins.1075. S. Dulcamara Linn. sp. pi. 264. Eng. Bot. t. 365.Woodv. t. 33. Smith Eng. Fl. i. 318. In temperate countriesin Europe, Asia, and America. (Bitter-sweet.)Root woody. Stem shrubby, twining, branched, rising when supportedto the height of many feet. Leaves acute, generally smooth ;the lower ones ovate, or heart-shaped; upper more or less perfectlyhalberd-shaped ; all entire at the margin. Clusters either opposite to511