Flora Medica

GENTIANACEJE.purging, and frequently powerful diaphoresis. Recommended in intermittentand remittent fevers, gout, herpetic complaints, rheumatism,dropsy, scurvy, and worms. VILLARSIA.Calyx 5-parted. Corolla rotate, 5-lobed ;the limb stuposeat the base, with the margins inflected. Glands 5, alternatingwith the stamens. Stigma 2-lobed. Capsule 2-valved, with thevalves half bifid. Placentae in the suture.1106. Villarsia nymphasoides Vent, choix. 9. Menyanthesnymphaeoides Linn. sp. pi. 207. Eng. Hot. t. 217. SmithEng. Ft. i. 275. In bogs upon the banks of large streams inmany parts of Europe.Rhizoma long and stringy. Stems several feet long, round, branching,floating by means of their roundish-heart-shaped, very smooth leaves,which are mottled above, purplish beneath ;involute in the bud, as inNymphaea and Nuphar. Flowers axillary, on simple aggregate stalks,without bracteas. Corolla 1J inch wide, spreading, yellow, with a darkradiating disk. Ovary with 5 purplish glands at the base. Stigmanotched, deciduous. Capsule ovate, compressed. Stems are bitter,tonic, and febrifugal.SPIGELIA.Nat. syst.ed. 2. p. 298.Calyx 5-parted. Corolla funnel-shaped, with a 5-cleft equallimb. Anthers converging. Capsule didynamous, 2-celled,4-valved, many-seeded.1 107. S. marilandica Linn. syst. veg. 197. Bot. Mag.t. 80.Woodv. med. hot. ii. t. 105. Bigelow med. Bot. \. t. 14. Torreyft. i. 222. Lonicera marilandica Linn. sp. pi. ed. 3. p. 249Rich soils about the borders of woods in the southern states ofN. America. (Carolina Pink root; Wormseed.)Root perennial, fibrous. Stems simple, 4-sided, and nearly smooth.Leaves opposite, sessile, ovate, acuminate, entire, smooth, with the marginsand veins sometimes pubescent. Raceme terminal, usually solitary.Peduncles extremely short. Calyx persistent, with 5 linear-subulate,finely serrulate divisions, which are reflexed in the ripe fruit. Corollafunnel-shaped, 5 times as long as the calyx, scarlet or crimson without,orange-coloured within, the tube inflated and angular at top, the limbdivided into 5 acute, spreading segments. Stamens very short, insertedinto the mouth of the corolla between the segments ;anthers oblongheart-shaped.Ovary small, superior, ovate. Style longer than thecorolla, jointed near its base and bearded at the extremity. Capsuleconsisting of 2, cohering, 1-celled, globular carpels attached to acommon receptacle. Both root and leaves are active anthelmintics ;their efficacy is much impaired by keeping. Also purgative and narcotic524