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CONVOLVULUS Scammònia.
Officinal Scammony.
Linnean Class and Order. P E N T A N D R IA M O N O G Y N IA .
Natural Order. C O N V O L V U L A C EÆ . Brown prodr. 1. p . 481.
C O N V O L V U L U S . Cai/x 5-partitus, nudus, v. bracteis 2 minoribus
imbricatus. UoroZte campanulata, 5-plicata. Niaoeina limbo breviora. Oua-
rîMHi 2-loculare (rarò 3-loculare?) loculis dispermis. Stylus'mAvnsas. S tig mata
2 , filiformia. Capsula valvata.— Herbæ (raro Frútices,) volubiles
V. prostratæ, sæpiùs lactescentes. Brown prodr. 1. p. 482.
C. Scammònia, foliis sagittatis posticè truncatis, pedunculis teretibus sub-
trifloris, bracteis lanceolatis a calyce remotis. Smith prodr. Jl. g ra c . 1.
p . 132. Fl. grcBC. 2. p . 76. t. 192.
Convolvulus Scammònia. Linn. sp. p l. p . 218. Willd. sp. p l. 1. p . 845.
Hort. kew. ed. 2. 1. p . 328. Woodv. med. bot. 1. p . 13. t. 6.
C. Syriacus, et Scammònia Syriaca. Tourn. inst. p . 83. Moris. hist. 2. 12.
sect. 1. i. 3. f . 5. M ill. ic. 1. p . 68. 1 .102.
Scammònia Syriaca. Bauh. p in . p . 294.
Scammonium Syriacum. Ger. em. p . 866.
Scammonea. Matth. valgr. 2. p . 601.
Root perennial, fusiform, very long, of a whitish colour,
and abounding in an acrid, milky juice. Stems many,
herbaceous, branching, slender, twining, leafy, round, and
like the rest of the plant, quite smooth, extending often to
the length of 10 or 15 feet ; the upper part slightly angular,
with rather prominent reddish lines. Leaves alternate,
stalked, arrow-shaped, ovate-lanceolate, acute, perfectly
entire, smooth, veiny, especially underneath, and of a
dark green, about two inches long: posterior lobes, truncate,
with pointed angles. Footstalks semi-cylindrical,
slightly channelled above, scarcely equalling the breadth of
the posterior lobes of the leaf. Peduncles axillary, single,
3-flowered, filiform, about twice as long as the leaves. Pedicles
scarcely longer than the calyx, rather thickened at the
top. Bracteæ 2, opposite, lanceolate, pointed, spreading,
situated at the insertion of the pedicles, with a pair of smaller
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