As ornamental plants many are cultivated, but the Dahlia is the favourite in England,
In India the French Marigold is in great repute among Mussulmen, and in European gardens
the Coriopsis and Zinnea are frequent inmates, along with a few others. The Chrysanthemum
Indicum, or Christmas flower, is much less known in India than in England.
Medicines. Under this head a long article might be written as many species are reputed
to possess properties of considerable value, and doubtless many merit the reputation they have
acquired, though now principally employed in domestic practice. I t is not, however, my intention
to dilate on this branch of the subject, in a work appropriated to Indian Botany, so few
of those favourably spoken of being natives of this country or even procurable in it. As a
general principle it may be remarked that many of those used in medicine are distinguished
for their possession of bitter and aromatic properties, and are therefore adapted to the treatment
of diseases of debility. Of this description are our Artimesia Indica and Vernonia
Anthelmentica, the leaves and tops of the former, in form of infusion and electuary, being
prescribed by native practitioners in various forms of nervous and spasmodic diseases connected
with debility and obstructed secretions, and as an antiseptic fomentation in foul spreading
ulcers; while the seeds of the latter, which are bitter and pungent, are, as the name
imports, valued as a remedy against worms. On the Malabar Coast it is stated an infusion
of them is given for coughs and in flatulencies. Wedelia (or Verbesina) calendulacea
(R. W. leones, No. 1109), is “pleasant and somewhat aromatic to the taste” and every part
of it is used in medicine. I t is prescribed in powder and decoction in jaundice and visceral
obstructions. The root of Anacyclus (Anthemis) Pyrethrum, to be met with in most Indian
bazars, is acrid and pungent, causing, when chewed, a copious flow of saliva, hence is useful
in toothache through its depletory action and counter irritation. The effect is attributed to a
soft resin and setherial oil which enter into its composition. With these I believe I have
nearly gone through the list of Composite plants used in native practice in Southern India.
With the exception of the last, not an Indian plant, I am not aware of any of them being
prescribed by European practitioners, but some of them seem to merit a trial. But it would
be doing injustice to the subject were I to stop here. The milky juice of several species of
Lettuce, when inspissated by exposure to the sun, becomes the well known, but not now much
used, Lactucarium, a narcotic of some power, free from the stimulating properties of opium,
for which it is occasionally substituted in cases where that drug is inadmissible. On the
Continent of Europe the roots of the Endive are in great repute in domestic practice, but
I presume are not very active in their operation, otherwise they would not be so much used
as aliments. The Thistle tribe, Cynarece or Carduacece, are bitter and stimulant, and some
are endowed with diuretic and diaphoretic virtues. The seed of many of them are oily and
purgative but destitute of aroma. The seed and leaves of the Blessed thistle, Cnicus benedictus,
were formerly in high repute as tonics in Europe, and many species of Centauria, Carduus and
Cnicus are still in use on the Continent as tonics and febrifuges, but are nearly wanting in
the Flora of India. Eu/patorium Ayapana is, both in China and India, supposed to be an
antidote to snake bites, and doubtless is as efficient as a hundred other equally impotent
remedies that have obtained similar repute, the cures being for the most part referable to the
post hoc not propter hoc principle. An infusion of the leaves is however said to form an
excellent diet drink, and their juice to be very effective in cleaning foul ulcers. Grangea
Madraspatana, a common Indian plant belonging to the Asteroid division of the order, but
referred by Linnaeus to Artimesia, may be noticed as another medicinal plant, though not
mentioned by Ainslie. Artimesia chinensis yields the celebrated moxa. Myriogyne minuta
( Artimesia sternutatoria, Roxb.), and Arnica montana are both violent sternutatories, and the
latter, known in England under the name of “mountain tobacco,” is said to be a virulent plant,
acting as an acrid narcotic agent. I t is recommended in putrid fevers, and in paralytic affections
is considered so efficacious that it has, in Europe, got the name of Panacea lapsorum.
Many more might be mentioned but I must refer those desirous of further information to
Lindley’s Vegetable Kingdom and Endlicher’s Enchridion Botanicum.
R emarks on Genera and Species. In so extensive an order, and one to the knowledge
of which the Indian Botanist has no guide more compendious than a general system of Botany,
in which he must search through upwards of 1000 genera to find the genus of any species he
may have under examination, I have thought I might render him a more acceptable service
by preparing a brief Synopsis of all those appertaining to the Indian Flora, than by any
amount of remarks on such of them as may have engaged my particular attention. Such
a synopsis, if but moderately well drawn up, should materially lessen his labour, while
endeavouring to ascertain the genus of an unknown plant, through the simple operation of
concentrating his attention on about one-tenth of the whole number embraced by a general
system of Botany, exclusive of the advantage of having only to deal with the most essential
points of the character of each genus.
T j eiTC? a5 c tirs as given in the foIlowing Synopsis are simply abréviations, of those of
DeCandolle s Prodromus, and therefore can only be viewed as aids to the knowledge of, not
as substitutes for the originals, the difference between the two being that mine are somewhat
differently arranged and include only the essential particulars of his fuller definitions. I was
in the first instance induced to undertake this abridgment from having myself often felt the
want of some work to which I could refer for Indian genera, apart from those of the rest
of the world (still a desideratum), while undergoing the irksome labour of studying the
characters of numerous foreign ones, where there was no chance of finding what I wanted,
and now publish it in the hope of thereby smoothing down, for others, some of the impediments
which then beset my own path.^ If I have succeeded in lightening the labours of
those following in the same track mine is amply rewarded. A compendium of all the Indian
species described in that great work would prove a. boon indeed to the Indian Botanist, and
it is to be hoped that this consideration will induce some one, having leisure for the task,
to undertake the work, as the materials accumulated by the esteemed author, though still
imperfect, are wonderfully complete.
■ . - - , o p " Q v * v * .m o g l v a n IttLLllJy , tU
bring them more within our grasp, have at different times been proposed. Tournefourt divided
Compositæ into three Classes, adopting as the basis of his arrangement the form of the
corolla: Flosculose, Semiflcsculose and Radiate. The first of these included the modern
Cynarece| to the second Cichoraceæ corresponds, and to the last all those with Radiate flowers.
Jussieu also divides them into three Classes or Orders : Cichoracce, Cinocephalce and
Lorymbiferoe. The first is still retained, and also, with some modifications, the second : the
third, having capitula, partly flosculose partly ligulate, or altogether flosculose, but with male
or hermaphrodite flowers in the centre and females in the circumference (DeCandolle’s Tubuli-
noræ), has been largely modified by late observers.
Linnæus divides his 19th* Class, Syngenesia, into five orders. 1st. Polygamia eqaulis, flowers
^ 7 c^* P°ty9am'î'a superflua, flowers of the disk hermaphrodite, of the ray female.
Sd. Polygamia frustrania, flowers of the disk hermaphrodite, of the ray sterile. 4th. Polygamia
necessaria, flowers of the disk male, of the ray female; and 5th. Polygamia segregata, the
general capitulum made up of a series of minor capitula, each containing from one to several
nowers, having the united anthers of the class.
l j *.v*v,v* viuw j. uucb, odi/u uicumy resting on some peculiarity or the
style and stigma. Lessing adopted the principles of his arrangement to a certain extent, but
reduced the number of tribes from 19 to eight, taking the primary characters of his tribes
irom the style of the stameniferous flowers.
DeCandolle has adopted Lessing’s eight Tribes as the basis of his arrangement, but has recast
the distribution, by combining them with other characters taken from the inflorescence, hence
ms three primary groups: TubuUJlorce, Labiatiflorce and Liguliflorce, a division, perhaps
somewhat artificial, but certainly calculated most materially to lighten the labour of ascertaining
the name and place of an unknown genus. The tribes are distinguished by certain
peculiarities of the style.
These styloid distinctions are not always, especially in the first division, of easy
application in practice, but, notwithstanding the, apparent, narrowness of the foundation, it
*° ^ave aff°r(*ed room enough for the erection of a large and wonderfully perfect
IflBm f ^ *s Pr°kaffie it is but another step towards a better by throwing much new
Jgnt on many parts previously most obscure and unintelligible.