s
the germ, many-seeded ; leaves alternate ; flovvers axillary, solitary,
of a dull color ; some are herbaceous.
Tonic, stimulant, anthelmintic, antarthritic, alexipharmic, évacuant,
antophthalmic, emetic, are the properties belonging to the
order.
Common in equinoctial America ; sparingly found in the temperate
zones.
A ristolochia. L . Ï8. 6.
Jl. serpentaria. L. Virginia Snakeroot. This plant grows
in shady woods in the Southern States, from Pennsylvania to
Carolina ; stem flexuous ; oblong and cordate leaves ; flowers
purplish brown on a radical peduncle ; blossoms in June. The
roots are highly medicinal. Bigelow’s “ Medical Botany.”
Cultivated by the Shakers. Of this genus , 47 species have
been -described.
A sarum. L. 18. 10.
«3. Canadense. L. Wild Ginger, White Snakeroot. Stemless
; from the root arise two kidney-form, broad, and round
leaves, pubescent on both sides, and with hairy petioles ; a
single flower rises between the leaves, and close to the ground,
having a woolly calyx of several deeply-parted segments, bn a
short peduncle ; root creeping, fleshy, partially jointed ; blossoms
in May, and grows in woods. The roots have a pleasant aromatic
taste ; medicinal. Bigelow’s “ Medical Botany.”
Another species is found in the South, and one in Canada, while
only one is ascribed to England and other parts of Europe.
ORDER 64. SANTALACEÆ.
So named from the genus, Santalum, whose species belong to
India and New Holland.
Calyx 4 or 5-cleft, with stamens opposite the segments of
the calyx ; ovary inferior, 1-celled ; style 1 ; leaves alternate,
or mostly opposite, undivided ; flowers generally in spikes ; rarely
solitary or umbelliferous ; small. Few properties of interest.
In New Holland, the East Indies, &c., the plants of this order
are large trees or shrubs ; in Europe and North America, they
are weeds.
T hesium. L. 5. 1.
T. umbcllatum. L. False Toad Flax. Stem about a foot
high, round, erect, branching a little, with alternate, entire,
sessile, mucronate leaves, oblong-ovate ; flowers in a corymb,
white ; blossoms in July, on rocky hills, and in dry woods. Said
to be slightly astringent.
The other genus of this order in our State, contains trees, as
Nyssa, the Pepperidge, or Tupelo Tree.
ORDER 72. SANGUISORBEiE. B urnet T ribe.
Flowers often declinous, or stamens and pistils in separate
flowers ; calyx tubular, 4 — 5-lobed, without petals ; stamens
definite, usually alternating with the lobes of the calyx, and standing
round the style which rises solitary from the ovary ; leaves
alternate, with stipules ; flowers small; often in heads ; some of
the order are herbaceous. Astringent and tonic ; it is rather too
late in the history of beauty, to repeat the assertion of F. Hoffman,
that a decoction of Alchemilla vulgaris, will restore “ faded
beauty to its earliest freshness.” Lindley.
The plants of this order are spread widely over the world.
Sanguisorba. L. 4. 1.
S. Canadensis. L. Burnet Saxifrage. Stem 2 - 4 feet high,
with pinnate leaves, and long cylindrical spikes of white flowers ;
grows in wet meadows ; blossoms in August.
Another species is ascribed to the Northern States.
POTERIUM. W. 4. 1.
P . sanguisorba. L. Burnet. A plant too well known to
need description ; cultivated for its beauty and pleasant-flavored
leaves, with an angular stem nearly 2 feet high, and leafless,
and bearing a. head of not very showy flowers ; a native of England,
and the South of Europe.