OUR MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS.

WERE we to include in our list every plant which has had some medicinal virtue imputed to it, we must begin at the commencement of the Flora, and go straight on to the end; for, from the chickweed and groundsel, which enter into the composition of the fomentations and poultices of the village nurse, up to the valuable but powerful foxglove and nightshade, which must be cautiously used, even by the medical man, we find nearly every weed and wild flower invested with some reputed properties. A certain number of our native plants are recognised by medical men, and included in what is called the Pharmacopoeia, or list of accredited medicinal agents. Many, however, even though thus noticed, are neglected, perhaps undeservedly so; a few only are much employed and prized as powerful remedies in the treatment of disease.

The order of the Ranunculaceæ, in addition to the Ranunculus acris, or upright meadow crowfoot, and Ranunculus flammula, or lesser spearwort, both of which are used as irritants or blistering agents to the skin, affords us the hellebores, at one time in much repute in mania and affections of the head, and the dangerous aconite, which has of late years been used in rheumatic affections; all these plants well sustain the character of the family for violent and acrid properties. Next have we the poppy

tribe, the common red poppy (Papaver rhæas) yielding the colouring matter of its brilliant petals; the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) its milky juice, which, when dried, is our opium, perhaps the most useful, most merciful medicine known to man. The opium poppy, however, cannot be claimed as a British native, although now it has become in some districts so thoroughly naturalized as to take rank with our wild plants. There is no doubt that this plant first came from the East-Persia or Asia Minor. It is chiefly cultivated in Britain for its capsules, or "poppyheads," so much used in fomentations; and excellent opium has even been made in this country, but not profitably. It is a curious circumstance connected with the poppy, that although the seed-vessels or capsules contain the opium juice so largely, the seeds within them are perfectly bland, and even agreeable in flavour, and are in some places used as food.

The medicinal plants native to Britain, obtained from the cruciferous order, are not in high repute for their activity. The scurvy-grass (Cochlearia officinalis) has been esteemed chiefly as a counteragent to a diet too exclusively composed of animal food; the horse-radish and black mustard, as stimulants; the common cuckoo-flower (Cardamine prutensis) for its pungent bitterness. Leaving the crucial flowers, we find that from the blossoms of the sweetscented violet a syrup is made, which partakes of the odour and colour of the petals, and which is much used as a simple domestic remedy in the ailments, coughs, &c., of young children: moreover, the root of the violet possesses emetic properties. Next we have the linseed and the mallows, both valuable for their

demulcent properties; and the pretty little wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) offering its trefoil leaves to make a pleasant acid drink for the parched lips of fever-its acid, the oxalic, being the same as that of the garden rhubarb. The common broom (Sarothamnus scoparius) stands high, and deservedly so, as a remedy in dropsy. It is remarkable as the only native medicinal plant we draw from the important order of the Leguminose, or pod-bearing tribe. Passing to the rose tribe, we find the plants it presents us, the common avens (Geum urbanum), the tormentil (Potentilla tormentilla), and the dog rose (Rosa canina)—of which the heps are used for a conserve- all serviceable on account of the astringent principle so characteristic of the order to which they belong. For the same property, however, the tall handsome loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) of our August water sides, has found a place in the list. We noticed the aromatic properties of the caraway, fennel, coriander, angelica, and other members of the umbel-bearers, in our last chapter, and need not refer to them again; but we must not omit mention of their relative, the hemlock (Conium maculatum), a powerful poison, but a soothing medicine in proper hands. The common elder (Sambucus ebulus) has a reputation rather domestic than in the domains of legitimate medicine; its leaves, which are slightly astringent, being used in the composition of an ointment, and the distilled water of its flowers as an aromatic. Valuable and powerful, but by no means agreeable, the root of the common valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is much employed as a stimulant in nervous derangements.

Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), and taraxacum, or dandelion (Leontodon taraxacum), all give the bitter principle of the composite plants; the first three, strongly, in combination with the aromatic, the last in a milder form, but the most valuable of the four, extremely valuable in liver, stomach, and dropsical affections. To the same family we are indebted for the strong-scented lettuce (Lactuca virosa), of which the milky juice is often used as a substitute for opium. But the old

ladies will not forgive us if we forget the coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), another composite, of such ancient repute in chest complaints that its very name is derived from "tussis," the Latin word for a cough. Of the essential oils of the labiates, the mints and the marjoram, we spoke in our last chapter; but, like the coltsfoot, the horehound (Marrubium vulgare) will surely get us into disgrace for its ommission, for it, too, is widely celebrated as a pectoral. Both plants have this virtue—that if they do not do good, they certainly do not much mischief. Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), a member of the figworts, notwithstanding its handsome appearance, is badly thought of, popularly, as dangerous, and not without reason, and yet it may take its place beside the most valued medicines the wide world over. It has been used domestically, but it must have been improperly, in Ireland, as a remedy in epilepsy. Our next order, the Solaneæ, or nightshades, is a highly medicinal one; the bitter-sweet (Solanum Dulcamara), the belladonna, or deadly nightshade (Atropa Belladonna), the thorn apple (Datura stramonium),

and the henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), are all members of it: the first, the bitter-sweet, is employed to promote perspiration after cold, its use in this respect having even been highly regarded by Linnæus; the remaining three are either poisons, or valuable soothers of pain and irritation, according to their employment. The great water dock (Rumex aquaticus) is one of the many medicines which, from having been rated too highly, has perhaps fallen into unmerited neglect. In affections of the skin, it has been, and is still, frequently employed. Its relative, the common sorrel (Rumex acetosa) contains oxalic acid, like its namesake the wood-sorrel, and may, like it, be employed to make an acid drink in fever. These plants belong to the buck-wheat tribe, which also offers the astringent root of the bistort (Polygonum bistorta); neither require we to travel far for another astringent, for we have it abundantly in the bark of our native oak (Quercus robur). The leaves of the asarabacca (Asarum Europeum), when dried and powdered, are used as an irritant snuff in headache, and it is also said that their infusion is a useful stimulant when applied to the head, to prevent the hair from coming off. The aromatic bitter of the hop, the bitter principle of the willow-bark, by some thought almost to rival quinine; the turpentine and pitch of the fir, the essence of the juniper, and the worm-root of the male fern (Aspidium filix mas), are all true British products, and not less so the valued colchicum of the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale), well deserving the blessings of those who suffer from tendency to gout.

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