Volume 1

Medical botany, or, illustrations and descriptions of the medicinal plants of the London, Edinburgh and Dublin pharmacopoeias; comprising a popular and scientific account of all those poisonous vegetables that are indigenous to Great Britain / By John Stephenson, M.D. ... and James Morss Churchill, F.L.S.

  • Stephenson, John, 1790-1864.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical botany, or, illustrations and descriptions of the medicinal plants of the London, Edinburgh and Dublin pharmacopoeias; comprising a popular and scientific account of all those poisonous vegetables that are indigenous to Great Britain / By John Stephenson, M.D. ... and James Morss Churchill, F.L.S. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    taraxacum, by its having the outer scales of the calyx shorter, and not reflexed; by the leaves being less runcinate, and the flower and whole plant smaller and more slender. In its sen- sible qualities it agrees with the preceding species; the dis- tinction, therefore, in a medical point of view, is not very important. Leontodon, in botany, is derived from Xewv, a lion, and d^ovq, tooth, and is so called from the indentments of the leaves, which have been fancifully compared to the jaw or teeth of a lion. Linnaeus bestowed this name upon the genus, in pre- ference to the compound one of Dens-Leonis, which had been given by Tournefort; and Taraxacum is said to be an Arabian corruption of rpo^ifiov, eduJe, one of the names of Ceres. From the receptacle looking bald, after the flowers and seeds are gone, it is sometimes called Monkshead ; while, by the French, it is termed pissenlit, from its diuretic properties, and has obtained in this country a vulgar designation expressive of the same powers* The English name Dandelion appears to be a cor- ruption of Dent de lion. Qualities and Chemical Properties.—The plant is nearly inodorous, and its taste is somewhat bitter, and sweetly acidulous. Although it yields but little of its virtues either to alcohol or aether, (water being the best menstruum) it has been found on analysis to contain caoutchouc. Infusion of galls, nitrate of silver, oxymuriate of mercury, acetate of lead, and sulphate of iron, precipitate its decoction, and are therefore incompatible with it. The milky juice is supposed to contain tartaric acid, as it reddens the vegetable blues; and it is pro- bable, remarks Dr. Todd Thomson, that the active principles of taraxacum are, extractive, gluten, a bitter principle which does not appear to be resinous, and tartaric acid, either free, or as a supertartrate. Medical and (Economical Uses.—Dandelion is gently aperient, and diuretic; the whole of the plant possessing these properties; which are m.ost active in the roots. As a domestic medicine it is often administered with superstitious expectations; E 2