Volume 1

Drugs and medicines of North America : a publication devoted to the historical and scientific discussion of botany, pharmacy, chemistry and therapeutics of the medical plants of North America, their constituents, products and sophistications ... v. 1-2; [Apr. 1884-June 1887].

Date:
1884-1887. [Cincinnati, Lloyd Library, 1930-31]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Drugs and medicines of North America : a publication devoted to the historical and scientific discussion of botany, pharmacy, chemistry and therapeutics of the medical plants of North America, their constituents, products and sophistications ... v. 1-2; [Apr. 1884-June 1887]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Table showing the position of Anemone patens var. Nuttalliana, as Classified by the Leading Systematic Botanists of the World. Section. Genus. Tribe. Natural Or Tmimefort (1604) Pulsatilla Linnaeus (1753) Pulsatilla Anemone (Polyandria Polygnia) Adanson (1763) Pulsatilla Ranunculi Jussieu (1789) Pulsatilla Anemone Ranunculaceae De Candolle (1824) Pulsatilla Anemone Anemoneae Ranunculaceae Endlicher (1836) Pulsatilla Anemone Anemoneae Ranunculaceae Gray (1838) Pulsatilla Anemone Anemoneae Ranunculaceae Bentham & Hooker (1862) Pulsatilla Anemone Anemoneae Ranunculaceae Baillon (1866) Pulsatilla Anemone Ranunculeae Ranunculaceae LeMaout et Decaisne (1868) Pulsatilla Anemone Anemoneae Ranunculaceae HEPATICA. LIVER LEAF. Parts Used.—The dried plant of Anemone acutiloba Lawson, and Anem- one Hepatica Linn. Natural Order Ranunculaceae, Tribe Anemoneae. Botanical Analysis.—Stem, none. Leaves radical, on petioles four to six inches long, broadly cordate, regularly three-lobed, coriaceous; margins entire. Flowers solitary, on hairy scapes about the length of the leaf-stalks. Involucre three-leaved, green, close to the flower, and resembling a calyx. Sepals six to nine, spreading, in two or three rows, resembling petals. Stamens numerous. Pistils, ten to twenty, in a head. Fruit, a sessile or short stipitate head of hairy achenes, tipped with persistent styles. Common Names.—The plants are known as Liverwort in this country. This term properly belongs to a cryptogamic plant of the genus Marchantia, supposed to be good for diseases of the liver, and in Europe it is applied to the latter plant. We are informed by an importer who ordered “ Liverwort ” from Europe, that Marchantia was received. The name Liver Leaf, from the three lobes of the leaf resembling the three lobes of the liver, is a more appro- priate and preferable name. It is also known as Noble Liverwort, Kidneywort, American Liver Leaf, Hepatica, Round Leaved Hepatica, Kidney Liver Leaf, Liver Weed, Trefoil, Golden Trefoil, Chrystalwort, and Herb Trinity. In some sections of the country the plants are known as May Flower. Description.—Liver leaf is one of the commonest and earliest vernal flowers, especially west of New England. It is a little stemless plant, about six inches high, growing in tufts. The flowers expand in the first warm days of spring, and are found in all shades of color, from dark blue to pure white. The leaves, which are the parts used in medicine, are regularly and equally three-lobed,* which gives them a fanciful resemblance to the shape of the liver; hence the common name. They are thick and coriaceous, smooth, of a mottled green color above, and when old, purplish under- neath. They persist during the winter, apparently, how- Flower of Anemone ever> having lost most of their vitality, and often lie procum- acutiloba. bent on the ground; but they wither away in the spring, Fig. io. * Abnormal specimens with five-lobed leaves are occasionally found.