Important: Safety Warning
This page prescribes plants as medicine according to pre-modern medical theory. Several of the plants named are toxic, correct identification is difficult, and the doses given have no scientific basis. Do not ingest or apply any preparation described here.
This page presents medical treatment from an era before modern medicine. The remedies described are ineffective against the conditions named, and some of the ingredients or doses are harmful. Do not use them to treat any illness; consult a qualified medical professional.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Order Clxiv
MELANTHACEÆ.
These, too, are pretty herbs, although destitute of the grandeur of the preceding, which, however, they far surpass in the potency of their virtues. The flowers of many are inconspicuous, and of a dull-green or yellow color, sometimes assuming a livid hue, which will bespeak the nature of their powers. A dangerous or poisonous acrid juice is their characteristic, which is particularly active in some of them, such as the Cólchicum and Veratrum. The roots of the former are the basis of the eau médicinale, and are now used in cases of gout with much success. The root of Verátrum is believed to have been the hellebore of the ancients, an active drug, which, administered in small doses, is a drastic purgative, in more abundance a violent emetic. The root of Helónias dioíca, infused in water, is anthelmintic, but, steeped in spirits, yields a bitter and tonic tincture. The leaves of Cólchicum and Veratrum often produce vomiting and severe pain in the animals that eat them; the flowers of the first are also said to be poisonous, and its seeds to possess the same properties as the roots, but in a milder degree. Groves and pastures in Europe and Siberia and North America are the most frequented by Melanthaceæ, several are found at the Cape, and Gloriósa is a native of the woods of middle Africa. 851 Cólchicum W. 784 Bulbocódium W. : 845 Melánthium L. 847 Xerophyllum Mich. 842 Lichtensteínia W. 848 Wúrmbea L. 849 Androcýmbium W. 844 Tofiéldia Hud. 858 Nolína Mich. 852 Helónias L. 2128 Verátrum W. 783 Gloriósa W.