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 Cx
SOLANEÆ. 431 Bourréria Gært.
The baneful nightshade represents this order, which participates very generally in its qualities, although they are frequently hidden beneath a fairer form, and often much mitigated, Many of the Solánums are very handsome. The Verbascums, Datúras, and Solándras are all plants of great beauty, although the former, on account of their frequency, are despised in gardens. Cápsicums are famous for their pungent fruit and seeds; Brunsfélsias for their fragrance, and Nicotianas, or Tobacco, for their fœtor. The leaves indeed of the whole order are disagreeably scented. The usual effect of Solaneæ is narcotic; but it is thought that this has been exaggerated, on account of the intense and deleterious properties of A'tropa belladonna. These, according to the observations of Vauquelin, depend upon the presence of a bitter nauseous matter which is soluble in spirits of wine, forming with tannin an insoluble compound, and giving out ammonia when decomposed by fire. Notwithstanding the narcotic power of the roots of the Mandrake, the Belladonna, and others, those of the potato are found to contain an abundant fæcula, which is among the most valuable food of man. The leaves of many Solaneæ are exciting and narcotic, but in very unequal degree, as in Tobacco, Physalis, Henbane, &c.; those of the Nightshade excite vertigo, convulsions, and vomiting. The juice of Stramónium is given in North America, in doses of from twenty to thirty grains, in cases of epilepsy. The fruit of Phýsalis Alkekéngi is a veterinary diuretic; that of P. edulis is used in tarts; that of Solánum Lycopersicum, and Melongena, is served at table in various forms, under the name of Tomatoes and Aubergines. 375 Verbáscum W. 381 Hyoscyamus L. 374 Ramónda P. S. 382 Nicotiána W. 446 A'tropa W. 448 Physalis W. 449 Sarácha Fl. per. 447 Mandragóra W. en. 1336 Crescéntia W. 1375 Brunsfélsia W. 445 Solándra W. 446 Céstrum W. 273 Witheringia W. 450 Lýcium W. 371 Véstia W. en. 451 Solánum W. 452 Nyctérium Vent. 453 Cápsicum W. 1378 Anthocércis R. Br. 1000? Códon W. 1377 Alonsóa H. K. 1376 Célsia W. 376 Datúra W. 377 Brugmansia P. S. 380 Nicándra J.