OCR Text |
Show COMMON AVENS. 507 the large roots are preferred to the smaller fibres. It must be dug up in spring, when the leaves begin to appear, for the smell is then strongest: indeed, it is hardly to be perceived whenit flowers. It must be dried in the air, but not with a strong heat, as its flavour would be dissipated, and its virtues dimi- nished. It tinges both water and alcohol red. Half an ounce yielded 30 grains of resinous, and 20 of gummyextract; the former had the smell of the root, the latter was without smell, and merelyastringent. Water distilled from it has a pleasant flavour, andcarries over a little thickish essential oil. MEDICAL USE. Ayens is an old febrifuge, mentioned by Ray, but again brought into notice by Boerhaave. It is recommended asa substitute for cinchona in intermittent fevers, dysentery, and chronic diarrhceas, fiatulent colic, affections of the prime viz, asthmatic symptoms, and cases of debility. Half a drachmor a drachm of the powder may begiven four times a day, simply, or made COMMON AVENS. GEUM URBANUM. Class X11. Icosandria. Order V e Poly g ynia, Jd Calyx ten-cleft: Petals five; Seeds with a kneed Esse are nt. Gen. Cuar - Sahi n Wa Spec. Cuan. Fs a erect: Frat Flowers ruct globular, villo us: Ans hooked, naked: a > DESCRIPTION, Rises a foot high. Root fibrous andaromat ic. lyre-shaped, and rough. Stalks upri ght, hirsute. minal, yellow. HISTORY. Leaves lar es OF; Flowers ter- AvensS is a common perenn al i plant, which grows wild in shady uncultivated pl aces, and flowers from May to August. Theroot is fibrous, e xternally of a dark red colour, iatcmnall white, and has the fl avour of cloves, with a bitterish astringent taste. Its virtues ar € said to be increased by cultivation, and up into an electuary with honey or rhubarb. Two table-spoonfuls of the decoction maybe given every hour ; or a table-spoonful of a tincture, made with an ounce of the root to a poundof alcohol, three or four times a day. As an indigenous remedy it deserves notice. |