The British pharmacopoeia / published under the direction of the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom, pursuant to the Acts XXI & XXII Victoria, cap. XC, 1858 and XXV and XXVI Victoria, cap. XCI, 1862.

Date:
1898-
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The British pharmacopoeia / published under the direction of the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom, pursuant to the Acts XXI & XXII Victoria, cap. XC, 1858 and XXV and XXVI Victoria, cap. XCI, 1862. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    HYGROPHILA. Hygrophila. The dried herb including the root of Hygrophila spinosa, T. And. (Asteracantha longifolia, Nees) [Wight, Icones, plate 449]. Characters.—Eoots tapering, with numerous rootlets; stems quadrangular, sparingly branched, from two to four feet (six to twelve decimetres) high; branches and leaves opposite, the nodes slightly swollen. Leaves entire, six at each node: two outer, about four to five inches (ten to thir- teen centimetres) long, and half an inch (twelve millimetres) broad ; four inner, one and a half inches (four centimetres) long, linear-lanceolate and tapering to each end. In the axil of each leaf is a yellowish subulate spine about one inch (two and a half centimetres) long. The leaves as well as the stem are furnished with hispid spreading scattered three- celled to five-celled white hairs, which are more numerous near the nodes and on the bracts and young leaves. The flowers are usually of a bright purplish-blue colour, rarely white, in four pairs at each node ; the bracts resemble the leaves in shape. The calyx has four sepals, one of which is broader than the others. The corolla is glabrous and two- lipped ; it has didynamous stamens, and an oblong stami- node on the lower lip. The ripened ovary contains four to eight seeds, which are brownish, small, one-tenth of an inch (between two and three millimetres) long and about half as much broad, flattened, unequal at the base, rounded at the apex, and with a projecting angle from base to apex on one surface. When moistened the seeds exude a tenacious muci- lage ; hence if placed in the mouth they adhere readily to the tongue. They are without odour and have scarcely any flavour.
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