Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1817 edition. Excerpt: ... AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANY. DATURA STRAMONIUM. Thorn Apple. PLATE I. The Datura Stramonium is a wandering annual plant, which follows the progress of cultivation, and is rarely found remote from the vicinity of dwellings. It occurs in every part of the Atlantic coast from Maine to the Floridas, and is also found in the Western States in the neighbourhood of settlements. Its favorite haunts are the borders of fields and roadsides, among rubbish and in neglected spots of rich ground. It emigrates with great facility, and often springs up in the ballast of ships, and in earth carried from one country to another. This circumstance in Europe has undeservedly given rise to the opinion, that it is originally an American plant. Its native country, however, is doubtful, from the want of authentic descriptions of sufficient antiquity. One of the oldest satisfactory accounts of it is that of Gerarde in 1597, who has published a description and figure of this plant, and states that it was introduced into England by himself, from seeds received fromConstantinople. [JWe A.] Its common name in Europe, derived from the form of its fruit, is Thorn apple. In this country its provincial names are Apple of Peru, Bevil's apple, and Jamestown weed. It is a plant of rank growth and luxuriant foliage, varying in height from one to six feet, according to the soil in which it grows. In Carolina it begins to flower in May, and in Massachusetts about the latter part of July, and continues until the arrival of frosts. The Datura Stramonium belongs to the first order of the fifth class in the Linnsean artificial arrangement. In its natural order it is found among the Luridae of Linnseus and the Solaneae of Jussieu. The following are the essential marks which...
