BISTORT.
S-23
B
Polygonum Bis tor ta, Linn. D .—Great Bis'tort or Snake-weed.
Sex. Syst. Octandria, Trigynia.
(Radix, D.)
f 1Ve ° TAjJ Y. Gen. Chau. — Calyx four to six partite, persistent.j, |f to nine, generally eight. Ovary with two to three styles, and asS ^ff mas - Cariopsis or nut ovate or triangular. Embryo lateral or^ ra l; the radicle superior (Bot. Gall.)
£ Ciiar.—S tem simple, with a single, spiked, cluster of flowers,
rue Ves 0va te, wavy, running down into the footstalks (Smith).— Flowers
^coloured.
—Indigenous. Meadows. Perennial. Flowers in June.
}j Es pRiPTiox.—Bistort root ( radix bistorta ) is twice bent on itself:As name from bis, twice; and torta, twisted or bent. It is rugous,r °Wn externally ; reddish internally ; almost inodorous ; it has an£ ere , strongly astringent taste.
°. m 1'osition.— This root has not been analyzed. The principali^J^Tients are tannic acid, starch, oxalate of lime, colouring matter, and
^biological Effects.—T he local effect is that of a powerful astrin-a fe ’ depending on the tannic acid which it contains; its remote effectsthe tl0Se °f a tonic. (Vide pp. 79, 80.) The presence of starch renderslj r °°t nutritive: hence in Siberia it is roasted and eaten.a DnV ES —It is but little employed. A decoction of the root is sometimesjjj P le d as an astringent injection in leucorrhoea and gleet ; as a garglet e J? 0ll 8y gums and relaxed sore throat; and as a lotion to ulcers at-e d with a profuse discharge.
' a itt rna Hy it has been employed, in combination with gentian, in inter-^ has a ^ so been used as an astringent in passive hemorrhageschronic alvine fluxes.
( j e ^JXIstration.—T he dose of the powder is from ,9j. tojss. Theinaction (prepared by boiling 5ij. of the root in Ojss. of boiling water)^ h e administered in doses of from f3j. to foij.
Other Medicinal or Dietetical Polygonacee.
Fig. 174. Fig. 175.
Fig. 170.
t'oiyrj onum ragopy