Spec. Plant Willd. iii. 2277.

Cl. 19. Ord.S. Syngenesia Frustranea. Nat. ord. Compositae.

G. 1548. Receptacle bristly. Seed-down simple. Corolla of the ray funnel-shaped, longer, irregular.

***** Calcitrapae; with the spines of the calyx compound.

Species 89. C. benedicta.* Blessed Thistle. Med. Bot. 3d edit. 34. t. 14. Cnicus benedictus, Gaertner.

Officinal. Centaureae benedictae herba, Edin. Cnicus benedictus; folia, Dub. The herbaceous part, or the leaves of Blessed Thistle.

Syn. Chardon benit (F.), Kardo benediktenkract (G.), Kardebenedict (Dutch), Korbenedikt (Dan.), Kardebenedikt (Swed.), O set Wloski (Polish), Cardo santo (I.), Cardo benedito (S).

This is an annual plant, a native of Spain and the Grecian islands, flowering in June and September; and cultivated in the gardens of this country, where it thrives as well as in its native soil.5 The root is whitish, cylindrical, and branched; the stem erect, roundish, channelled and rough, about two feet in height, and branched towards the top. The lower leaves are peduncled, but the upper sessile, and in some degree decurrent; the whole are long, elliptical, rough, runcinate, and barbed with sharp points; of a bright green colour above, whitish underneath, and reticulated. The flowers are surrounded by an involucre of ten leaves, the five exterior of which are larger: the calyx is oval and woolly, and each scale terminated by pinnate, spinous points: the florets are of a yellow colour, those of the ray small, trifid, and sterile; the seeds have a paleaceous receptacle, are brown, pyriform, a little curved, deeply striated, and crowned with a double pappus, the outer one calyculate, the inner spinous.1

1 Laugier. Ann. de Mus. d'Hist. Nat. t. ix. p. 323.,

2 Bonn. Anatomia Castoris atque Chemica Castorei Analysis. 1806.

3 Sennertus de Febribus. lib. ii. can. 20.

Theophrasti.

5 It was described as being cultivated in England by Gerarde in 1597.

This plant is in greatest perfection when in flower; at which time it should be cut, quickly dried, and preserved in a dry airy place.

Qualities.-The odour is weak, yet unpleasant; the taste intensely bitter, but not very permanent. Its virtues are extracted both by water and alcohol. The watery infusion has a pale greenish-yellow colour, which is changed to a deep olive by sulphate of iron, and an orange-brown by the pure alkalies, although the carbonates do not affect it. Nitrate of silver and acetate of lead occasion copious precipitates, and are therefore incompatible with this infusion.

Medical properties and uses. - Carduus benedictus is either emetic, diaphoretic, or tonic, according to the form and strength of the preparation in which it is administered. The decoction and strong infusion provoke vomiting; the less strong warm infusion determines powerfully to the surface, occasioning a copious flow of sweat; and the light infusion, made with six drachms of the leaves and one pint of cold water, is an elegant and efficacious bitter in loss of appetite, and the dyspepsia which is occasioned by irregularities. It was formerly supposed to possess such extraordinary medicinal powers, as to deserve the appellation benedicta; but it is seldom used in modern practice. The dose of the powdered herb is from grs. xv. to 3 j.; that of the infusion f ij. given every three hours.