RUDBECKIA LACINIATA

THIMBLEWEED, CONE-FLOWER

Description:  Natural Order,  Compositae.   Genus RUDBECKIA:  Perennial herbs with alternate leaves.  Flower-heads large and showy, terminal to the branches; rays yellow, long and drooping, resembling a sunflower, neutral; scales of the involucre in two rows, leaf-like;  receptacle long-conical, with short and soft chaff; achenia four-angled, smooth, with a minute crown-like border.  R. LACINIATA:  Stem smooth, branching, three to seven feet high.  Leaves roughish, lower ones of five to  seven-cut  leaflets,  upper  ones  irregularly  three  to  five-parted. Heads long-peduncled;  rays one to two inches long, strongly drooping; disk columnar in fruit, dull greenish-yellow. Common in low thickets, blooming from July to September. (Gray.)

Properties and Uses: The leaves and flowers are of a pleasant bitterish and somewhat balsamic odor, moderately diffusive, and leaving a tonic impression.  Their chief action is upon the kidneys, effectually increasing the flow of urine without exhausting these organs; but rather distinctly improving their tone, and relieving inefficiency and torpor.  Said also to be useful in Bright’s  disease.   They  relieve  congestion  of  the  bladder, chronic catarrh, and chronic difficulties of the prostate gland. An ounce may be infused in a pint of hot water, and strained with pressure; of which one to two fluid ounces may be given every four or two hours. They exert a good influence on the uterine nerves, and promise to be of much service in painful menstruation and hysteria.