Contractions. - Gelsem. Gel.

Nat. ord., Loganiaceae.

Synonyms. - Gelsemium sempervirens vel nitidum, Big-nonia sempervirens.

Fig. - Hale's New Remedies.

Yellow Jessamine, Field Jessamine, Woodbine.

Habitat. - Southern States of America.

Flowering time. - March till May.

Part employed. - The root.

Characters. - It has a twisting, smooth, glabrous stem, with opposite, perennial, lanceolate, entire leaves, which are dark above, pale beneath, and which stand on short petioles; the flowers are yellow, having an agreeable but rather narcotic odour, and stand on axillary peduncles; the calyx is very small, with 5 sepals; the corolla is funnel-form, with a spreading border, and 5 lobes, nearly equal; stamens 5, pistils 2; capsules two-celled, compressed, flat, bipartite. Seeds flat, and attached to the margins of the valves. The berries are black. The root is several feet in length, with scattered fibres, and varies from 2 to 3 lines in diameter to nearly 2 inches. The internal part of the root is woody, and of a light yellowish colour; the external part or bark, in which the medicinal virtues are said principally to reside, is of a light snuff colour, and from half a line to 3 lines in thickness.

Preparation. - Tincture, corresponding in alcoholic strength with proof spirit.

Reference to Horn. Proving. - Hale's New Remedies.

Proper forms for dispensing. - φ and lx, Tincture only. 1 and upwards, Tincture, Pilules, or Globules.