Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The dried roots of the Seneca snakeroot, used medicinally as an expectorant.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A drug consisting of the root Polygala Senega, the Seneca snakeroot.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Med.) Seneca root.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun medicine Seneca root
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun perennial bushy herb of central and southern United States having white flowers with green centers and often purple crest; similar to Seneca snakeroot
- noun dried root of two plants of the genus Polygala containing an irritating saponin
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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[11] Rattlesnake root -- Botanical, _Polygala senega_ -- being an active stimulant, will counteract the bite of this most poisonous of reptiles.
The American Family Robinson or, The Adventures of a Family lost in the Great Desert of the West
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II. therefore, gum senega was allowed to be imported (contrary to the general dispositions of the act of navigation), from any part of Europe.
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By the above-mentioned statute, gum senega, or gum arabic, being among the enumerated dying drugs, might be imported duty free.
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III. therefore, chap. 37. the exportation of gum senega from his majestys dominions in Africa was confined to Great Britain, and was subjected to all the same restrictions, regulations, forfeitures, and penalties, as that of the enumerated commodities of the British colonies in America and the West Indies.
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Dr.A. E. Ross speaks highly of its use as an expectorant, ranking it in this respect with senega; he found it especially useful in the bronchitis of children.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Jerome Beers Thomas 1891
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This plant, called "button-snakeroot" by some, is reported to be a stimulant, diuretic, and expectorant; also possessing powers as an anodyne; it is consequently given as a remedy in colic, the tincture or the decoction of the root being employed -- said to resemble senega snakeroot, and to excite a flow of saliva when chewed.
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Bigelow says the decoction is sudorific and expectorant, and he considers it a good substitute for senega.
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I have observed the good effects of both this and the senega snakeroot (Polygala senega) in this affection.
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In a few cases which have come under my observation, I have found this and the senega snakeroot (Polygala senega) convenient and useful prescriptions in this disease; the latter, with tartar emetic solution, to promote expectoration; and the former, with flaxseed tea, as a stimulant diaphoretic, combining them with spirits of turpentine when it has assumed the typhoid form.
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Flora, says it is possessed of active properties; the root having a sweet, pungent, aromatic taste, similar to that of the wintergreen (Gaultheria procumb.); he thinks it milder than the P. senega, and, therefore, adapted to cases in which that is inapplicable.
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