| 释义 |
ˈsnake-root
Also snake root, snakeroot.
[f. snake n.]
1. a. The root or rhizome of one or other of several American plants reputed to possess properties antidotal to snake-poison, esp. the dried root of Polygala Senega and Aristolochia serpentaria used largely in medicine; the medicinal preparation obtained from this.
1635Relat. Maryland iii. 17 An excellent preseruative against Poyson, called by the English, the Snake roote. 1679Moreau in Perry Hist. Coll. Am. Col. Ch. I. 30, I make bold to send a small quantity of snake root, the best sudorific..and counter poison that nature..can afford. 1703W. Dampier Voy. III. i. 72 Drugs of several sorts, viz. Sassafras, Snake-root, &c. 1783Med. Comment. I. 143 He was ordered to take a decoction of bark and snakeroot. 1822–7Good Study Med. (1829) I. 675 Bark, valerian, snake-root, conium, and the various preparations of the hop. 1866Treas. Bot. 1067/2.
b. One or other of these plants.
1712Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 26 Snake-Root..is called by some Dittany, by others Contrayerva of Virginia. 1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. App., Snake-root, aristolochia,..a genus of plants, otherwise called birthwort. 1832Griffith tr. Cuvier XIV. 60 The spathes of the snake-root..are often covered or filled with sylphs. 1846Lindley Veg. Kingd. 378 Of these the most celebrated is a North American herb called Snake-root, Polygala senega. 1861G. F. Berkeley Eng. Sportsman xi. 173 Only a flower here and there to be seen [on the prairie], consisting of the snake-root and the wild sun flower.
c. Used with specific names, as American snake-root, black snake-root, button snake-root, Canada snake-root or Canadian snake-root, Red River snake-root, Samson's snake-root, Seneca snake-root, Texan snake-root, white snake-root, wild snake-root; Virginia(n) snake-root, the root of Polygala Senega or Aristolochia serpentaria, the medicinal preparation made from this, or either of the plants producing it.
1857Henfrey Bot. 257 Polygala Senega, the *American Snake-root.
1755Johnson s.v. Ducksfoot, *Black snake⁓root, or Mayapple. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. 325 Root, Snake, black or wild, of America, Actæa. 1812New Botanic Gard. I. 19 [Actæa Racemosa] is a native of North America, where it is often distinguished by the title of Black Snake-root. 1858R. Hogg Veg. Kingd. 380 Sanicula marilandica, called in the United States Black Snake⁓root.
1845–50A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. App. 101 Eryngium aquaticum (*button snake-root). 1856A. Gray Man. Bot. 151 E. yuccæfolium (Rattlesnake-Master, Button Snake⁓root). Ibid. 184 Liatris. Button Snakeroot.
1849J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. 491 Asarum canadense, Wild Ginger, or *Canada Snake-root, is used as a spice in Canada. 1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 189 The rhizome of Asarum canadense, L., passes under the name of Canadian Snake-root.
Ibid., The root of Aristolochia reticulata,..which is known in the United States as *Red River or Texan Snake-root.
1892F. P. Foster Med. Dict. IV. 2660 Psoralea eglandulosa. *Samson's snakeroot.
1845–50A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. 180 We find here Polygala, one species of which is called *Seneca snake-root.
1694Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 258/2 The Sudorifick Tincture, or Tincture of *Virginia Snake-root. 1720tr. Hodge's Loimologia 165 Virginian Snake-Root, when fresh and fragrant is the most efficacious. 1789W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 481 Take of Virginian snake-root in powder, half a drachm. 1841Penny Cycl. XXI. 448/1 A deficiency of saliva..is removed by the Virginian snake-root.
1856A. Gray Man. Bot. 188 Eupatorium ageratoides (*White Snake-root).
2. a. One or other of several plants so called from a fancied resemblance to a snake in some respect (see quots.).
1856Delamer Fl. Gard. (1861) 55 The Snake-root, Arum dracunculus, or Dragon Arum, is often found in old flower-gardens. 1858A. Irvine Handbk. Brit. Plants Index 832 Snake-root,..Polygonum Bistorta. 1895Oliver tr. Kerner's Plants I. 708 The creeping stems of the Snake-root (Calla palustris).
b. = rauwolfia.
1955Sci. Amer. Oct. 81/1 Reserpine is an alkaloid extract from the snakeroot plant. 1976W. A. R. Thomson Herbs that Heal ix. 147 The root, popularly known as ‘snake-root’ because of its long, tapering, crooked nature, contains most of the medicinal properties of the plant. |