Sempervivum Tectorum. House leek.

Description: Natural Order, Crassulaceae. The fibrous root of this plant sends off numerous tufts of thick and succulent leaves, about an inch in length and two-thirds of an inch broad, acute, stiffly fringed along the edges, and arranged in the manner of the petals of a rose–the size of the leaves regularly diminishing toward the center. The flower-stalk rises to the height of a foot from the center of one of these leafy tufts, erect, downy, sparsely leaved, and bearing at its summit a cyme of numerous large and pale-rose flowers. The plant is native to Europe, and is frequently cultivated in this country for its peculiarly-arranged leaves and its remarkable tenacity of life.

Properties and Uses: The juice of the leaves, readily obtained by mashing and pressure, has a cooling and slightly saline taste. It is a cooling application in much repute for acute and sub-acute ophthalmia, burns, simple erysipelas, and other cutaneous inflammations. Taken internally in doses of a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful every four hours, it increases the flow of urine, and has been much commended in catarrhal and bilious fever, and in erysipelas. The split leaves are reputed of great value as a local application to shingles, tetter, corns, and warts.

The Physiomedical Dispensatory, 1869, was written by William Cook, M.D.
It was scanned by Paul Bergner at http://medherb.com