Botany
Adlumia [named after Major John Adlum, an American author] is a biennial climber belonging to the Fumariaceae, a plant family currently classified with the poppy family.
The plant is indigenous to North America, where it grows mainly in mountainous regions. The tendrils are supported on the ground by their own leaves and, despite their fragile structure, can climb to heights of 20 to 40 centimetres. The white or purplish flowers, which hang in clusters, appear in June to October. The long corolla remains closed for some time, after which it tentatively opens at the outer edges. After fertilisation, the corolla does not fall off but expands like a sponge. Fumaria species are very seldom visited by insects. They are self-fertilising and set every seed.
Fumaria species have long been valued as medicinal herbs for chronic skin rash and kidney stones, in which its success was ascribed to its sweat-inducing capacity, as well as its blood-purifying effect by means of the urinary organs. "French and German physicians still prefer it to most other medicines as a purifier of the blood; while sometimes the dried leaves are smoked in the manner of tobacco, for disorders of the head." [Grieve]
The plant was also believed to be useful in infertility.
Content
The active constituents include citric acid and various alkaloids also found in Sanguinaria canadensis and Chelidonium majus, two other plants of the poppy family. It is remarkable that members of the poppy family seldom host insects.
Proved by Bayr on 22 physicians [21 men, 1 woman] in 1973-74. Eight participants withdrew prematurely from the proving.