Nepenthes
NEPENTHES (Gr. vrprevQis, sc. <f>apna.Kov, a drug that takes away grief, from vrj- privative, and irtvOos, " grief "), an Egyptian drug spoken of by Homer in the Odyssey (iv. 221). Generally in the form " nepftithe " the name is given to any drug having a like property, and also occasionally to the herb or plant from which such a drug is produced. It is also applied to a special genus of plants, chiefly East Indian, known as the " pitcher-plants," on account of the formation of the leaves.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
