Pellitory, or WALL-PELLITORY (Parietaria), a genus of plants of the natural order Urticææ, having both unisexual and hermaphrodite flowers on the same plant, the perianth of both kinds 4-fid. The Common Pellitory (P. officinalis), which grows on old walls and heaps of rubbish in Britain and many parts of Europe and Asia, is a perennial herb, with erect or prostrate stems, ovate leaves, and inconspicuous flowers. It sometimes attracts attention from the manner in which the pollen is copiously discharged in hot summer days by an elastic movement of the filaments. It is an old domestic remedy as a diuretic, emollient, and refrigerant, but only as a diuretic is it really serviceable, a property which depends on the nitre it contains.
PELLITORY OF SPAIN (Anacyclus pyrethrum) is a plant of the natural order Compositæ, of a genus nearly allied to Camomile (q.v.), a native of the Levant and of
Barbary, and cultivated to some extent in Germany and other countries. The root is spindle-shaped and fleshy, and when dried is about the thickness of the little finger, inodorous, breaking with a resinous fracture. It has a very peculiar taste, slight at first, but becoming acidulous, saline, and acrid, with a burning and tingling sensation in the mouth and throat, which continues for some time. It is sometimes used in medicine. It is a powerful local irritant. The plant cultivated in Germany has more slender roots than that of the Levant.