Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HER-MO-DAC'TYL, n. [Gr. ερμης, Mercury, and δακτυλος, a finger; Mercury's finger.]

In the Materia Medica, a root brought from Turkey. It is in the shape of a heart flattened, of a white color, compact, but easy to be cut or pulverized, of a viscous sweetish taste, with a slight degree of acrimony. Some suppose it to be the root of the Colchicum variegatum; others, the root of the Iris tuberosa. It was anciently in great repute as a cathartic; but that which is now furnished has little or no cathartic quality. Encyc.