RICH SOIL PLANTS.
Bloodroot.
Sanguinaria Canadensis L.
Pharmacopoeial--Sanguinaria.
Other Common Names--Redroot, red puccoon, red Indian-paint,
puccoon-root, coonroot, white puccoon, pauson, snakebite,
sweet-slumber, tetterwort, tumeric.
Habitat and Range--Bloodroot is found in rich, open woods from Canada
south to Florida and west to Arkansas and Nebraska.
Description of Plant--This indigenous plant is among the earliest of
our spring flowers, the waxy-white blossom, enfolded by the grayish
green leaf, usually making its appearance early in April. The stem
and root contain a blood-red juice. Bloodroot is a perennial and
belongs to the same family as the opium poppy, the Papaveraceae. Each
bud on the thick, horizontal rootstock produces but a single leaf and
a flowering scape, reaching about 6 inches in height. The plant is
smooth and both stem and leaves, especially when young, present a
grayish green appearance, being covered with a "bloom" such as is
found on some fruits. The leaves are palmately 5 to 9 lobed, the
lobes either cleft at the apex or having a wavy margin, and are borne
on leaf stems about 6 to 14 inches long. After the plants have ceased
flowering the leaves, at first only 3 inches long and 4 to 5 inches
broad, continue to expand until they are about 4 to 7 inches long and
6 to 12 inches broad. The under side of the leaf is paler than the
upper side and shows prominent veins. The flower measures about 1
inch across, is white, rather waxlike in appearance, with numerous
golden-yellow stamens in the center. The petals soon fall off, and
the oblong, narrow seed pod develops, attaining a length of about an
inch.
[Illustration: Bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis) Flowering Plant
with Rootstock.]
Description of Rootstock--When dug out of the ground Bloodroot is
rather thick, round and fleshy, slightly curved at the ends, and
contains a quantity of blood-red juice. It is from 1 to 4 inches in
length, from one-half to 1 inch in thickness, externally reddish
brown, internally a bright red blood color, and produces many thick,
orange colored rootlets.
The rootstock shrinks considerably in drying, the outside turning
dark brown and the inside orange-red or yellowish with numerous small
red dots, and it breaks with a short, sharp fracture. It has but a
slight odor and the taste is bitter and acrid and very persistent.
The powdered root causes sneezing.
Collection, Prices and Use--The rootstock should be collected in
autumn, after the leaves have died, and after curing, it should be
stored in a dry place, as it rapidly deteriorates if allowed to
become moist. Age also impairs its acridity. The price paid to
collectors for this root ranges from about 5 to 10 cents per pound.
Bloodroot was well known to the American Indians, who used the red
juice as a dye for skins and baskets and for painting their faces and
bodies. It is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia and is used
as a tonic, alterative, stimulant and emetic.
Pinkroot.
Spigelia Marilandica L.
Pharmacopoeial Name--Spigelia.
Other Common Names--Carolina pinkroot, pinkroot, Carolina pink,
Maryland pink, Indian pink, starbloom, wormgrass, wormweed, American
wormroot.
Habitat and Range--This pretty little plant is found in rich woods
from New Jersey to Florida, west to Texas and Wisconsin, but
occurring principally in the Southern States. It is fast
disappearing, however from its native haunts.
[Illustration: Pinkroot (Spigelia Marilandica).]
Description of Plant--Pinkroot belongs to the same family as the
yellow jasmine, namely, the Logania family (Loganiaceae), noted for
its poisonous species. It is a native perennial herb, with simple,
erect stem 6 inches to 1 1/2 feet high, nearly smooth. The leaves are
stemless, generally ovate, pointed at the apex and rounded or
narrowed at the base; they are from 2 to 4 inches long, one-half to 2
inches wide, smooth on the upper surface, and only slightly hairy on
the veins on the lower surface. The rather showy flowers are produced
from May to July in a terminal one-sided spike; they are from 1 to 2
inches in length, somewhat tube shaped, narrowed below, slightly
inflated toward the center, and again narrowed or contracted toward
the top, terminating in five lance shaped lobes; the flowers are very
showy, with their brilliant coloring--bright scarlet on the outside,
and the inside of the tube, and the lobes a bright yellow. The seed
capsule is double, consisting of two globular portions more or less
united, and containing numerous seeds.
Description of Rootstock--The rootstock is rather small, from 1 to 2
inches in length and about one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. It
is somewhat crooked or bent, dark brown, with a roughened appearance
of the upper surface caused by cup shaped scars, the remains of
former annual stems. The lower surface and the sides have numerous
long, finely branched, lighter colored roots, which are rather
brittle. Pinkroot has a pleasant, aromatic odor, and the taste is
described as sweetish, bitter and pungent.
Collection, Prices and Uses--Pinkroot is collected after the
flowering period. It is said to be scarce, and was reported as
becoming scarce as long ago as 1830. The price paid to collectors
ranges from 25 to 40 cents a pound.
The roots of other plants, notably those of the East Tennessee
pinkroot (Ruellia ciliosa Pursh), are often found mixed with the true
Pinkroot, and the Ruellia ciliosa is even substituted for it. This
adulteration or substitution probably accounts for the inertness
which has sometimes been attributed to the true Pinkroot and which
has caused it to fall into more or less disuse. It has long been
known that the true Pinkroot was adulterated, but this adulteration
was supposed to be caused by the admixture of Carolina phlox (Phlox
Carolina L., now known as Phlox ovata L.), but this is said now to be
no part of the substitution.
The rootstock of Ruellia ciliosa is larger and not as dark as that of
the Maryland pinkroot and has fewer and coarser roots, from which the
bark readily separates, leaving the whitish wood exposed.
Pinkroot was long known by the Indians, and its properties were made
known to physicians by them. It is official in the United States
Pharmacopoeia and is used principally as an anthelmintic.
Indian-Physic.
Porteranthus Trifoliatus (L.) Britton.
Synonym--Gilenia Trifoliata Moench.
Other Common Names--Gilenia, bowman's-root, false ipecac, western
dropwort, Indian-hippo.
Habitat and Range--Indian-Physic is native in rich woods from New
York to Michigan, south to Georgia and Missouri.
Description of Plant--The reddish stems of this slender, graceful
perennial of the rose family (Rosaceae) are about 2 to 3 feet high,
several erect and branched stems being produced from the same root.
The leaves are almost stemless and trifoliate; that is, composed of
three leaflets. They are ovate or lanceolate, 2 to 3 inches long,
narrowed at the base, smooth and toothed. The nodding, white pinkish
flowers are few, produced in loose terminal clusters from May to
July. The five petals are long, narrowed or tapering toward the base,
white or pinkish, and inserted in the tubular, somewhat bell shaped,
red tinged calyx. The seed pods are slightly hairy.
At the base of the leaf stems are small leaflike parts, called
stipules, which in this species are very small, linear and entire. In
the following species, which is very similar to trifoliatus and
collected with it, the stipules, however, are so much larger that
they form a prominent character, which has given rise to its specific
name, stipulatus.
[Illustration: Indian Physic (Porteranthus Trifoliatus).]
Porteranthus stipulatus (Muhl.) Britton (Syn. Gillenia stipulacea
Nutt.) is found in similar situations as P. trifoliatus, but
generally farther west, its range extending from western New York to
Indiana and Kansas, south to Alabama, Louisiana and Indian Territory.
The general appearance of this plant is very similar to that of P.
trifoliatus. It grows to about the same height, but is generally more
hairy, the leaflets narrower and more deeply toothed, and the flowers
perhaps a trifle smaller. The stipules, however, will generally serve
to distinguish it. These are large, broad, ovate, acute at the apex,
sharply and deeply notched and so much like leaves that but for their
position at the base of the leaf stems they might easily be mistaken
for them.
With the exception of the name American ipecac applied to this plant,
the common names of Porteranthus trifoliatus are also used for P.
stipulatus. The roots of both species are collected and used for the
same purpose.
Description of Roots--The root Porteranthus trifoliatus is thick and
knotty, with many smoothish, reddish brown rootlets, the latter in
drying becoming wrinkled lengthwise and showing a few transverse
fissures or breaks in the bark, and the interior white and woody.
There is practically no odor and the woody portion is tasteless, but
the bark, which is readily separable, is bitter, increasing the flow
of saliva.
Porteranthus stipulatus has a larger, more knotty root, with rootlets
that are more wavy, constricted or marked with numerous transverse
rings, and the bark fissured or breaking from the white woody portion
at frequent intervals.
Collection, Prices and Uses--The roots of both species are collected
in autumn. The prices range from 2 to 4 cents a pound.
Indian-Physic or bowman's root, as these names imply, was a popular
remedy with the Indians, who used it as an emetic. From them the
white settlers learned of its properties and it is still used for its
emetic action. This drug was at one time official in the United
States Pharmacopoeia, from 1820 to 1880. Its action is said to
resemble that of ipecac.
Wild Sarsaparilla.
Arala Nudicaulis L.
Other Common Names--False sarsaparilla, Virginia sarsaparilla,
American sarsaparilla, small spikenard, rabbit's-root, shotbush, wild
licorice.
Habitat and Range--Wild Sarsaparilla grows in rich, moist woods from
Newfoundland west to Manitoba and south to North Carolina and
Missouri.
Description of Plant--This native herbaceous perennial, belonging to
the ginseng family (Araliaceae), produces a single, long-stalked leaf
and flowering stalk from a very short stem, both surrounded or
sheathed at the base by thin, dry scales. The leafstalk is about 12
inches long divided at the top into three parts, each division
bearing five oval, toothed leaflets from 2 to 5 inches long, the
veins on the lower surface sometimes hairy.
The naked flowering stalk bears three spreading clusters of small,
greenish flowers, each cluster consisting of from 12 to 30 flowers
produced from May to June, followed later in the season by purplish
black roundish berries, about the size of the common elderberries.
[Illustration: Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia Nudicaulis).]
Description of Rootstock--Wild Sarsaparilla rootstock has a very
fragrant, aromatic odor. Rabbits are said to be very fond of it,
whence one of the common names, "rabbit's-root," is derived. The
rootstock is rather long, horizontally creeping, somewhat twisted,
and yellowish brown on the outside. The taste is warm and aromatic.
The dried rootstock is brownish, gray and wrinkled lengthwise on the
outside, about one-fourth of an inch in thickness, the inside whitish
with a spongy pith. The taste is sweetish and somewhat aromatic.
Collection, Prices and Uses--The root of Wild Sarsaparilla is
collected in autumn, and brings from 5 to 8 cents a pound.
This has long been a popular remedy, both among the Indians and
domestic practice, and was official in the United States
Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1880. Its use is that of an alterative,
stimulant and diaphoretic and in this it resembles the official
sarsaparilla obtained from tropical America.
Similar Species--The American spikehead (Aralia racemosa L.), known
also as spignet, spiceberry, Indian-root, petty-morrel, life-of-man
and old-man's-root, is employed like Aralia nudicaulis. It is
distinguished from this by its taller, herbaceous habit, its
much-branched stem from 3 to 6 feet high and very large leaves
consisting of thin, oval, heart shaped, double saw-toothed leaflets.
The small, greenish flowers are arranged in numerous clusters,
instead of only three as in nudicaulis and also appear somewhat
later, namely, from July to August. The berries are roundish, reddish
brown, or dark purple.
The rootstock is shorter than that of nudicaulis and much thicker,
with prominent stem scars, and furnished with numerous, very long,
rather thin roots. The odor and taste are stronger than in
nudicaulis. It is also collected in autumn, and brings from 4 to 8
cents a pound.
The American spikenard occurs in similar situations as nudicaulis,
but its range extends somewhat farther South, Georgia being given as
the Southern limit.
The California spikenard (Aralia californica Wats.) may be used for
the same purpose as the other species. The plant is larger than
Aralia racemosa, but otherwise is very much like it. The root is also
larger than that of A. racemosa.