official in the United States Pharmacopœia under the general name
Xanthoxylum. That of the northern prickly ash occurs in commerce in
small curved or quilled pieces about 2 inches in length and sometimes
nearly one-eighth of an inch thick, with a brownish gray, corky
outside layer showing whitish patches and small black dots, slightly
wrinkled, and a few shining, brown, straight spines, or prickles, about
one-fourth of an inch in length and with a base about three-fourths of
an inch long. The inner surface of northern prickly ash bark is smooth,
whitish, or yellowish. It breaks with a short fracture, showing the
green outer layer and the yellowish inner layer. The taste is very
pungent and somewhat bitter, but there is no odor.
Southern prickly ash, as found in the trade, is in large sheets or
quilled pieces, the outside a bluish gray or slate gray, with patches
of silvery gray and numerous large corky excrescences sometimes with
the large spines still attached. In other particulars it resembles the
northern prickly ash.
_Prices and uses._—The price paid to collectors ranges from about 4 to
9 cents a pound for the northern prickly ash and from 3 to 8 cents for
the southern prickly ash.
Prickly ash bark has alterative, stimulant, and sialagogue properties,
and is used in rheumatism and for increasing the secretions, for
toothache, and externally as a counterirritant.
[Footnote 4: The pharmacopœial usage.]
WAFER-ASH.
_Ptelea trifoliata_ L.
_Other common names._—Ptelea, wingseed, hop-tree, shrubby trefoil,
swamp-dogwood, three-leaved hop-tree, ague-bark, prairie-grub,
quinine-tree, stinking ash, stinking prairie-bush, sang-tree,
pickaway-anise.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.—Wafer-ash (_Ptelea trifoliata_), leaves and
fruits.]
_Habitat and range._—This indigenous shrub is found in shady woods from
New York to Florida, west to Minnesota and Texas, occurring in greatest
abundance west of the Alleghanies.
_Description of shrub._—The wafer-ash, belonging to the rue family
(Rutaceæ), is a shrub or small tree usually from 6 to 8 feet and not
more than 20 feet in height, with leaves consisting of three oval
leaflets 2 to 5 inches long, dark green and shining above, paler
beneath, the margins slightly round toothed (fig. 28). The leaves are
borne on long stems, but the leaflets are stemless. The flowers, which
appear in June, are numerous in terminal compound clusters, greenish
white, and have a disagreeable odor. The foliage also has an unpleasant
odor. The flowers are followed by large clusters of winged fruits, each
one containing two seeds. These fruits are flat, rounded in outline,
the seeds surrounded by a membranous, veined wing (fig. 28). They have
a bitter taste and have been used in place of hops. The wood of the
wafer-ash is light brown.
_Description of bark._—The dried bark of the root is the part employed
in medicine, and as found in the stores it is in quilled pieces
varying in length from one to several inches. The thin cuter layer is
pale brown and irregularly ridged and wrinkled. The inner surface is
yellowish white, becoming darker with age. The bark, which is brittle,
breaks with a smooth fracture, has a peculiar odor, and a bitter,
pungent, and somewhat acrid taste.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—The bark is taken from the roots. At
present it brings collectors from about 4 to 8 cents a pound.
Wafer-ash bark possesses tonic properties, and is employed in fevers.
It is also said to be useful as an anthelmintic.
BLACK ALDER.
_Ilex verticillata_ (L.) A. Gray.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.—Black alder (_Ilex verticillata_), fruits.]
_Synonym._—_Prinos verticillata_ L.
_Other common names._—Prinos, winterberry, common winterberry, Virginia
winterberry, false alder, white alder, feverbush.
_Habitat and range._—The black alder is native in swamps, moist woods,
and along banks of streams, in Canada and the eastern United States,
and westward to Wisconsin and Missouri.
_Description of shrub._—The fruits of the black alder are a familiar
sight in the Christmas markets, the bare branches with the persistent,
shining, bright red berries being much used for decorative purposes
during the holiday season. Black alder is a shrub usually from 6 to 8
feet high (sometimes 25 feet), with grayish bark and smooth twigs. The
leaves are oval or oblong lanceolate, pointed at the apex, about 2 to
3 inches long, and about an inch in width. They are rather thick and
leathery in texture, dark green and smoothish on the upper surface,
hairy on the lower surface, especially along the veins, and sharply
toothed. In autumn the leaves turn black.
The flowers, which appear from about May to July, are small and white,
the male clusters consisting of 2 to 10 flowers, and the female of only
1 to 3. The fruits are bright red and shining, about the size of a pea,
clustered around the stem, and each containing six seeds (fig. 29).
Black alder belongs to the holly family (Aquifoliaceæ).
_Description of bark._—The bark, which was official in the United
States Pharmacopœia from 1820 to 1890, occurs in commerce in somewhat
quilled strips or pieces of an ashy brown color outside, with whitish
patches and round black spots and lines. The inner surface is greenish
or yellowish, and marked with short lines. The fracture is short,
showing a greenish tinge. It has a faint, peculiar odor and a bitter,
astringent taste.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—Black alder bark is collected in
autumn. The amount paid to collectors ranges from 2 to about 5 cents a
pound.
It is used in medicine as a tonic and astringent. The berries are
employed for similar purposes as the bark.
WAHOO.
_Euonymus atropurpureus_ Jacq.
_Pharmacopœial name._—Euonymus.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.—Wahoo (_Euonymus atropurpureus_), leaves and
fruits.]
_Other common names._—Burning-bush, spindle-tree, Indian arrowwood,
bursting-heart, strawberry-tree, strawberry-bush, American
spindle-tree, bitter ash, pegwood.
_Habitat and range._—Wahoo is found in woods and thickets from Ontario
and the eastern United States west to Montana.
_Description of shrub._—This native shrub or small tree is from 6 to
25 feet in height, more often reaching only 10 feet, with an ashy gray
bark, twigs somewhat 4 angled, and leaves from 1-1/2 to 5 inches in
length and about half as wide, oval-oblong or elliptical, and long
pointed at the apex (fig. 30). They are rather thin in texture, with a
prominent midrib, more hairy on the lower surface than above, and the
margins round toothed. The 4-petaled purple flowers are produced in
June, in loose, slender-stemmed clusters of from 5 to 15 flowers each,
and have 4 wavy, obovate petals. The pale purple fruits are rather odd
looking, consisting of 4 deeply cleft, flattened lobes, smooth, each
cell containing 1 or 2 seeds (fig. 30). These capsules open after they
ripen, about October, and disclose the seed surrounded by a red aril
(false coat enveloping the seed), the bush at this time presenting a
very bright and showy appearance.
The name “wahoo” is applied indiscriminately to _Euonymus
atropurpureus_ and _E. americanus_—the latter a low or trailing bush
having crimson capsules, to which the appellation “burning-bush” more
properly belongs. Both species, which are members of the staff-tree
family (Celastraceæ), are used in medicine, although _E. atropurpureus_
alone is recognized in the United States Pharmacopœia.
_Description of bark._—The dried bark of the root of wahoo is official
in the United States Pharmacopœia. It is in quilled pieces of irregular
size. The outside of the bark is furrowed and ridged, of an ashy or
light brownish gray color, showing a few dark patches of soft cork.
The inner surface is smooth and whitish or somewhat pale brownish. The
fracture is short, whitish, and shows fine silky fibers. There is a
distinct odor, and the taste is sweetish, bitter, and somewhat acrid.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—Although the bark from the stem is also
sometimes gathered, it is the root bark only which is recognized as
official.
The root bark at present brings from 9 to 20 cents a pound. It has
tonic, diuretic, laxative, and antiperiodic properties; it acts on
the liver, increasing the flow of bile, and is also employed in
intermittent fevers and in dyspepsia.
FALSE BITTERSWEET.
_Celastrus scandens_ L.
_Other common names._—Climbing bittersweet, shrubby bittersweet,
fevertwig, fever-twitch, staff-tree, climbing staff-tree, staff-vine,
waxwork, Roxbury waxwork, yellowroot, climbing orange-root,
Jacob’s-ladder.
_Habitat and range._—This woody vine or climbing shrub is found
in woods and thickets, growing in rich damp soil, from Ontario to
Manitoba, south to North Carolina and New Mexico.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.—False bittersweet (_Celastrus scandens_),
leaves, flowers, and fruits.]
_Description of plant._—False bittersweet is a most attractive plant in
the fall, with its brilliant orange-yellow and scarlet seed capsules
adding a vivid dash of color to the fall and winter landscape,
remaining on the vine well into the cold season.
It is an indigenous woody and shrubby climber, growing over adjacent
trees or near-by fences. The leaves are thin and smooth, oval, 2 to
4 inches long, and about half as wide, pointed at the apex, and with
a pointed or rounded base, the margins furnished with fine, rounded
teeth. The small, greenish white or greenish yellow flowers are
produced in June, in short terminal clusters, and the fruit is in the
form of a roundish, 3-celled, orange-colored capsule, which opens
in autumn, disclosing the scarlet-covered seed, making a very showy
appearance. This covering is known as an “aril.” (Fig. 31.)
False bittersweet and true bittersweet, on account of the similarity of
the common names, are often confused, but the plants do not resemble
each other at all, belonging to entirely different families and
possessing different medicinal properties. False bittersweet belongs to
the staff-tree family (Celastraceæ), while the true bittersweet is a
member of the nightshade family (Solanaceæ).
_Description of bark._—The bark of both plant and root is employed,
but especially that of the root. The latter is rather smooth, in small
quilled pieces, the outer surface covered with a thin, papery layer
of dark orange-brown and the inner surface white and finely grooved.
The bark from the stem has a brown-gray color. There is practically no
odor, and the taste is bitter, becoming sweet, then somewhat acrid and
rather sickening.
_Prices and uses._—The price paid to collectors varies from 5 to 10
cents a pound.
The bark of false bittersweet possesses alterative, emetic,
diaphoretic, and diuretic properties, and some narcotic action is also
attributed to it.
HORSE-CHESTNUT.
_Aesculus hippocastanum_ L.
_Other common names._—Hippocastanum, bongay, konker-tree.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.—Horse-chestnut (_Aesculus hippocastanum_),
trunk.]
_Habitat and range._—This handsome tree is a native of Asia, largely
cultivated in this country as an ornamental shade tree. In parts of New
York and New Jersey it has escaped from cultivation.
_Description of tree._—The horse-chestnut is a rather large tree,
usually about 40 feet in height, and having many branches. Sometimes
it will grow as tall as 100 feet. The bark has a brownish gray color,
smoothish on the younger trees, but fissured and scaly on the older
ones (fig. 32). The large, shining, resinous leaf buds are a prominent
feature of the winter and early spring aspect of the tree. The leaves
when mature are smooth, except perhaps for tufts of hairs on the veins
of the lower surface, but the young unfolding leaf is quite hairy.
The leaves are large, composed of 5 to 7 leaflets 4 to 8 inches long,
pointed and broadest at the top and narrowing toward the base, with
irregularly round-toothed margins (fig. 33).
[Illustration: FIG. 33.—Horse-chestnut (_Aesculus hippocastanum_),
leaves and fruits.]
The flower cluster, sometimes 1 foot in length, is most handsome and
showy in appearance, consisting of a dense, somewhat pyramidal head of
large white flowers, the petals fringed, wavy, and spotted with yellow
and red, and having protruding stamens. They appear about June. The
fruit is roundish and prickly, about an inch or so in diameter, and
contains a large, shining brown nut (fig. 33). This tree belongs to the
buckeye family (Aesculaceæ).
_Other species._—The Ohio buckeye (_Aesculus glabra_ Willd.), called
also smooth buckeye and fetid buckeye, occurs in woods and along river
banks from Pennsylvania south to Alabama, and westward to Michigan
and the Indian Territory. It is a small tree, native in this country,
and found in great abundance in Ohio. It gives off a fetid odor, and
has leaves consisting of five ovate leaflets, and small insignificant
yellow flowers. The bark and nut of this species are also employed in
medicine, having properties similar to those of the horse-chestnut, but
it is said that their action is more powerful.
_Description of bark._—The horse-chestnut bark of commerce is thin,
brownish gray on the outside, and with a few warty protuberances,
leafscars, and lichens; the inside of the bark is smooth and whitish,
and the whole breaks with a tough, fibrous fracture, showing a brownish
color within. The bark has a faint, disagreeable odor, and a rough,
bitter, astringent taste.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—Horse-chestnut bark is collected in the
autumn, and preference is given to the bark from the younger branches.
From 1 to 4 cents a pound is the price paid to collectors.
This bark is used for its “tonic, astringent, febrifuge, narcotic, and
antiseptic” properties. The nuts are said to have a narcotic action,
and when powdered, excite sneezing.
The leaves are an old remedy in the treatment of whooping cough.
CASCARA SAGRADA.
_Rhamnus purshiana_ DC.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.—Cascara sagrada (_Rhamnus purshiana_),
five-year-old tree.]
_Pharmacopœial name._—Rhamnus purshiana.
_Other common names._—Chittem-bark, sacred bark (a translation of the
Spanish name “cascara sagrada”), bearberry-tree, bearwood, shittimwood,
Purshiana bark, Persiana bark.
_Habitat and range._—This indigenous tree occurs on the sides and
bottoms of canyons from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean,
extending north into British America.
_Description of tree._—The tree furnishing the cascara sagrada of the
Pharmacopœia is of small size, usually from 15 to 20 feet in height
(fig. 34), the young twigs hairy, and the leaves rather thin. It
belongs to the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceæ). The dark green leaves
are elliptical in form, from 2 to 6 inches long, and about 1 to 3
inches wide, blunt at the apex or with a short sharp point, finely saw
toothed, rounded or slightly heart shaped at the base, somewhat hairy
on the lower surface, and rather prominently veined (fig. 35).
The rather small, insignificant greenish flowers are produced in
umbels, or clusters, and are followed by black, ovoid, 3-seeded
berries, of a somewhat insipid taste (fig. 35).
[Illustration: FIG. 35.—Cascara sagrada (_Rhamnus purshiana_), leaves
and fruits.]
_Another species._—Several species of Rhamnus occur in the cascara
district, only one of which, however, may be said to enter into
competition with the official cascara, and that is the one which is
supposed to have been first introduced in medicine. It is known as
wild coffee or coffee-berry (_Rhamnus californica_ Esch.). At the
present time, however, it is seldom collected, and then only because
it may be mistaken by collectors for the official bark. According to
the nineteenth edition of the United States Dispensatory (1907), _R.
californica_ “is chiefly distinguished from the official species by its
leaves being thin, and when not smooth having a short close pubescence,
and the primary veins of the under surface not nearly so numerous,
straight, or fine as those of _R. purshiana_.” _Rhamnus purshiana_ is
abundant in the northern part of California and only sparingly found
in the southern portion, whereas exactly the opposite is true of _R.
californica_. Professor Rusby (United States Dispensatory, nineteenth
edition, 1907) is of the opinion that as a further distinguishing
mark in the leaves the channel of the midrib of _R. californica_ is
“altogether absent, or shallow, or inconspicuous.”
It is very difficult to distinguish the barks of these two species
by their gross characters alone, but a microscopical examination
will show structural differences sufficiently distinct to aid in the
recognition of the barks.[5] In the powdered state the two species may
be distinguished by means of color tests.[6]
_Description of bark._—The cascara sagrada of commerce occurs in
curved or quilled pieces, the outer surface of which is reddish brown,
and usually covered with growths of light-colored or grayish lichen,
wrinkled and somewhat fissured. The inner surface of the bark is smooth
and marked with very fine lines; at first the inside is yellowish, but
with age it turns a dark brown color. The whole breaks with a short,
sharp, yellowish fracture, and has a somewhat aromatic odor and an
exceedingly bitter taste. The saliva is colored yellow by it, and
anything with which the bark comes in contact for any length of time
will also be stained yellow. Cascara sagrada is official in the United
States Pharmacopœia.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—The collecting season for cascara opens
about the end of May or early in June and closes about the end of
August, just before the rainy season sets in, as bark collected after
exposure to wet weather is difficult to cure properly.
After the strips of bark have been removed from the trees, they are
generally strung on wires to dry, care being taken not to expose the
inner surface to the sun, the object being to retain the yellow color,
as the action of the sunlight tends to darken the color, an undesirable
result, inasmuch as it lowers the market price. During the drying
process the strips curl up, forming quills, and when sufficiently dried
these are cut or broken up into smaller pieces.
Several years are generally required after collection to properly age
the bark for medicinal purposes, and the United States Pharmacopœia
directs that it should not be used until at least one year after it has
been gathered. Some crude-drug dealers undertake the “aging” of the
bark themselves rather than leave it to collectors.
Many trees are annually destroyed in the collection of cascara sagrada,
as they are usually peeled to such an extent that no new bark is
formed. It has been estimated that one tree furnishes approximately 10
pounds of bark, and granting a crop of 1,000,000 pounds a year, 100,000
trees are thus annually destroyed, and the world’s consumption is said
to be about 2,000,000 pounds a year.
The price at present paid to collectors for cascara sagrada varies from
3 to 4-1/2 cents a pound. On account of the fact that cascara sagrada
requires several years’ aging before use, a shortage in the crop is not
immediately felt.
Cascara sagrada is a most valuable laxative, differing from other drugs
of this character in that it tones up the entire intestinal tract,
making long-continued dosing or gradually increasing dosage unnecessary.
[Footnote 5: Rusby, H. H. Cascara Sagrada and Its Allies. Proc. Amer.
Pharm. Assoc., 1890, pp. 203-211.]
[Footnote 6: Sayre, L. E. Frangula and Cascara Barks. Amer. Jour.
Pharm., 1897, pp. 126-134.]
COTTON.
_Gossypium hirsutum_ L. (“_Gossypium herbaceum_ L.”)
_Species._—According to the United States Pharmacopœia, cotton-root
bark is obtained from “_Gossypium herbaceum_ Linne,” or from “other
cultivated species of Gossypium.”
For years the name _Gossypium herbaceum_ has been used in botanical
and other works as applying to American cotton, whereas it is really
a name belonging to an Old World species, known as Levant cotton,
cultivated in India and also in southern Europe, and it is stated that
the American species evidently received the appellation _herbaceum_ as
a result of wrong identification by early American authors, and the
assumption that it originated from European seed.[7]
[Illustration: FIG. 36.—Cotton (_Gossypium hirsutum_), leaves, flowers,
and bolls.]
American Upland cotton is the type most commonly cultivated in the
South, from Virginia to Oklahoma and Texas, and this with its hundred
or more recognized horticultural varieties all belong to one species,
namely, _Gossypium hirsutum_ L.,[8] and not to _G. herbaceum_, and
as practically all of the supply of cotton-root bark of the United
States is obtained in the United States, it can safely be asserted that
_Gossypium hirsutum_ L., and not _G. herbaceum_ L., is the principal
source of the bark found in the commerce of our country.
_Description of plant._—The cotton plant in flower or with the bursting
bolls showing the fluffy white fiber is very handsome. It belongs
to the mallow family (Malvaceæ), and ranges from about 1 to 4 feet
in height, with a woody and somewhat branching stem. The leaves of
the American Upland cotton, _Gossypium hirsutum_, are 5 lobed, the
lobes sharply pointed. The flowers when they first open are creamy
white, later on turning purple, and the bracts are deeply cleft. The
4 to 5 celled cotton bolls are roundish oval, bluntly pointed at the
top, green at first, but turning brown as they mature, bursting open
(September to November in the Southern States), and disclosing the fine
fiber that surrounds and completely hides the seeds, and which forms
the “cotton” of commerce. (Fig. 36.) This cotton is picked from the
bolls by hand, and sent to the cotton gins, where the seed is separated
from the lint by machines known by that name. The seed, aside from its
use for planting, is employed for fertilizing and feeding purposes, and
an oil is also expressed therefrom.
_Description of bark._—Cottonroot bark is official in the United States
Pharmacopœia, and the article of commerce consists of long, thin bands,
or quills, flexible, of a brownish yellow color on the outside, showing
faint ridges and dots or lines. Sometimes the entire outer corky layer,
which is thin, is wanting, or there are brownish orange patches where
this thin layer has rubbed off or worn away. The inner surface of the
bark has a whitish, silky, shining appearance, marked with fine lines.
The long, tough bast fibers separate into papery layers. There is no
odor, but a faintly acrid and astringent taste.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—The roots are taken up as late as
November or December, but before frost, washed, the bark removed
with knives, and carefully dried. The fresh bark is regarded as more
reliable than the old bark.
At present cotton-root bark is paid for at the rate of from 3 to 5
cents a pound.
This bark, with its emmenagogue and parturifacient properties, forms a
valuable remedy in the hands of the physician.
The cotton (the hairs of the seed), freed from impurities and deprived
of all fatty matter, is also official in the United States Pharmacopœia.
An oil is expressed from the seed, and various domestic uses have been
made of the seed and also of the flowers and leaves.
[Footnote 7: Dewey, L. H. The Identity of American Upland Cotton.
Science, n. s., vol. 19, p. 337. 1904.]
[Footnote 8: Dewey, L. H. Principal Commercial Plant Fibers. Yearbook,
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1903, p. 388.]
DOGWOOD.
_Cornus florida_ L.
_Other common names._—Cornus, flowering dogwood, American dogwood,
Virginia dogwood, Florida dogwood, boxwood, New England boxwood, false
boxwood, American cornelian tree, flowering cornel, Florida cornel,
white cornel, Indian arrowwood, nature’s-mistake.
[Illustration: FIG. 37.—Dogwood (_Cornus florida_), trunk.]
_Habitat and range._—Dogwood, native in this country, occurs in
woods from Massachusetts and southern Ontario to Florida, Texas, and
Missouri, but grows most abundantly in the Middle States.