attain a height of from 3 to 9 feet, and are erect and branched, green
at first, then reddish. If a piece of the stem is examined, the pith
will be seen to be divided into disk-shaped parts with hollow spaces
between them. The smooth leaves are borne on short stems and are about 5
inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide, ovate or ovate oblong, acute at the
apex, and the margins entire. The long-stalked clusters of whitish
flowers, which appear from July to September, are from 3 to 4 inches in
length, the flowers numerous and borne on reddish stems. In about two
months the berries will have matured and assumed a rich dark-purple
color. These smooth and shining purple berries are globular, flattened
at both ends, and contain black seeds embedded in a rich crimson juice.
(Fig. 7.) This plant belongs to the pokeweed family (Phytolaccaceæ).
[Illustration: FIG. 7.—Pokeweed (_Phytolacca decandra_), flowering and
fruiting branch.]
_Description of root._—Pokeweed has a very thick, long, fleshy root,
conical in shape and branched (fig. 8), very much resembling that of
horseradish, and poisonous. In commerce it usually occurs in transverse
or lengthwise slices, the outside a yellowish brown and finely wrinkled
lengthwise, and thickly encircled with lighter colored ridges. It breaks
with a fibrous fracture and is yellowish gray within. The transverse
slices show many concentric rings. There is a slight odor and the taste
is sweetish and acrid. The root when powdered causes sneezing.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.—Pokeweed root.]
_Collection, prices, and uses._—The root of the pokeweed, which is
official in the United States Pharmacopœia, is collected in the latter
part of autumn, thoroughly cleaned, cut into transverse or lengthwise
slices, and carefully dried. It brings from 2½ to 4 cents a pound.
The root is used for its alterative properties in treating various
diseases of the skin and blood, and in certain cases in relieving pain
and allaying inflammation. It also acts upon the bowels and causes
vomiting.
The berries when fully matured are also used in medicine.
The young and tender shoots of the pokeweed are eaten in spring, like
asparagus, but bad results may follow if they are not thoroughly cooked
or if they are cut too close to the root.
SOAPWORT.
_Saponaria officinalis_ L.
_Other common names._—Saponaria, saponary, common soapwort,
bouncing-bet, soaproot, bruisewort, Boston pink, chimney-pink,
crow-soap, hedge-pink, oldmaid’s-pink, fuller’s-herb, lady-by-the-gate,
London-pride, latherwort, mock-gilliflower, scourwort, sheepweed,
sweet-betty, wild sweet-william, woods-phlox, world’s-wonder.
_Habitat and range._—By one or another of its many common names this
plant, naturalized from Europe, is known almost everywhere, occurring
along roadsides and in waste places.
_Description of plant._—Soapwort is a rather pretty herbaceous
perennial, 1 to 2 feet high, and belonging to the pink family
(Silenaceæ). Its smooth, stout, and erect stem is leafy and only
sparingly branched, the leaves ovate, 2 to 3 inches long, smooth,
prominently ribbed, and pointed at the apex. The bright-looking, crowded
clusters of pink (or in shady localities whitish) flowers appear from
about June until far along in September. The five petals of the corolla
are furnished with long “claws,” or, in other words, they are narrowly
lengthened toward the base and inserted within the tubular and
pale-green calyx. The seed capsule is oblong and one-celled. (Pl. III,
fig. 4.)
_Description of root._—Soapwort spreads by means of its stolons, or
underground runners. But the roots, which are rather long, are the parts
employed in medicine. These are cylindrical, tapering toward the apex,
more or less branched, and wrinkled lengthwise. (Pl. III, fig. 4.) The
whitish wood is covered with a brownish red, rather thick bark, and the
root breaks with a short, smooth fracture. It is at first sweetish,
bitter, and mucilaginous, followed by a persistently acrid taste, but it
has no odor.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—As already indicated, the roots, without
the runners, should be collected either in spring or autumn. With water
they form a lather, like soap, whence the common names soapwort,
soaproot, latherwort, etc., are derived. The price ranges from 5 to 10
cents a pound. The roots are employed in medicine for their tonic,
alterative, and diaphoretic properties. The leaves are also used.
GOLDENSEAL.
_Hydrastis canadensis_ L.
_Pharmacopœial name._—Hydrastis.
_Other common names._—Yellowroot, yellow puccoon, orange-root, yellow
Indian-paint, turmeric-root, Indian turmeric, Ohio curcuma,
ground-raspberry, eyeroot, eye-balm, yellow-eye, jaundice-root,
Indian-dye.
_Habitat and range._—This native forest plant occurs in patches in high,
open woods, and usually on hillsides or bluffs affording natural
drainage, from southern New York to Minnesota and western Ontario, south
to Georgia and Missouri.
Goldenseal is now becoming scarce throughout its range. Ohio, Indiana,
Kentucky, and West Virginia have been the greatest goldenseal-producing
States.
_Description of plant._—Goldenseal is a perennial plant belonging to the
same family as the buttercup, namely, the crowfoot family
(Ranunculaceæ). It has a thick yellow rootstock, which sends up an erect
hairy stem about 1 foot in height, surrounded at the base by 2 or 3
yellowish scales. The yellow color of the roots and scales extends up
the stem so far as it is covered by soil, while the portion of the stem
above ground has a purplish color. The stem, which has only two leaves,
seems to fork at the top, one branch bearing a large leaf and the other
a smaller one and a flower. A third leaf, which is much smaller than the
other two and stemless, is occasionally produced. The leaves are
palmately 5 to 9 lobed, the lobes broad, acute, sharply and unequally
toothed; they are prominently veined on the lower surface, and at
flowering time, when they are very much wrinkled, they are only
partially developed, but they continue to expand until they are from 6
to 8 inches in diameter, becoming thinner in texture and smoother. The
upper leaf subtends or incloses the flower bud. The greenish white
flower appears about April or May, but it is of short duration, lasting
only five or six days. It is less than half an inch in diameter and,
instead of petals, has three small petal-like sepals, which fall away as
soon as the flower expands, leaving only the numerous stamens (as many
as 40 or 50), in the center of which are about a dozen pistils, which
finally develop into a round, fleshy, berry-like head which ripens in
July or August. The fruit when ripe turns a bright red and resembles a
large raspberry, whence the common name “ground-raspberry” is derived.
It contains from 10 to 20 small, black, shining, hard seeds. (Fig. 9.)
[Illustration: FIG. 9.—Goldenseal (_Hydrastis canadensis_), flowering
plant and fruit.]
_Description of rootstock._—The fresh rootstock of goldenseal, which has
a rank, nauseating odor, is bright yellow, both internally and
externally, with fibrous yellow rootlets produced from the sides. It is
from 1½ to 2½ inches in length, from one-fourth to three-fourths of an
inch in thickness, and contains a large amount of yellow juice. (Fig.
10.)
In the dried state the rootstock is crooked, knotty, and wrinkled, from
1 to 2 inches in length, and from one-eighth to one-third of an inch in
diameter. It is of a dull-brown color on the outside and breaks with a
clean, short, resinous fracture, showing a lemon-yellow color inside.
After the rootstock has been kept for some time it will become greenish
yellow or brown internally and its quality impaired. The cup-like
depressions or stem scars on the upper surface of the rootstock resemble
the imprint of a seal, whence the most popular name of the plant,
goldenseal, is derived. The rootstock as found in commerce is almost
bare, the fibrous rootlets, which in drying become very wiry and
brittle, breaking off readily and leaving only small protuberances.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.—Goldenseal rootstock.]
The odor of the dried rootstock, while not so pronounced as in the fresh
material, is peculiar, narcotic, and disagreeable. The taste is
exceedingly bitter, and when the rootstock is chewed there is a
persistent acridity, which causes an abundant flow of saliva.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—The root should be collected in autumn
after the seeds have ripened, freed from soil, and carefully dried.
After a dry season goldenseal dies down soon after the fruit is mature,
so that it often happens that by the end of September not a trace of the
plant remains above ground; but if the season has been moist, the plant
sometimes persists to the beginning of winter. The price of goldenseal
ranges from $1 to $1.50 a pound.
Goldenseal, which is official in the United States Pharmacopœia, is a
useful drug in digestive disorders and in certain catarrhal affections
of the mucous membranes, in the latter instance being administered both
internally and locally.
_Cultivation._—Once so abundant in certain parts of the country,
especially in the Ohio Valley, goldenseal is now becoming scarce
throughout its range, and in consequence of the increased demand for the
root, both at home and abroad, its cultivation must sooner or later be
more generally undertaken in order to satisfy the needs of medicine. In
some parts of the country the cultivation of goldenseal is already under
way.
The first thing to be considered in growing this plant is to furnish it,
as nearly as possible, the conditions to which it has been accustomed in
its native forest home. This calls for a well-drained soil, rich in
humus, and partially shaded. Goldenseal stands transplanting well, and
the easiest way to propagate it is to bring the plants in from the
forest and transplant them to a properly prepared location, or to
collect the rootstocks and to cut them into as many pieces as there are
buds, planting these pieces in a deep, loose, well-prepared soil, and
mulching, adding new mulch each year to renew the humus. With such a
soil the cultivation of goldenseal is simple, and it will be necessary
chiefly to keep down the weeds.
The plants may be grown in rows 1 foot apart and 6 inches apart in the
row, or they may be grown in beds 4 to 8 feet wide, with walks between.
Artificial shade will be necessary, and this is supplied by the erection
of lath sheds. The time required to obtain a marketable crop is from two
to three years.
Detailed information regarding the experiments made by the Department
will be found in another publication.[2]
GOLDTHREAD.
_Coptis trifolia_ (L.) Salisb.
_Other common names._—Coptis, cankerroot, mouthroot, yellowroot.
_Habitat and range._—This pretty little perennial is native in damp,
mossy woods and bogs from Canada and Alaska south to Maryland and
Minnesota. It is most common in the New England States, northern New
York and Michigan, and in Canada, where it frequents the dark sphagnum
swamps, cold bogs, and the shade of dense forests of cedars, pines, and
other evergreens.
_Description of plant._—Anyone familiar with this attractive little
plant will agree that it is well named. The roots of goldthread, running
not far beneath the surface of the ground, are indeed like so many
tangled threads of gold. The plant in the general appearance of its
leaves and flowers very closely resembles the strawberry plant. It is of
low growth, only 3 to 6 inches in height, and belongs to the crowfoot
family (Ranunculaceæ). The leaves are all basal, and are borne on long,
slender stems; they are evergreen, dark green and shining on the upper
surface and lighter green beneath, divided into three parts, which are
prominently veined and toothed. A single small, white, star-shaped
flower is borne at the ends of the flowering stalks, appearing from May
to August. (Fig. 11.) The 5 to 7 sepals or lobes of the calyx are white
and like petals, and the petals of the corolla, 5 to 7 in number, are
smaller, club shaped, and yellow at the base. The seed pods are stalked,
oblong, compressed, spreading, tipped with the persistent style, and
containing small black seeds.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.—Goldthread (_Coptis trifolia_). After Lloyd’s
Drugs and Medicines of North America.]
_Description of root._—Goldthread has a long, slender, creeping root,
which is much branched and frequently matted. (Fig. 11.) The color of
these roots is a bright golden yellow. As found in the stores,
goldthread consists usually of tangled masses of these golden-yellow
roots, mixed with the leaves and stems of the plant, but the root is the
part prescribed for use. The root is bitter and has no odor.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—The time for collecting goldthread is in
autumn. After removing the covering of dead leaves and moss, the
creeping yellow roots of goldthread will be seen very close to the
surface of the ground, from which they can be very easily pulled. They
should, of course, be carefully dried. As already stated, although the
roots and rootlets are the parts to be used, the commercial article is
freely mixed with the leaves and stems of the plant. Evidences of the
pine-woods home of this plant, in the form of pine needles and bits of
moss, are often seen in the goldthread received for market. Goldthread
brings from 60 to 70 cents a pound.
The Indians and early white settlers used this little root as a remedy
for various forms of ulcerated and sore mouth, and it is still used as a
wash or gargle for affections of this sort. It is also employed as a
bitter tonic.
Goldthread was official in the United States Pharmacopœia from 1820 to
1880.
BLACK COHOSH.
_Cimicifuga racemosa_ (L.) Nutt.
_Synonym._—_Actaea racemosa_ L.
_Pharmacopœial name._—Cimicifuga.
_Other common names._—Black snakeroot, bugbane, bugwort,
rattle-snakeroot, rattleroot, rattleweed, rattletop, richweed,
squawroot.
_Habitat and range._—Although preferring the shade of rich woods, black
cohosh will grow occasionally in sunny situations in fence corners and
woodland pastures. It is most abundant in the Ohio Valley, but it occurs
from Maine to Wisconsin, south along the Allegheny Mountains to Georgia,
and westward to Missouri.
_Description of plant._—Rising to a height of 3 to 8 feet, the showy,
delicate-flowered spikes of the black cohosh tower above most of the
other woodland flowers, making it a conspicuous plant in the woods and
one that can be easily recognized.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.—Black cohosh (_Cimicifuga racemosa_), leaves,
flowering spikes, and rootstock.]
Black cohosh is an indigenous perennial plant belonging to the same
family as the goldenseal, namely, the crowfoot family (Ranunculaceæ).
The tall stem, sometimes 8 feet in height, is rather slender and leafy,
the leaves consisting of three leaflets, which are again divided into
threes. The leaflets are about 2 inches long, ovate, sharp pointed at
the apex, thin and smooth, variously lobed, and the margins sharply
toothed. The graceful, spikelike terminal cluster of flowers, which is
produced from June to August, is from 6 inches to 2 feet in length.
(Fig. 12.) Attractive as these flower clusters are to the eye, they
generally do not prove attractive very long to those who may gather them
for their beauty, since the flowers emit an offensive odor, which
accounts for some of the common names applied to this plant, namely,
bugbane and bugwort, it having been thought that this odor was
efficacious in driving away bugs. The flowers do not all open at one
time, and thus there may be seen buds, blossoms, and seed pods on one
spike. The buds are white and globular, and as they expand in flower
there is practically nothing to the flower but very numerous white
stamens and the pistil, but the stamens spread out around the pistil in
such a manner as to give to the spike a somewhat feathery or fluffy
appearance which is very attractive. The seed pods are dry, thick and
leathery, ribbed, and about one-fourth of an inch long, with a small
beak at the end. The smooth brown seeds are inclosed within the pods in
two rows. Anyone going through the woods in winter may find the seed
pods, full of seeds, still clinging to the dry, dead stalk, and the
rattling of the seeds in the pods as the wind passes over them has given
rise to the common names rattle-snakeroot (not “rattlesnake”-root),
rattleweed, rattletop, and rattleroot.
_Description of rootstock._—The rootstock (fig. 12) is large,
horizontal, and knotty or rough and irregular in appearance. The upper
surface of the rootstock is covered with numerous round scars and
stumps, the remains of former leaf stems, and on the fresh rootstocks
may be seen the young, pinkish white buds which are to furnish the next
season’s growth. From the lower part of the rootstock long, fleshy roots
are produced. The fresh rootstock is very dark reddish brown on the
outside, white within, showing a large central pith from which radiate
rays of a woody texture, and on breaking the larger roots also the woody
rays will be seen in the form of a cross. On drying, the rootstock
becomes hard and turns much darker, both internally and externally, but
the peculiar cross formation of the woody rays in both rootstock and
roots, being lighter in color, is plainly seen without the aid of a
magnifying glass. The roots in drying become wiry and brittle and break
off very readily. Black cohosh has a heavy odor and a bitter, acrid
taste.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—The root should be collected after the
fruit has ripened, usually in September. The price ranges from 2 to 3
cents a pound.
The Indians had long regarded black cohosh as a valuable medicinal
plant, not only for the treatment of snake bites, but it was also a very
popular remedy among their women, and it is to-day considered of value
as an alterative, emmenagogue, and sedative, and is recognized as
official in the United States Pharmacopœia.
OREGON GRAPE.
_Berberis aquifolium_ Pursh.
_Pharmacopœial name._—Berberis.
_Other common names._—Rocky Mountain grape, holly-leaved barberry,
California barberry, trailing Mahonia.
_Habitat and range._—This shrub is native in woods in rich soil among
rocks from Colorado to the Pacific Ocean, but it is especially abundant
in Oregon and northern California.
_Description of plant._—Oregon grape is a low-growing shrub, resembling
somewhat the familiar Christmas holly of the Eastern States, and, in
fact, was first designated as “mountain-holly” by members of the Lewis
and Clark expedition on their way through the western country. It
belongs to the barberry family (Berberidaceæ), and grows about 2 to 6
feet in height, the branches sometimes trailing. The leaves consist of
from 5 to 9 leaflets, borne in pairs, with an odd leaflet at the summit.
They are from 2 to 3 inches long and about 1 inch wide, evergreen,
thick, leathery, oblong or oblong ovate in outline, smooth and shining
above, the margins provided with thorny spines or teeth. The numerous
small yellow flowers appear in April or May and are borne in erect,
clustered heads. The fruit consists of a cluster of blue or bluish
purple berries, having a pleasant taste, and each containing from three
to nine seeds. (Pl. IV, fig. 1.)
_Other species._—While _Berberis aquifolium_ is generally designated as
the source of Oregon grape root, other species of Berberis are met with
in the market under the name grape root, and their use is sanctioned by
the United States Pharmacopœia.
The species most commonly collected with _Berberis aquifolium_ is _B.
nervosa_ Pursh, which is also found in woods from California northward
to Oregon and Washington. This is 9 to 16 inches in height, with a
conspicuously jointed stem and 11 to 17 bright-green leaflets.
Another species of Berberis, _B. pinnata_ Lag., attains a height of from
a few inches to 5 feet, with from 5 to 9, but sometimes more, leaflets,
which are shining above and paler beneath. This resembles _aquifolium_
very closely and is often mistaken for it, but it is said that it has
not been used by the medical profession, unless in local practice.[3]
The root also is about the same size as that of _aquifolium_, while the
root of _nervosa_ is smaller.
Some works speak of _Berberis repens_ Lindl. as another species often
collected with _aquifolium_, but in the latest botanical manuals no such
species is recognized, _B. repens_ being given simply as a synonym for
_B. aquifolium_.
_Description of rootstock._—The rootstock and roots of Oregon grape are
more or less knotty, in irregular pieces of varying lengths, and about
an inch or less in diameter, with brownish bark and hard and tough
yellow wood, showing a small pith and narrow rays. Oregon grape root has
a very bitter taste and very slight odor.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—Oregon grape root is collected in autumn
and brings from 10 to 12 cents a pound. The bark should _not_ be removed
from the rootstocks, as the Pharmacopœia directs that such roots be
rejected.
This root has long been used in domestic practice throughout the West as
a tonic and blood purifier, and is now official in the United States
Pharmacopœia.
The berries are used in making preserves and cooling drinks.
BLUE COHOSH.
_Caulophyllum thalictroides_ (L.) Michx.
_Other common names._—Caulophyllum, pappoose-root, squawroot,
blueberry-root, blue ginseng, yellow ginseng. (Pl. IV, fig. 2.)
_Habitat and range._—Blue cohosh is found in the deep rich loam of shady
woods from New Brunswick to South Carolina, westward to Nebraska, being
abundant especially throughout the Allegheny Mountain region.
_Description of plant._—This member of the barberry family
(Berberidaceæ) is a perennial herb, 1 to 3 feet in height, and
indigenous to this country. It bears at the top one large, almost
stemless leaf, which is triternately compound—that is, the main leaf
stem divides into three stems, which again divide into threes, and each
division bears three leaflets. Sometimes there is a smaller leaf, but
similar to the other, at the base of the flowering branch. The leaflets
are thin in texture, oval, oblong, or obovate, and 3 to 5 lobed.
In the early stage of its growth this plant is covered with a sort of
bluish green bloom, but it gradually loses this and becomes smooth. The
flowers are borne in a small terminal panicle or head, and are small and
greenish yellow. They appear from April to May, while the leaf is still
small. The globular seeds, which ripen about August, are borne on stout
stalks in membranous capsules and resemble dark-blue berries.
_Description of rootstock._—The thick crooked rootstock of blue cohosh
is almost concealed by the mass of matted roots which surrounds it.
There are numerous cup-shaped scars and small branches on the upper
surface of the rootstock, while the lower surface gives off numerous
long, crooked, matted roots. Some of the scars are depressed below the
surface of the rootstock, while others are raised above it. The outside
is brownish and the inside tough and woody. Blue cohosh possesses a
slight odor and a sweetish, somewhat bitter and acrid taste. In the
powdered state it causes sneezing.
_Collection, prices, and uses._—The root is dug in the fall. Very often
the roots of goldenseal or twinleaf are found mixed with those of blue
cohosh. The price of blue cohosh root ranges from 2½ to 4 cents a pound.
Blue cohosh, official in the United States Pharmacopœia for 1890, is
used as a demulcent, antispasmodic, emmenagogue, and diuretic.
TWINLEAF.
_Jeffersonia diphylla_ (L.) Pers.
_Other common names._—Jeffersonia, rheumatism-root, helmetpod,
ground-squirrel pea, yellowroot.
_Habitat and range._—Twinleaf inhabits rich shady woods from New York to
Virginia and westward to Wisconsin.
_Description of plant._—This native herbaceous perennial is only about 6
to 8 inches in height when in flower. At the fruiting stage it is
frequently 18 inches in height. It is one of our early spring plants,
and its white flower, resembling that of bloodroot, is produced as early
as April.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.—Twinleaf (_Jeffersonia diphylla_), plant and
seed capsule. (After Britton and Brown, Illustrated Flora.)]