Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants Part 23

Apocynum Cannabinum L.

Pharmacopoeial Name--Apocynum.

Other Common Names--Canadian hemp, American hemp, amy-root, bowman's-root, bitterroot, Indian-physic, rheumatism-weed, milkweed, wild cotton, Choctaw-root.

The name "Indian hemp" is often applied to this plant, but it should never be used without the adjective "black." "Indian hemp" is a name that properly belongs to Canabis indica, a true hemp plant, from which the narcotic drug "has.h.i.+sh" is obtained.

Habitat and Range--Black Indian hemp is a native of this country and may be found in thickets and along the borders of old fields thruout the United States.

Description of Plant--This is a common herbaceous perennial about 2 to 4 feet high, with erect or ascending branches, and, like most of the plants belonging to the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), contains a milky juice. The short-stemmed opposite leaves are oblong, lance shaped oblong or ovate-oblong, about 2 to 6 inches long, usually sharp pointed, the upper surface smooth and the lower sometimes hairy. The plant is in flower from June to August and the small greenish white flowers are borne in dense heads, followed later by the slender pods, which are about 4 inches in length and pointed at the apex.

Other Species--Considerable confusion seems to exist in regard to which species yields the root which has proved of greatest value medicinally. The Pharmacopoeia directs that "the dried rhizome and roots of Apocynum cannabinum or of closely allied species of Apocynum" be used.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Black Indian Hemp (Apocynum Cannabinum), Flowering Portion, Pods, and Rootstock.]

In the older botanical works and medical herbals only two species of Apocynum were recognized, namely, A. cannabinum L. and A.

androsaemifolium L., altho it was known that both of these were very variable. In the newer botanical manuals both of these species still hold good, but the different forms and variations are now recognized as distinct species, those formerly referred to cannabium being distinguished by the erect or nearly erect lobes of the corolla, and those of the androsaemifolium group being distinguished by the spreading or recurved lobes of the corolla.

Among the plants that were formerly collected as Apocynum or varietal forms of it, and which are now considered as distinct species, may be mentioned in the following:

Riverbank-dogbane (A. Alb.u.m Greene), which frequents the banks of rivers and similar moist locations from Maine to Wisconsin, Virginia and Missouri. This plant is perfectly smooth and has white flowers and relatively smaller leaves than A. cannabinum.

Velvet dogbane (A. p.u.b.escens R. Br.), which is common from Virginia to Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. The entire plant has a soft, hairy or velvety appearance, which renders identification easy. According to the latest edition of the National Standard Dispensatory it is not unlikely that this is the plant that furnishes the drug that has been so favorably reported upon.

Apocynum androsaemifolium is also gathered by drug collectors for Apocynum cannabinum. Its root is likewise employed in medicine, but its action is not the same as that of cannabinum and it should therefore not be subst.i.tuted for it. It closely resembles cannabinum.

Description of Rootstock--The following description of the drug as found in commerce is taken from the United States Pharmacopoeia: "Of varying length, 3 to 8 mm. thick, cylindrical or with a few angles produced by drying, lightly wrinkled, longitudinally and usually more or less fissured transversely; orange-brown, becoming gray-brown on keeping; brittle; fracture sharply transverse, exhibiting a thin brown layer of cork, the remainder of the bark nearly as thick as the radius of the wood, white or sometimes pinkish, starchy, containing laticiferous ducts; the wood yellowish, having several rings, finely radiate and very coa.r.s.ely porous; almost inodorous, the taste starchy, afterwards becoming bitter and somewhat acrid."

Collection, Prices and Uses--The root of black Indian hemp is collected in autumn and brings from 8 to 10 cents a pound.

It is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia and has emetic, cathartic, diaph.o.r.etic, expectorant and diuretic properties, and on account of the last-named action it is used in dropsical affections.

The tough, fibrous bark of the stalks of Black Indian Hemp was employed by the Indians as a subst.i.tute for hemp in making twine, fis.h.i.+ng nets, etc.

Chamaelirium, or Helonias.

Chamaelirium Luteum (L.) A. Gray.

Synonym--Helonias Dioica Pursh.

Other Common Names--Unicorn root, false unicorn-root, blazing star, drooping starwort, starwort, devil's-bit, unicorn's-horn.

In order to avoid the existing confusion of common names of this plant, it is most desirable to use the scientific names Chamaelirium or Helonias exclusively. Chamaelirium is the most recent botanical designation and will be used thruout this article, but the synonym Helonias is a name very frequently employed by the drug trade. The plant with which it is so much confused, Aletris farinosa, will also be designated thruout by its generic name, Aletris.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Chamaelirium (Chamaelirium Luteum).]

Habitat and Range--This native plant is found in open woods from Ma.s.sachusetts to Michigan, south to Florida and Arkansas.

Description of Plant--Chamaelirium and Aletris (Aletris farinosa) have long been confused by drug collectors and others, owing undoubtedly to the transposition of some of their similar common names, such as "starwort" and "stargra.s.s." The plants can scarcely be said to resemble each other, however, except perhaps in their general habit of growth.

The male and female flowers of Chamaelirium are borne on separate plants, and in this respect are entirely different from Aletris; neither do the flowers resemble those of Aletris.

Chamaelirium is an erect, somewhat fleshy herb, perennial, and belongs to the bunchflower family (Melanthiaceae.) The male plant grows to a height of from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet, and the female plant is sometimes 4 feet tall and is also more leafy.

The plants have both basal and stem leaves, where as Aletris has only the basal leaves. The basal leaves of Chamaelirium are broad and blunt at the top, narrowing toward the base into a long stem; they are sometimes so much broadened at the top that they may be characterized as spoon shaped, and are from 2 to 8 inches long and from one-half to 1 1/2 inches wide. The stem leaves are lance shaped and sharp pointed, on short stems or stemless.

The white starry flowers of Chamaelirium are produced from June to July, those of the male plant being borne in nodding, graceful, plume-like spikes 3 to 9 inches long, and those of the female plant in erect spikes. The many seeded capsule is oblong, opening by three valves at the apex.

Another species is now recognized, Chamaelirium obovale Small, which seems to differ chiefly in having larger flowers and obovoid capsules.

Description of Rootstock--The rootstock of Chamaelirium does not in the least resemble that of Aletris, with which it is so generally confused. It is from one-half to 2 inches in length, generally curved upward at one end in the form of a horn (whence the common name, "unicorn") and having the appearance of having been bitten off. It is of a dark brown color with fine transverse wrinkles, rough, on the upper surface showing a few stem scars, and giving off from all sides numerous brown fibrous rootlets. The more recent rootlets have a soft outer covering, which in the older rootlets has worn away, leaving the fine but tough and woody whitish center. The rootlets penetrate to the central part of the rootstock, and this serves as a distinguis.h.i.+ng character from Aletris, as a transverse section of Chamaelirium very plainly shows these fibers extending some distance within the rootstock. Furthermore, the rootstock of Chamaelirium exhibits a number of small holes wherever these rootlets have broken off, giving it the appearance of having become "wormy." It is hard and h.o.r.n.y within and has a peculiar odor and a very bitter, disagreeable taste, whereas Aletris is not at all bitter.

Collection, Prices and Uses--Chamaelirium should be collected in autumn. The prices paid to collectors may be said to range from about 30 to 45 cents a pound. In the fall of 1906 a scarcity of this root was reported. As already indicated, Chamaelirium and Aletris are often gathered and mistaken for each other by collectors, but, as will be seen from the preceding description, there is really no excuse for such error.

From the confusion that has existed properties peculiar to the one plant have also been attributed to the other, but it seems now generally agreed that Chamaelirium is of use especially in derangements of women.

Wild Yam.

Dioscorea Villosa L.

Other Common Names--Dioscorea, colicroot, rheumatism-root, devil's bones.

Habitat and Range--Wild yam grows in moist thickets, trailing over adjacent shrubs and bushes, its range extending from Rhode Island to Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas. It is most common in the central and southern portions of the United States.

Description of Plant--This native perennial vine is similar to and belongs to the same family as the well-known cinnamon vine of the gardens--namely, the yam family (Dioscoreaceae.) It attains a length of about 15 feet, the stem smooth, the leaves heart shaped and 2 to 6 inches long by 1 to 4 inches wide.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wild Yam (Dioscorea Villosa).]

The leaves, which are borne on long, slender stems, are thin, green, and smooth on the upper surface, paler and rather thickly hairy on the under surface. The small greenish yellow flowers are produced from June to July, the male flowers borne in drooping cl.u.s.ters about 3 to 6 inches long, and the female flowers in drooping spikelike heads. The fruit, which is in the form of a dry, membranous, 3-winged, yellowish green capsule, ripens about September and remains on the vine for some time during the winter.

Growing farther south than the species above mentioned is a variety for which the name Glabra has been suggested.

According to C. G. Lloyd, there is a variety of Dioscorea Villosa, the root of which first made its appearance among the true yam roots of commerce, and which was so different in form that it was rejected as an adulteration. The plant, however, from which the false root was derived was found upon investigation to be almost identical with the true yam, except that the leaves were perfectly smooth, lacking the hairiness on the under surface of the leaf which is characteristic of the true wild yam. The false variety also differs in its habit of growth, not growing in dense clumps like the true wild yam, but generally isolated. The root of the variety, however, is quite distinct from that of the true wild yam, being much more knotty.

Lloyd states further that the hairiness or lack of hairiness on the under side of the leaf is a certain indication as to the form of the root.

Lloyd, recognizing the necessity of cla.s.sifying these two yam roots of commerce, has designated the smooth-leaved variety as Dioscorea Villosa var. Glabra.

Description of Rootstocks--The rootstock of the true wild yam runs horizontally underneath the surface of the ground. As found in commerce, it consists of very hard pieces, 6 inches and sometimes 2 feet in length, but only about one-fourth or one-half of an inch in diameter, twisted, covered with a thin, brown bark, whitish within and showing stem scars almost an inch apart on the upper surface, small protuberances on the sides, and numerous rather wiry rootlets on the lower surface.

The false wild yam, on the other hand, has a much heavier, rough, knotty rootstock, with thick branches from 1 inch to 3 inches long, the upper surface covered with crowded stem scars and the lower side furnished with stout, wiry rootlets. Within it is similar to the true yam root.

Collection, Prices and Uses--The roots are generally collected in autumn, and bring from 2 1/2 to 4 cents a pound. Wild Yam is said to possess expectorant properties and to promote perspiration, and in large doses providing emetic. It has been employed in bilious colic, and by the negroes in the South in the treatment of muscular rheumatism.

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