Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants Part 24

SWAMP PLANTS.

Skunk-Cabbage.

Synonyms--Dracontium Foetidum L.

Other Common Names--Dracontium, skunk-weed, polecat-weed, swamp-cabbage, meadow-cabbage, collard, fetid, h.e.l.lebone, stinking poke, pockweed.

Habitat and Range--Swamps and other wet places from Canada to Florida, Iowa and Minnesota abound with this ill-smelling herb.

Description of Plant--Most of the common names applied to this plant, as well as the scientific names, are indicative of the most striking characteristic of this early spring visitor, namely, the rank, offensive, carrion odor that emanates from it. Skunk-Cabbage is one of the very earliest of our spring flowers, appearing in February or March, but it is safe to say that it is not likely to suffer extermination at the hand of the enthusiastic gatherer of spring flowers. In the lat.i.tude of Was.h.i.+ngton Skunk-Cabbage has been known to be in flower in December.

It is a curious plant, with its hood shaped, purplish striped flowers appearing before the leaves. It belongs to the arum family (Araceae) and is a perennial. The "flower" is in the form of a thick, ovate, swollen spathe, about 3 to 6 inches in height, the top pointed and curved inward, spotted and striped with purple and yellowish green.

The spathe is not like that of the wild turnip or calla lily, to which family this plant also belongs, but the edges are rolled inward, completely hiding the spadix. In this plant the spadix is not spike-like, as in the wild turnip, but is generally somewhat globular, entirely covered with numerous, dull-purple flowers. After the fruit has ripened the spadix will be found to have grown considerably, the spathe meantime having decayed.

The leaves, which appear after the flower, are numerous and very large, about 1 to 3 feet in length and about 1 foot in width; they are thin in texture, but prominently nerved with fleshy nerves, and are borne on deeply channeled stems.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Skunk Cabbage (Spathyema Foetida).]

Description of Rootstock--Skunk-Cabbage has a thick, straight, reddish brown rootstock, from 3 to 5 inches long, and about 2 inches in diameter, and having a whorl of crowded fleshy roots which penetrate the soil to considerable depth. The dried article of commerce consists of either the entire rootstock and roots, which are dark brown and wrinkled within, or of very much compressed, wrinkled, transverse slices.

When bruised, the root has the characteristic fetid odor of the plant and possesses a sharp acrid taste, both of which become less the longer the root is kept.

Collection, Prices and Uses--The rootstock of Skunk-Cabbage are collected early in spring, soon after the appearance of the flower, or after the seeds have ripened, in August or September. It should be carefully dried, either in its entire state or deprived of the roots and cut into transverse slices. Skunk-Cabbage loses its odor and acridity with age, and should therefore not be kept longer than one season. The range of prices is from 4 to 7 cents a pound.

Skunk-Cabbage, official from 1820 to 1880, is used in affections of the respiratory organs, in nervous disorders, rheumatism, and dropsical complaints.

American h.e.l.lebore.

Veratrum Viride Ait.

Pharmacopoeial Name--Veratrum.

Other Common Names--True veratrum, green veratrum, American veratrum, green h.e.l.lebore, swamp-h.e.l.lebore, big h.e.l.lebore, false h.e.l.lebore, bear-corn, bugbane, bugwort, devil's-bite, earth-gall, Indian poke, itchweed, tickleweed, duckretter.

Habitat and Range--American h.e.l.lebore is native in rich, wet woods, swamps and wet meadows. Its range extending from Canada, Alaska, and Minnesota south to Georgia.

Description of Plant--Early in spring, usually in company with the Skunk-Cabbage, the large bright green leaves of American h.e.l.lebore make their way thru the soil, their straight, erect leaf spears forming a conspicuous feature of the yet scanty spring vegetation.

Later in the season a stout and erect leafy stem is sent up, sometimes growing as tall as 6 feet. It is solid and round, pale green, very leafy, and closely surrounded by the sheathing bases of the leaves, unbranched except in the flowering head. The leaves are hairy, prominently nerved, folded or pleated like a fan. They have no stems, but their bases encircle or sheathe the main stalk, and are very large, especially the lower ones, which are from 6 to 12 inches in length, from 3 to 6 inches in width, and broadly oval. As they approach the top of the plant the leaves become narrower. The flowers, which appear from May to July, are greenish yellow and numerous, and are borne in rather open cl.u.s.ters. American h.e.l.lebore belongs to the bunchflower family (Melanthiaceae) and is a perennial.

This species is a very near relative of the European white h.e.l.lebore (Veratrum alb.u.m L.), and in fact has by some been regarded as identical with it, or at least as a variety of it. It is taller than V. alb.u.m and has narrower leaves and greener flowers. Both species are official in the United States Pharmacopoeia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: American h.e.l.lebore (Veratrum Viride).]

Description of Rootstock--The fresh rootstock of American h.e.l.lebore is ovoid or obconical, upright, thick, and fleshy, the upper part of it arranged in layers, the lower part of it more solid, and producing numerous whitish roots from all sides. In the fresh state it has a rather strong, disagreeable odor. As found in commerce, American h.e.l.lebore rootstock is sometimes entire, but more generally sliced, and is of a light brown or dark brown color externally and internally yellowish white. The roots, which are from 4 to 8 inches long, have a shriveled appearance, and are brown or yellowish. There is no odor to the dried rootstock, but when powdered it causes violent sneezing.

The rootstock, which has a bitter and very acrid taste, is poisonous.

Collection, Prices and Uses--American h.e.l.lebore should be dug in autumn after the leaves have died and washed and carefully dried, either in the whole state or sliced in various ways. It deteriorates with age, and should therefore not be kept longer than a year.

The adulterations sometimes met with are the rootstocks of related plants, and the skunk-cabbage is also occasionally found mixed with it, but this is probably unintentional, as the two plants usually grow close together.

Collectors of American h.e.l.lebore root receive from about 3 to 10 cents a pound.

American h.e.l.lebore, official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, is an acrid, narcotic poison, and has emetic, diaph.o.r.etic, and sedative properties.

Water-Eryngo.

Eryngium Yuccifolium Michx.

Synonym--Eryngium aquatic.u.m. L.

Other Common Names--Eryngium, eryngo, b.u.t.ton-snakeroot, corn-snakeroot, rattlesnake-master, rattlesnake-weed, rattlesnake-flag.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Water-Eryngo (Eryngium Yuccifolium).]

Habitat and Range--Altho sometimes occurring on dry land, Water-Eryngo usually inhabits swamps and low, wet ground, from the pine barrens of New Jersey westward to Minnesota and south to Texas and Florida.

Description of Plant--The leaves of this plant are gra.s.slike in form, rigid, 1 to 2 feet long and about one-half inch or a trifle more in width; they are linear, with parallel veins, pointed, generally clasping at the base, and the margins briskly soft, slender spines.

The stout, furrowed stem reaches a height of from 2 to 6 feet and is generally unbranched except near the top. The insignificant whitish flowers are borne in dense, ovate-globular, stout-stemmed heads, appearing from June to September, and the seed heads that follow are ovate and scaly. Water-Eryngo belongs to the parsley family (Apiaceae) and is native in this country.

Description of Rootstock--The stout rootstock is very knotty, with numerous short branches, and produces many thick, rather straight roots, both rootstock and roots of a dark brown color, the latter wrinkled lengthwise. The inside of the rootstock is yellowish white.

Water-Eryngo has a somewhat peculiar, slightly aromatic odor, and a sweetish mucilaginous taste at first, followed by some bitterness and pungency.

Collection, Prices and Uses--The root of this plant is collected in autumn and brings from 5 to 10 cents a pound.

Water-Eryngo is an old remedy and one of its early uses, as the several common names indicate, was for the treatment of snake bites.

It was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1860, and is employed now as a diuretic and expectorant and for promoting perspiration. In large doses it acts as an emetic and the root, when chewed, excites a flow of saliva. It is said to resemble Seneca snakeroot in action.

Yellow Jasmine or Jessamine.

Gelsemium Sempervirens (L.) Ait. f.

Pharmacopoeial Name--Gelsemium.

Other Common Names--Carolina jasmine or jessamine, Carolina wild woodbine, evening trumpet-flower.

Habitat and Range--Yellow jasmine is a plant native to the South, found along the banks of streams, in woods, lowlands, and thickets, generally near the coast, from the eastern part of Virginia to Florida and Texas, south to Mexico and Guatemala.

Description of Plant--This highly ornamental climbing or trailing plant is abundantly met with in the woods of the Southern states, its slender stems festooned over trees and fences and making its presence known by the delightful perfume exhaled by its flowers, filling the air with fragrance that is almost overpowering wherever the yellow jasmine is very abundant.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yellow Jasmine (Gelsensium Sempervirens).]

The smooth, s.h.i.+ning stems of this beautiful vine sometimes reach a length of 20 feet. The leaves are evergreen, lance shaped, entire, 1 1/2 to 3 inches long, rather narrow, borne on short stems, and generally remaining on the vine during the winter. The flowers, which appear from January to April, are bright yellow, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, the corolla funnel shaped. They are very fragrant but poisonous, and it is stated the eating of honey derived from jasmine flowers has brought about fatal results.

Yellow Jasmine is a perennial and belongs to a family that is noted for its poisonous properties, namely, the Logania family (Loganiaceae), which numbers among its members such powerful poisonous agents as the strychnine-producing tree.