Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants Part 26

Description of Root--The dandelion has a large, thick and fleshy taproot, sometimes measuring 20 inches in length. In commerce, dandelion root is usually found in pieces 3 to 6 inches long, dark brown on the outside and strongly wrinkled lengthwise. It breaks with a short fracture and shows the thick whitish bark marked with circles of milk ducts and a thin woody center, which is yellow and porous. It is practically without odor and has a bitter taste.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dandelion (Taraxac.u.m Officinale).]

Collections and Uses--Late in summer and in fall the milky juice becomes thicker and the bitterness increases and this is the time to collect dandelion root. It should be carefully washed and thoroughly dried. Dandelion roots lose considerably in drying, weighing less than half as much as the fresh roots. The dried root should not be kept too long, as drying diminishes its medicinal activity. It is official in the United States Pharmacopeia.

Dandelion is used as a tonic in diseases of the liver and in dyspepsia.

Imports and Prices--Most of the dandelion root found on the market is collected in central Europe. There has been an unusually large demand for dandelion root during the season of 1907 and according to the weekly records contained in "the Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter" the imports entered at the port of New York from January 1, 1907, to the end of May amounted to about 47,000 pounds. The price ranges from 4 to 10 cents a pound.

Soapwort.

Saponaria Officinalis L.

Other Common Names--Saponaria, saponary, common soapwort, bouncing-bet, soaproot, bruisewort, Boston pink, chimney-pink, crow-soap, hedge-pink, old maid'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 (Silenaceae). Its smooth, stout and erect stem is leafy and sparingly branched, the leaves ovate, 2 to 3 inches long, smooth, prominently ribbed, and pointed at the apex. The bright looking, crowded cl.u.s.ters 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.

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. The whitish wood is covered with a brownish red, rather thick bark and the roots break with a short, smooth fracture. It is at first sweetish, bitter, and mucilaginous, followed by a persistently acrid taste, but it has no odor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Soapwort (Saponaria Officinalis).]

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 diaph.o.r.etic properties. The leaves are also used.

Burdock.

Arctium Lappa L.

Synonym--Lappa major Gaertn.

Pharmacopoeial Name--Lappa.

Other Common Names--c.o.c.kle-b.u.t.ton, cuckold-dock, beggar's-b.u.t.tons, hurrbur, stick-b.u.t.tons, hardock, bardane.

Habitat and Range--Burdock, one of our most common weeds, was introduced from the Old World. It grows along road sides, in fields, pastures and waste places, being very abundant in the Eastern and Central States and in some scattered localities in the West.

Description of Plant--Farmers are only too well acquainted with this coa.r.s.e, unsightly weed. During the first year of its growth this plant, which is a biennial belonging to the aster family (Asteraceae), produces only a rosette of large, thin leaves from a long, tapering root. In the second year a round, fleshy, and branched stem is produced, the plant when full grown measuring from 3 to 7 feet in height. This stem is branched, grooved, and hairy, bearing very large leaves, the lower ones often measuring 18 inches in length. The leaves are placed alternately on the stem, on long, solid, deeply furrowed leafstalks; they are thin in texture, smooth on the upper surface, pale and woolly underneath; usually heart shaped, but sometimes roundish or oval, with even, wavy, or toothed margins.

The flowers are not produced until the second year, appearing from July until frost. Burdock flowers are purple, in small, cl.u.s.tered heads armed with hooked tips, and the spiny burs thus formed are a great pest, attaching themselves to clothing and to the wool and hair of animals. Burdock is a prolific seed producer, one plant bearing as many as 400,000 seeds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Burdock (Arctium Lappa), Flowering Branch and Root.]

Description of Rootstock--Burdock has a large, fleshy taproot, which when dry becomes scaly and wrinkled lengthwise and has a blackish brown or grayish brown color on the outside, hard, breaking with a short, somewhat fleshy fracture, and showing the yellowish wood with a whitish spongy center. Sometimes there is a small, white, silky tuft at the top of the root, which is formed by the remains of the bases of the leafstalks. The odor of the root is weak and unpleasant, the taste mucilaginous, sweetish and somewhat bitter. While the root is met with in commerce in its entire state, it is more frequently in broken pieces or in lengthwise slices, the edges of which are turned inward. The roots of other species of Arctium are also employed.

Collection, Prices and Uses--Burdock root is official, and the United States Pharmacopoeia directs that it be collected from plants of the first year's growth, either of Arctium lappa or of other species of Arctium. As Burdock has a rather large, fleshy root, it is difficult to dry and is apt to become moldy, and for this reason it is better to slice the root lengthwise, which will facilitate the drying process. The price ranges from 5 to 10 cents a pound. The best root is said to come from Belgium, where great care is exercised in its collection and curing.

Burdock root is used as an alterative in blood and skin diseases. The seeds and fresh leaves are also used medicinally to a limited extent.

Yellow Dock.

Rumex Crispus L.

Other Common Names--Rumex, curled dock, narrow dock, sour dock.

Habitat and Range--This troublesome weed, introduced from Europe, is now found thruout the United States, occurring in cultivated as well as in waste ground, among rubbish heaps and along the road side.

Description of Plant--Yellow Dock is a perennial plant belonging to the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae), and has a deep, spindle shaped root, from which arises an erect, angular and furrowed stem, attaining a height of from 2 to 4 feet. The stem is branched near the top and leafy, bearing numerous long dense cl.u.s.ters formed by drooping groups of inconspicuous green flowers placed in circles around the stem. The flowers are produced from June to August, and the fruits which follow are in the form of small triangular nuts, like the grain of buckwheat, to which family the dock belongs. So long as the fruits are green and immature they can scarcely be distinguished from the flowers, but as they ripen the cl.u.s.ters take on a rusty brown color. The leaves of the yellow dock are lance shaped, acute, with the margins strongly waved and crisped, the lower long-stalked leaves being blunt or heart shaped at the base from 6 to 8 inches in length, while those nearer the top are narrower and shorter, only 3 to 6 inches in length, short stemmed or stemless.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yellow Dock (Rumex Crispus), First Year's Growth.]

The broad-leaved dock (Rumex obtusifolius L.), is known also as bitter dock, common dock, blunt-leaved dock, and b.u.t.ter-dock, is a very common weed found in waste places from the New England States to Oregon and south to Florida and Texas. It grows to about the same height as the yellow dock, to which it bears a close resemblance, differing princ.i.p.ally in its more robust habit of growth. The stem is stouter than in yellow dock and the leaves, which likewise are wavy along the margin, are much broader and longer. The green flowers appear from June to August and are in rather long, open cl.u.s.ters, the groups rather loose and far apart.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Broad-Leaved Dock (Rumex Obtusifolius), Leaf, Fruiting Spike and Root.]

Description of Roots--Yellow Dock root is large and fleshy, usually from 8 to 12 inches long, tapering or spindle shaped, with few or no rootlets. When dry it is usually twisted and prominently wrinkled, the rather thick, dark, reddish brown bark marked with small scars.

The inside of the root is whitish at first, becoming yellowish. The fracture is short, but shows some splintery fibers. The root, as it occurs in commerce, is either entire or occasionally split lengthwise.

The darker colored root of the broad-leaved dock has a number of smaller branches near the crown and more rootlets. Dock roots have but a very faint odor and a bitter, astringent taste.

Collection, Prices and Uses--The roots should be collected in late summer or autumn, after the fruiting tops have turned brown, then washed, either left entire or split lengthwise into halves or quarters and carefully dried. Yellow Dock root ranges from 4 to 6 cents a pound.

In the United States Pharmacopoeia of 1890 "the roots of Rumex crispus and of some other species of Rumex" were official and both of the above-named species are used, but the Yellow Dock (Rumex crispus) is the species most commonly employed in medicine. The docks are largely used for purifying the blood and in the treatment of skin diseases.

The young root leaves of both of the species mentioned are sometimes used in spring as pot herbs.

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

DRY SOIL PLANTS.

Stillingia.

Stillingia Sylvatica L.

Pharmacopoeial Name--Stillingia.

Other Common Names--Queen's-delight, queen's-root, silverleaf, nettle-potato.

Habitat and Range--This plant is found in dry, sandy soil and in pine barrens from Maryland to Florida west to Kansas and Texas.

Description of Plant--Like most of the other members of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), stillingia also contains a milky juice. This indigenous, herbaceous perennial is about 1 to 3 feet in height, bright green and somewhat fleshy, with crowded leaves of a somewhat leathery texture. The leaves are practically stemless and vary greatly in form, from lance shaped, oblong, to oval and elliptical, round toothed or saw toothed. The pale yellow flowers, which appear from April to October, are borne in a dense terminal spike and consist of two kinds, male and female, the male flowers arranged in dense cl.u.s.ters around the upper part of the stalk and the female flowers occurring at the base of the spike. The seeds are contained in a roundish 3-lobed capsule.

Description of Root--Stillingia consists of somewhat cylindrical or slenderly spindle shaped roots from 6 inches to a foot in length, slightly branched, the yellowish white, porous wood covered with a rather thick, reddish brown, wrinkled bark, the whole breaking with a fibrous fracture. As found in commerce, stillingia is usually in short transverse sections, the ends of the sections pinkish and fuzzy with numerous fine, silky bast fibres, and the bark showing scattered yellowish brown resin cells and milk ducts. It has a peculiar unpleasant odor, and a bitter, acrid and pungent taste.