Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants Part 27

Collection, Prices and Uses--Stillingia root is collected in late autumn or early in spring, usually cut into short, transverse sections and dried. The price ranges from 3 to 5 cents a pound.

This root, which is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, has been a popular drug in the South for more than a century and is employed princ.i.p.ally as an alterative.

American Colombo.

Frasera Carolinensis Walt.

Synonym--Frasera walteri Michx.

Other Common Names--Frasera, meadowpride, pyramid-flower, pyramid-plant, Indian lettuce, yellow gentian, ground-century.

Habit and Range American Colombo occurs in dry soil from the western part of New York to Wisconsin, south to Georgia and Kentucky.

Description of Plant--During the first and second year of the growth of this plant only the root leaves are produced These are generally somewhat rounded at the summit, narrowed toward the base, and larger than the stem leaves, which develop in the third year. The leaves are deep green and produced mostly in whorls of four, the stem leaves being 3 to 6 inches in length and oblong or lance shaped. In the third year the stem is developed and the flowers are produced from June to August. The stem is stout, erect, cylindrical, and 3 to 8 feet in height. The flowers of American Colombo are borne in large terminal, handsome pyramidal cl.u.s.ters, sometimes 2 feet in length, and are greenish yellow or yellowish white, dotted with brown purple.

They are slender stemmed, about 1 inch across, with a wheel shaped, 4-parted corolla The seeds are contained in a much compressed capsule. American Colombo is an indigenous perennial and belongs to the gentian family (Gentianaceae.)

Description of Root--The root is long, horizontal, spindle shaped, yellow, and wrinkled. In the fresh state it is fleshy and quite heavy. The American Colombo root of commerce, formerly in transverse slices, now generally occurs in lengthwise slices. The outside is yellowish or pale orange and the inside spongy and pale yellow. The taste is bitter. American Colombo root resembles the official gentian root in taste and odor, and the uses are also similar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: American Colombo (Frasera Carolinensis), Leaves, Flowers and Seed Pods.]

Collection, Prices and Uses--The proper time for collecting American Colombo root is in the autumn of the second year or in March or April of the third year. It is generally cut into lengthwise slices before drying. The price of American Colombo root ranges from 3 to 5 cents a pound.

The dried root, which was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1880, is used as a simple tonic. In the fresh state the root possesses emetic and cathartic properties.

Couch-Gra.s.s.

Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv.

Synonym--Tritic.u.m repens L.

Pharmacopoeial Name--Tritic.u.m.

Other Common Names--Dog-gra.s.s, quick-gra.s.s, quack-gra.s.s, quitch-gra.s.s, quake-gra.s.s, scutch-gra.s.s, twitch-gra.s.s, witch-gra.s.s, wheat-gra.s.s, creeping wheat-gra.s.s, devil's gra.s.s, durfa-gra.s.s, Durfee-gra.s.s, Dutch-gra.s.s, Fin's-gra.s.s, Chandler's-gra.s.s.

Habitat and Range--Like many of our weeds, couch-gra.s.s was introduced from Europe, and is now one of the worst pests the farmer has to contend with, taking possession of the cultivated ground and crowding out valuable crops. It occurs most abundantly from Maine to Maryland, westward to Minnesota and Minnesota, and is spreading on farms on the Pacific slope, but is rather sparingly distributed in the South.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Couch-Gra.s.s (Agrophyron Repens).]

Description of Plant--Couch-gra.s.s is rather coa.r.s.e, 1 to 3 feet high, and when in flower very much resemble rye or beardless wheat. Several round, smooth, hollow stems, thickened at the joints, are produced from the long, creeping, jointed rootstock. The stems bear 5 to 7 leaves from 3 to 12 inches long, rough on the upper surface and smooth beneath, while the long, cleft leaf sheaths are smooth. The solitary terminal flowering heads or spikes are compressed, and consist of two rows of spikelets on a wavy and flattened axis. These heads are produced from July to September. Couch Gra.s.s belongs to the gra.s.s family (Poaceae.)

Description of Rootstock--The pale yellow, smooth rootstock is long, tough and jointed, creeping along underneath the ground, and pus.h.i.+ng in every direction. As found in the stores, it consists of short, angular pieces, from one eighth to one-fourth of an inch long, of a s.h.i.+ning straw color, and hollow. These pieces are odorless, but have a somewhat sweetish taste.

Collection, Prices and Uses--Couch-Gra.s.s, which is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, should be collected in spring, carefully cleaned, and the rootlets removed. The rootstock (not rootlets) is then cut into short pieces about two-fifths of an inch in length, for which purpose an ordinary feed-cutting machine may be used, and thoroughly dried.

Couch-Gra.s.s is usually destroyed by plowing up and burn ing, for if any of the joints are permitted to remain in the soil new plants will be produced. But, instead of burning, the rootstocks may be saved and prepared for the drug market in the manner above stated. The prices range from 3 to 5 cents a pound. At present Couch-Gra.s.s is collected chiefly in Europe.

A fluid extract is prepared from Couch-Gra.s.s, which is used in affections of the kidney and bladder.

Echinacea.

Brauneria Angustifolia (DC) h.e.l.ler.

Synonym--Echinacea angustifolia DC.

Other Common Names--Pale-purple coneflower, Sampson-root, n.i.g.g.e.rhead (in Kansas.)

Habitat and Range--Echinacea is found in scattered patches in rich prairie soil or sandy soil from Alabama to Texas and northwestward, being most abundant in Kansas and Nebraska. Tho not growing wild in the Eastern States, It has succeeded well under cultivation in the testing gardens of the Department of Agriculture at Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Echinacea (Brauneria Angustifolia).]

Description of Plant--This native herbaceous perennial, belonging to the aster family (Asteraceae), grows to a height of from 2 to 3 feet.

It sends up a rather stout bristly-hairy stem, bearing thick rough-hairy leaves, which are broadly lance shaped or linear lance shaped, entire, 3 to 8 inches long, narrowed at each end, and strongly three nerved. The lower leaves have slender stems, but as they approach the top of the plant the stems become shorter and some of the upper leaves are stemless.

The flower heads appearing from July to October, are very pretty, and the plant would do well as an ornamental in gardens. The flowers remain on the plant for a long time, and the color varies from whitish rose to pale purple. The head consists of ray flowers and disk flowers, the former const.i.tuting the "petals" surrounding the disk, and the disk itself being composed of small, tubular, greenish yellow flowers. When the flowers first appear the disk is flattened or really concave, but as the flowering progresses it becomes conical in shape. The brown fruiting heads are conical, chaffy, stiff and wiry.

Description of Root--Echinacea has a thick, blackish root, which in commerce occurs in cylindrical pieces of varying length and thickness. The dried root is grayish brown on the outside, the bark wrinkled lengthwise and sometimes spirally twisted. It breaks with a short, weak fracture, showing yellow or greenish yellow wood edges, which give the impression that the wood is decayed.

The odor is scarcely perceptible and the taste is mildly aromatic, afterwards becoming acrid and inducing a flow of saliva.

Collection, Prices and Uses--The root of Echinacea is collected in autumn and brings from 20 to 30 cents a pound. It is said that Echinacea varies greatly in quality due chiefly to the locality in which it grows. According to J. U. Lloyd, the best quality comes from the prairie lands of Nebraska and that from marshy places is inferior.

Echinacea is said to be an alterative and to promote perspiration and induce a flow of saliva. The Indians used the freshly sc.r.a.ped roots for the cure of snake bites.

Aletris.

Aletris Farinosa L.

Other Common Names--Stargra.s.s, blazingstar, mealy starwort, starwort, unicorn-root, true unicorn-root, unicorn-plant, unicorn's-horn, colic-root, devil's-bit, ague-gra.s.s, ague-root, aloe-root, crow-corn, huskwort.

A glance at these common names will show many that have been applied to other plants, especially to Chamaelirium, with which Aletris is so much confused. In order to guard against this confusion as much as possible, it is best not to use the common names of this plant at all, referring to it only by its generic name, Aletris.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Aletris (Aletris Farinosa).]

Habitat and Range--Aletris occurs in dry, generally sandy soil, from Maine to Minnesota, Florida and Tennessee.

Description of Plant--As stated under Chamaelirium, this plant is often confused with the former by collectors and others, although there seems to be no good reason why this should be so. The plants do not resemble each other except in habit of growth, and the trouble undoubtedly arose from a confusion of the somewhat similar common names of the plants, as, for instance, "stargra.s.s" and "starwort."

Aletris may be at once distinguished by the gra.s.slike leaves, which spread out on the ground in the form of a star, and by the slender spikes of rough, mealy flowers.

This native perennial, belonging to the lily family (Liliaceae), is an erect, slender herb, 1 1/2 to 3 feet tall, with basal leaves only.

These leaves are gra.s.slike, from 2 to 6 inches long, and have a yellowish green or willow-green color. As already stated, they surround the base of the stem in the form of a star. Instead of stem leaves, there are very small, leaflike bracts placed at some distance apart on the stem. From May to July the erect flowering spike, from 4 to 12 inches long, is produced, bearing white, urn-shaped flowers, sometimes tinged with yellow at the apex, and having a rough, wrinkled and mealy appearance. The seed capsule is ovoid, opening by three halves, and containing many seeds. When the flowers in the spike are still in bud, there is a suggestion of resemblance to the female spike of Chamaelirium with its fruit half formed.

Several other species are recognized by botanists, namely, Aletris Aurea Walt., A. lutea Small, and A. obovata Nash, but aside from the flowers, which in aurea and lutea are yellow, and slight variations in form, such as a more contracted perianth, the differences are not so p.r.o.nounced that the plants would require a detailed description here. They have undoubtedly been collected with Aletris farinosa for years, and are sufficiently like it to be readily recognized.