Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants Part 29

Bloodroot was well known to the American Indians, who used the red juice as a dye for skins and baskets and for painting their faces and bodies. It is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia and is used as a tonic, alterative, stimulant and emetic.

Pinkroot.

Spigelia Marilandica L.

Pharmacopoeial Name--Spigelia.

Other Common Names--Carolina pinkroot, pinkroot, Carolina pink, Maryland pink, Indian pink, starbloom, wormgra.s.s, wormweed, American wormroot.

Habitat and Range--This pretty little plant is found in rich woods from New Jersey to Florida, west to Texas and Wisconsin, but occurring princ.i.p.ally in the Southern States. It is fast disappearing, however from its native haunts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pinkroot (Spigelia Marilandica).]

Description of Plant--Pinkroot belongs to the same family as the yellow jasmine, namely, the Logania family (Loganiaceae), noted for its poisonous species. It is a native perennial herb, with simple, erect stem 6 inches to 1 1/2 feet high, nearly smooth. The leaves are stemless, generally ovate, pointed at the apex and rounded or narrowed at the base; they are from 2 to 4 inches long, one-half to 2 inches wide, smooth on the upper surface, and only slightly hairy on the veins on the lower surface. The rather showy flowers are produced from May to July in a terminal one-sided spike; they are from 1 to 2 inches in length, somewhat tube shaped, narrowed below, slightly inflated toward the center, and again narrowed or contracted toward the top, terminating in five lance shaped lobes; the flowers are very showy, with their brilliant coloring--bright scarlet on the outside, and the inside of the tube, and the lobes a bright yellow. The seed capsule is double, consisting of two globular portions more or less united, and containing numerous seeds.

Description of Rootstock--The rootstock is rather small, from 1 to 2 inches in length and about one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. It is somewhat crooked or bent, dark brown, with a roughened appearance of the upper surface caused by cup shaped scars, the remains of former annual stems. The lower surface and the sides have numerous long, finely branched, lighter colored roots, which are rather brittle. Pinkroot has a pleasant, aromatic odor, and the taste is described as sweetish, bitter and pungent.

Collection, Prices and Uses--Pinkroot is collected after the flowering period. It is said to be scarce, and was reported as becoming scarce as long ago as 1830. The price paid to collectors ranges from 25 to 40 cents a pound.

The roots of other plants, notably those of the East Tennessee pinkroot (Ruellia ciliosa Pursh), are often found mixed with the true Pinkroot, and the Ruellia ciliosa is even subst.i.tuted for it. This adulteration or subst.i.tution probably accounts for the inertness which has sometimes been attributed to the true Pinkroot and which has caused it to fall into more or less disuse. It has long been known that the true Pinkroot was adulterated, but this adulteration was supposed to be caused by the admixture of Carolina phlox (Phlox Carolina L., now known as Phlox ovata L.), but this is said now to be no part of the subst.i.tution.

The rootstock of Ruellia ciliosa is larger and not as dark as that of the Maryland pinkroot and has fewer and coa.r.s.er roots, from which the bark readily separates, leaving the whitish wood exposed.

Pinkroot was long known by the Indians, and its properties were made known to physicians by them. It is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia and is used princ.i.p.ally as an anthelmintic.

Indian-Physic.

Porteranthus Trifoliatus (L.) Britton.

Synonym--Gilenia Trifoliata Moench.

Other Common Names--Gilenia, bowman's-root, false ipecac, western dropwort, Indian-hippo.

Habitat and Range--Indian-Physic is native in rich woods from New York to Michigan, south to Georgia and Missouri.

Description of Plant--The reddish stems of this slender, graceful perennial of the rose family (Rosaceae) are about 2 to 3 feet high, several erect and branched stems being produced from the same root.

The leaves are almost stemless and trifoliate; that is, composed of three leaflets. They are ovate or lanceolate, 2 to 3 inches long, narrowed at the base, smooth and toothed. The nodding, white pinkish flowers are few, produced in loose terminal cl.u.s.ters from May to July. The five petals are long, narrowed or tapering toward the base, white or pinkish, and inserted in the tubular, somewhat bell shaped, red tinged calyx. The seed pods are slightly hairy.

At the base of the leaf stems are small leaflike parts, called stipules, which in this species are very small, linear and entire. In the following species, which is very similar to trifoliatus and collected with it, the stipules, however, are so much larger that they form a prominent character, which has given rise to its specific name, stipulatus.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Indian Physic (Porteranthus Trifoliatus).]

Porteranthus stipulatus (Muhl.) Britton (Syn. Gillenia stipulacea Nutt.) is found in similar situations as P. trifoliatus, but generally farther west, its range extending from western New York to Indiana and Kansas, south to Alabama, Louisiana and Indian Territory.

The general appearance of this plant is very similar to that of P.

trifoliatus. It grows to about the same height, but is generally more hairy, the leaflets narrower and more deeply toothed, and the flowers perhaps a trifle smaller. The stipules, however, will generally serve to distinguish it. These are large, broad, ovate, acute at the apex, sharply and deeply notched and so much like leaves that but for their position at the base of the leaf stems they might easily be mistaken for them.

With the exception of the name American ipecac applied to this plant, the common names of Porteranthus trifoliatus are also used for P.

stipulatus. The roots of both species are collected and used for the same purpose.

Description of Roots--The root Porteranthus trifoliatus is thick and knotty, with many smoothish, reddish brown rootlets, the latter in drying becoming wrinkled lengthwise and showing a few transverse fissures or breaks in the bark, and the interior white and woody.

There is practically no odor and the woody portion is tasteless, but the bark, which is readily separable, is bitter, increasing the flow of saliva.

Porteranthus stipulatus has a larger, more knotty root, with rootlets that are more wavy, constricted or marked with numerous transverse rings, and the bark fissured or breaking from the white woody portion at frequent intervals.

Collection, Prices and Uses--The roots of both species are collected in autumn. The prices range from 2 to 4 cents a pound.

Indian-Physic or bowman's root, as these names imply, was a popular remedy with the Indians, who used it as an emetic. From them the white settlers learned of its properties and it is still used for its emetic action. This drug was at one time official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, from 1820 to 1880. Its action is said to resemble that of ipecac.

Wild Sarsaparilla.

Arala Nudicaulis L.

Other Common Names--False sarsaparilla, Virginia sarsaparilla, American sarsaparilla, small spikenard, rabbit's-root, s...o...b..sh, wild licorice.

Habitat and Range--Wild Sarsaparilla grows in rich, moist woods from Newfoundland west to Manitoba and south to North Carolina and Missouri.

Description of Plant--This native herbaceous perennial, belonging to the ginseng family (Araliaceae), produces a single, long-stalked leaf and flowering stalk from a very short stem, both surrounded or sheathed at the base by thin, dry scales. The leafstalk is about 12 inches long divided at the top into three parts, each division bearing five oval, toothed leaflets from 2 to 5 inches long, the veins on the lower surface sometimes hairy.

The naked flowering stalk bears three spreading cl.u.s.ters of small, greenish flowers, each cl.u.s.ter consisting of from 12 to 30 flowers produced from May to June, followed later in the season by purplish black roundish berries, about the size of the common elderberries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia Nudicaulis).]

Description of Rootstock--Wild Sarsaparilla rootstock has a very fragrant, aromatic odor. Rabbits are said to be very fond of it, whence one of the common names, "rabbit's-root," is derived. The rootstock is rather long, horizontally creeping, somewhat twisted, and yellowish brown on the outside. The taste is warm and aromatic.

The dried rootstock is brownish, gray and wrinkled lengthwise on the outside, about one-fourth of an inch in thickness, the inside whitish with a spongy pith. The taste is sweetish and somewhat aromatic.

Collection, Prices and Uses--The root of Wild Sarsaparilla is collected in autumn, and brings from 5 to 8 cents a pound.

This has long been a popular remedy, both among the Indians and domestic practice, and was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1880. Its use is that of an alterative, stimulant and diaph.o.r.etic and in this it resembles the official sarsaparilla obtained from tropical America.

Similar Species--The American spikehead (Aralia racemosa L.), known also as spignet, spiceberry, Indian-root, petty-morrel, life-of-man and old-man's-root, is employed like Aralia nudicaulis. It is distinguished from this by its taller, herbaceous habit, its much-branched stem from 3 to 6 feet high and very large leaves consisting of thin, oval, heart shaped, double saw-toothed leaflets.

The small, greenish flowers are arranged in numerous cl.u.s.ters, instead of only three as in nudicaulis and also appear somewhat later, namely, from July to August. The berries are roundish, reddish brown, or dark purple.

The rootstock is shorter than that of nudicaulis and much thicker, with prominent stem scars, and furnished with numerous, very long, rather thin roots. The odor and taste are stronger than in nudicaulis. It is also collected in autumn, and brings from 4 to 8 cents a pound.

The American spikenard occurs in similar situations as nudicaulis, but its range extends somewhat farther South, Georgia being given as the Southern limit.

The California spikenard (Aralia californica Wats.) may be used for the same purpose as the other species. The plant is larger than Aralia racemosa, but otherwise is very much like it. The root is also larger than that of A. racemosa.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

MEDICINAL HERBS.