Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants Part 30

American Angelica.

Angelica Atropurpurea L.

Synonym--Archangelica atropurpurea Hoffn.

Other Common Names--Angelica, purple-stemmed angelica, great angelica, high angelicam, purple angelica, masterwort.

Habitat and Range--American Angelica is a native herb, common in swamps and damp places from Labrador to Delaware and west to Minnesota.

Description of Plant--This strong-scented, tall, stout perennial reaches a height of from 4 to 6 feet, with a smooth, dark purple, hollow stem 1 to 2 inches in diameter. The leaves are divided into three parts, each of which is again divided into threes; the rather thin segments are oval or ovate, somewhat acute, sharply toothed and sometimes deeply cut, and about 2 inches long. The lower leaves sometimes measure 2 feet in width, while the upper ones are smaller, but all have very broad, expanded stalks. The greenish white flowers are produced from June to July in somewhat roundish, many-rayed umbels or heads, which sometimes are 8 to 10 inches in diameter. The fruits are smooth, compressed and broadly oval. American Angelica root is branched, from 3 to 6 inches long, and less than an inch in diameter. The outside is light, brownish gray, with deep furrows, and the inside nearly white, the whole breaking with a short fracture and the thick bark showing fine resin dots. It has an aromatic odor, and the taste at first is sweetish and spicy, afterwards bitter. The fresh root is said to possess poisonous properties.

The root of the European or garden angelica (Angelica officinalis Moench) supplies much of the angelica root of commerce. This is native in northern Europe and is very widely cultivated, especially in Germany, for the root.

[Ill.u.s.tration: American Angelica (Angelica Atropurpurea).]

Collection, Prices and Uses--The root is dug in autumn and carefully dried. Care is also necessary in preserving the root, as it is very liable to the attacks of insects. American Angelica root ranges from 6 to 10 cents a pound.

American Angelica root, which was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1860 is used as an aromatic, tonic, stimulant, carminative, diuretic and diaph.o.r.etic. In large doses it acts as an emetic.

The seeds are also employed medicinally.

Comfrey.

Symphytum Officinale L.

Other Common Names--Symphytum, healing herb, knitback, a.s.s-ear, backwort, blackwort, bruisewort, gum-plant, slippery-root.

Habitat and Range--Comfrey is naturalized from Europe and occurs in waste places from Newfoundland to Minnesota, south to Maryland.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Comfrey (Symphytum Officinale).]

Description of Plant--This coa.r.s.e, rough, hairy, perennial herb is from 2 to 3 feet high, erect and branched, with thick, rough leaves, the lower ones ovate lance shaped, 3 to 10 inches long, pointed at the apex, and narrowed at the base into margined stems. The uppermost leaves are lance shaped, smaller and stemless. Comfrey is in flower from June to August, the purplish or dirty white, tubular, bell shaped flowers numerous and borne in dense terminal cl.u.s.ters. The nutlets which follow are brown, s.h.i.+nning and somewhat wrinkled.

Comfrey belongs to the borage family (Boraginaceae.)

Description of Root--Comfrey has a large, deep, spindle-shaped root, thick and fleshy at the top, white inside and covered with a thin, blackish brown bark. The dried root is hard, black and very deeply and roughly wrinkled, breaking with a smooth, white, waxy fracture.

As it occurs in commerce it is in pieces ranging from about an inch to several inches in length, only about one-fourth of an inch in thickness, and usually considerably bent. It has a very mucilaginous, somewhat sweetish and astringent taste, but no odor.

Collection, Prices and Uses--The root is dug in autumn, or sometimes in early spring. Comfrey root when first dug is very fleshy and juicy, but about four-fifths of its weight is lost in drying. The price ranges from 4 to 8 cents a pound.

The mucilaginous character of Comfrey root renders it useful in coughs and diarrheal complaints. Its action is demulcent and slightly astringent.

The leaves are also used to some extent.

Elecampane.

Inula Helenium L.

Other Common Names--Inula, inul, horseheal, elf-dock, elfwort, horse-elder, scabwort, yellow starwort, velvet dock, wild sunflower.

Habitat and Range--This perennial herb has been naturalized from Europe, and is found along the roadsides and in fields and damp pastures from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, westward to Missouri and Minnesota. It is a native also in Asia.

Description of Plant--When in flower elecampane resembles the sunflower on a small scale. Like the sunflower, it is a member of the aster family (Asteraceae). It is a rough plant, growing from 3 to 6 feet in height, but producing during the first year only root leaves, which attain considerable size. In the following season the stout densely hairy stem develops, attaining a height of from 3 to 6 feet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Elecampane (Inula Helenium).]

The leaves are broadly oblong in form, toothed, the upper surface rough and the under side densely soft-hairy. The basal or root leaves are borne on long stems, and are from 10 to 20 inches long and 4 to 8 inches wide, while the upper leaves are smaller and stemless or clasping.

About July to September the terminal flower heads are produced, either singly or a few together. As already stated, these flower heads look very much like small sunflowers, 2 to 4 inches broad, and consist of long, narrow, yellow rays, 3 toothed at the apex, and the disk also is yellow.

Description of Root--Elecampane has a large, long, branching root, pale yellow on the outside and whitish and fleshy within. When dry the outside turns a grayish brown or dark brown, and is generally finely wrinkled lengthwise. As found in commerce, elecampane is usually in transverse or lengthwise slices, light yellow or grayish and fleshy internally, dotted with numerous s.h.i.+ning resin cells, and with overlapping brown or wrinkled bark. These slices become flexible in damp weather and tough, but when they are dry they break with a short fracture. The root has at first a strongly aromatic odor, which has been described by some as resembling a violet odor, but this diminished in drying. The taste is aromatic, bitterish and pungent.

Collection, Prices, and Uses--The best time for collecting elecampane is in the fall of the second year. If collected later than that the roots are apt to be stringy and woody. Owing to the interlacing habit of the rootlets, much dirt adheres to the root, but it should be well cleaned, cut into transverse or lengthwise slices, and carefully dried in the shade. Collectors receive from 3 to 5 cents a pound for this root.

Elecampane, which was official in the United States Pharmacopeia of 1890, is much used in affections of the respiratory organs, in digestive and liver disorders, catarrhal discharges and skin diseases.

Queen-of-the-Meadow.

Eupatorium Purpureum.

Other Common Names--Gravelroot, Indian gravelroot, joe-pye-weed, purple boneset, tall boneset, kidney root, king-of-the-meadow, marsh-milkweed, motherwort, n.i.g.g.e.rweed, quillwort, slunkweed, trumpetweed.

Habitat and Range--This common native perennial herb occurs in low grounds and dry woods and meadows from Canada to Florida and Texas.

Description of Plant--The stout, erect, green or purple stem of this plant grows from 3 to 10 feet in height and is usually smooth, simple or branched at the top. The thin, veiny leaves are 4 to 12 inches long, 1 to 3 inches wide, ovate or ovate lance shaped, sharp pointed, toothed and placed around the stem in whorls of three to six. While the upper surface of the leaves is smooth, there is usually a slight hairiness along the veins on the lower surface, otherwise smooth. Toward the latter part of the summer and in early fall queen-of-the-meadow is in flower, producing 5 to 15 flowered pink or purplish heads, all aggregated in large compound cl.u.s.ters which present a rather showy appearance. This plant belongs to the aster family (Asteraceae).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Queen-of-the-Meadow (Eupatorium Purpureum).]

Another species which is collected with this and for similar purposes, and by some regarded as only a variety, is the spotted boneset or spotted joe-pye-weed (Eupatorium maculatum L.) This is very similar to E. purpureum, but it does not grow so tall, is rough-hairy and has the stem spotted with purple. The thicker leaves are coa.r.s.ely toothed and in whorls of three to five and the flower cl.u.s.ters are flattened at the top rather than elongated as in E.

purpureum.

It is found in moist soil from New York to Kentucky, westward to Kansas, New Mexico, Minnesota, and as far up as British Columbia.

Description of Root--Queen-of-meadow root, as it occurs in commerce, is blackish and woody, furnished with numerous long dark-brown fibers, which are furrowed or wrinkled lengthwise and whitish within.

It has a bitter, aromatic and astringent taste.

Collection, Prices and Uses--The root is collected in autumn and is used for its astringent and diuretic properties. It was official in the United States Pharmacopeia from 1820 to 1840. The price ranges from 2 1/2 to 4 cents a pound.

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

MEDICINAL SHRUBS.

Hydrangea.