Part 3

The erect flowers appear in spring, and although they are quite large—about 2 inches long—they are not very conspicuous for the reason that their colors so blend with the yellow-green foliage of early spring that they pass almost unnoticed. On examining these flowers more closely they will be found to resemble tulips in form, with a very modest coloring, however, of green with a slight orange tinge toward the base of the petals, and the inside of the flower orange colored. The flowers have six petals and three reflexed petal-like sepals, and numerous stamens. The fruit ripens in the form of a dry, pointed cone, about 3 inches in length. (Fig. 19.)

_Description of bark._—The bark of both trunk and root, deprived of the outer layer, is used medicinally, and the tulip-poplar, or, as it is most frequently called in the drug trade, yellow poplar, or Liriodendron, was official in the United States Pharmacopœia from 1820 to 1880. It consists of slab-like pieces 3 or 4 inches long, very light, the outside as well as the inside of the inner bark yellowish white. When broken the fracture is ragged, splintery, and uneven. There is a pronounced heavy, unpleasant odor, and the taste is aromatic, pungent, bitter, and somewhat astringent. The root bark is somewhat darker than that of the tree and is considered much more powerful.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—In spring the bark is easily separated from the wood; the outer layer is shaved off, and the inner bark is then peeled in large slabs about 6 inches in width and from 3 to 6 feet in length. The root bark is collected in winter.

Collectors receive from about 1-1/4 to 3 cents a pound.

The bark of the tulip-poplar is regarded as a bitter, stimulant tonic, and is considered useful in fevers, rheumatism, and digestive disorders.

SASSAFRAS.

_Sassafras sassafras_ (L.) Karst.

_Pharmacopœial name._—Sassafras.

_Synonyms._—_Sassafras officinale_ Nees & Eberm.; _Sassafras variifolium_ (Salisb.) O. Kuntze.[3]

_Other common names._—Ague-tree, saxifrax, cinnamonwood, saloop, smelling-stick.

_Habitat and range._—Sassafras is a native tree, occurring in rich woods from Massachusetts to Ontario and Michigan, south to Florida and Texas.

[Illustration: FIG. 20.—Sassafras (_Sassafras sassafras_), leaves and fruits.]

_Description of tree._—Sometimes the sassafras reaches almost 100 feet in height, its greatest height being attained in the South, but in the North it occurs principally as a shrub. The bark of old trees is rough and fissured, and of a grayish color, but the young twigs are smooth and green. The leaves are very variable in outline—some oval, some with three lobes, and some with but one lobe on the side, shaped like a mitten (fig. 20). The flowers are yellowish green and fragrant, and are borne in inconspicuous clusters, the staminate and pistillate on different trees; they appear in early spring, about the time that the leaves unfold. The fruit, which ripens about September, is oblong roundish, about the size of a pea, dark blue, one seeded, and borne on a thick, club-shaped red stalk (fig. 20). All parts of the tree are aromatic. It belongs to the laurel family (Lauraceæ). The wood is light, but strong and durable, whitish or with a reddish tinge, and also aromatic, except in the older trees.

_Description of bark._—The dried bark of the root of sassafras is official in the United States Pharmacopœia. As it occurs in the shops, it is in irregular curved pieces of varying length; smooth, the outer grayish layer having been removed; rusty red, soft, and breaking with a short, cork-like fracture. The inside of the bark is marked with short, indefinite lines. The odor is very aromatic, and the taste is sweetish, bitingly aromatic, and astringent.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—Sassafras bark is collected in early spring or autumn from the root, and the outer layer removed.

Sassafras bark is used for its tonic properties. It forms a popular domestic “spring medicine,” and in early spring the market women display on their stands bundles of sassafras bark, to be made into a tea, by many people regarded as a useful remedy.

Sassafras oil, also official in the United States Pharmacopœia, is distilled especially from the root bark, but often also from the whole root. Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania are the most important centers of production. It is used as an anodyne, also as a stimulant in neuralgia, and for the purpose of flavoring confectionery and soaps.

The dried pith (or medulla) from the branches is likewise official. It yields a mucilaginous liquid with water, and forms a soothing application for inflamed conditions.

The price paid to collectors may range from 2 to 10 cents a pound, according to quality.

[Footnote 3: The pharmacopœial usage.]

SPICEBUSH.

_Benzoin benzoin_ (L.) Coulter.

_Synonyms._—_Laurus benzoin_ L.; _Lindera benzoin_ Meissn.; _Benzoin odoriferum_ Nees.

_Other common names._—Feverbush, Benjamin-bush, wild allspice, spicewood, snapwood.

[Illustration: FIG. 21.—Spicebush (_Benzoin benzoin_), leaves, flowers, and fruits.]

_Habitat and range._—This indigenous shrub frequents damp, shady woods and is seen along streams from Ontario south to North Carolina and Kansas.

_Description of shrub._—The stemless clusters of yellow flowers of the spicebush appear very early in spring, about March or April, before the leaves. This shrub, a member of the laurel family (Lauraceæ), ranges from 4 to 20 feet in height, and has a smooth bark and slender green twigs. The leaves are oval, sharp pointed, 2 to 5 inches long, about half as wide and narrowing toward the base, lighter colored on the lower surface, and with margins entire. Some of the leaves are rounded at the top. The flowers are small, bright yellow, with a fragrant odor, and about four to six in a cluster, the staminate and pistillate flowers produced separately. The clusters of fruit ripen in autumn, and each bright red, obovate fruit contains one large white seed. (Fig. 21.)

_Description of bark._—The thin quilled pieces of bark, as found in commerce, are dark brown on the outside, with small corky warts, and lighter brown and smooth on the inner surface. In older bark the corky excrescences will be found more prominent, and the color is also more ashen. The bark of the spicebush breaks with a short, granular fracture, has a faint, pleasant odor, and a warm, spicy, and astringent taste.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—In the spring the bark can be readily removed in quills, and this is generally the time when it is gathered.

At present the price paid to collectors is about 3 cents a pound.

The bark is used as a remedy against worms and is also employed in the treatment of fevers.

The fruits are likewise employed in medicine.

WITCH-HAZEL.

_Hamamelis virginiana_ L.

_Pharmacopœial name._—Hamamelis.

_Other common names._—Snapping hazel, winterbloom, wych-hazel, striped alder, spotted alder, tobacco-wood.

_Habitat and range._—Witch-hazel is found in low damp woods from New Brunswick to Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas.

[Illustration: FIG. 22.—Witch-hazel (_Hamamelis virginiana_), leaves, flowers, and capsules.]

_Description of shrub._—This indigenous shrub is one of our most peculiar plants, inasmuch as it begins to flower when all other trees and plants not only are through flowering, but generally have lost their foliage, namely, in November or even December. The seed is formed, but does not ripen until the following season. The peculiar, yellow, threadlike flowers among the usually bare branches at a season when most other vegetation is dead and the snow sometimes flies is a novel sight.

Witch-hazel sometimes grows to about 25 feet in height, usually only 8 to 15 feet, with a crooked stem covered with smoothish brown bark, often with a growth of lichens, and having many long, forking branches. The leaves are 3 to 5 inches long, broadly oval or heart-shaped oval, with uneven sides, wavy margins and downy hairs when young, but becoming smooth as they grow older (fig 22).

The flowers, as already stated, appear very late in autumn; they are bright yellow, and consist of a 4-parted corolla, with four long, narrow, strap-shaped petals, which are variously twisted when in full flower. The beaked, densely hairy seed capsule matures the following season, bursting open elastically, and scattering the large, black and shining, bonelike seeds for a distance of several feet. Thus, while the tree is in flower, there may be seen at the same time the mature seed capsules of the previous season. (Fig. 22.) This shrub belongs to the witch-hazel family (Hamamelidaceæ).

_Description of bark._—Under witch-hazel or hamamelis bark, official in the United States Pharmacopœia, is understood the bark and twigs of the witch-hazel. The bark is found in commerce in the form of quills, varying in length and width, and is sometimes a purplish brown on the outside, sometimes a whitish or grayish brown color; occasionally it is smooth with a few warty protuberances or numerous lenticels, and again it is furrowed and scaly, or even ragged. The inside is pale brown or yellowish, usually with long, straight lines. Sometimes fragments of the whitish wood are found adhering to the inner surface, and such bark should be discarded. Witch-hazel bark breaks with a weak fracture. There is a scarcely perceptible odor, and the taste is astringent and somewhat bitter.

The tough, flexible twigs do not exceed one-quarter of an inch in diameter, are branching, yellowish brown to a very dark or purplish brown, faintly wrinkled lengthwise, and with small, round, light-colored lenticels. There is a small central pith, and the bark which surrounds the greenish white wood occupies about one-fifth of the radius. If the twigs are more than a quarter of an inch in thickness, there will be too large a percentage of wood, which is inert.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—The bark and twigs are the parts designated as official in the United States Pharmacopœia. In the United States Pharmacopœia, 1890, the leaves only were official. The witch-hazel industry is carried on to a considerable extent in portions of the New England States, the farmers bringing in to the distilleries cartloads of the brush. Witch-hazel bark brings about 1 to 4 cents a pound.

Witch-hazel is generally used for relieving inflammation of various kinds, and its soothing properties were known to the American Indians. The name “witch-hazel” is derived from the fact that formerly the forked branches were used as “divining rods,” it having been the belief that these branches were endowed with a miraculous power of locating treasures, sources of water for wells, etc.

The leaves are still official in the United States Pharmacopœia.

BLACKBERRY.

(1) _Rubus villosus_ Ait.; (2) _Rubus nigrobaccus_ Bailey; (3) _Rubus cuneifolius_ Pursh.

_Pharmacopœial name._—Rubus.

_Synonym._—(2) _Rubus villosus_ A. Gray, _not_ Ait.

_Common names._—(1) American blackberry, bramble high-bush blackberry, one-flowered dewberry, fingerberry; (2) high-bush blackberry; (3) sand-blackberry, knee-high blackberry.

_Habitat and range._—(1) The American blackberry is found in sandy or dry soil near the coast from Maine to South Carolina; (2) the high-bush blackberry occurs in dry fields and along roadsides from the New England States to Florida, west to Arkansas; and (3) the sand-blackberry frequents sandy soil from Connecticut to Florida, west to Missouri and Louisiana.

_Descriptions of plants._—The blackberries are so well known that it is unnecessary to describe them. They are very similar to each other, differing principally in their habit of growth, the American blackberry being a trailing plant with slender branches, whereas the high-bush blackberry and sand-blackberry are more shrubby plants.

_Other species._—Besides the blackberries just mentioned, and which are official in the United States Pharmacopœia, Eighth Revision, there are two others which were official in the United States Pharmacopœia for 1890, and which are still collected. These are the low-running blackberry (_Rubus procumbens_ Muhl., syn., _R. canadensis_ T. & G., _not_ L.), and the low-bush blackberry or southern dewberry (_Rubus trivialis_ Michx.), both being generally trailing plants. All are members of the rose family (Rosaceæ).

_Description of bark._—The three species of blackberries mentioned as official have long, horizontal rootstocks covered with a thick bark, which is the part used medicinally. In the stores it is found in long, quilled pieces, or in bands, tough and flexible, the outside a dark reddish brown or dark brownish gray, rather smooth or slightly scaly; inside pale brown, with long coarse grooves. It breaks with a tough, fibrous fracture, and has no odor, but an astringent, somewhat bitter taste.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—The bark of the root is the part collected, and is stripped by making an incision lengthwise on one side of the root, after which it separates easily from the root, forming long quills.

At present the amount paid for the collection of blackberry bark ranges from 2 to 4 cents.

The blackberry barks possess tonic and astringent properties and form a popular remedy in the treatment of diarrheal complaints.

AMERICAN MOUNTAIN-ASH.

_Sorbus americana_ Marsh.

[Illustration: FIG. 23.—American mountain-ash (_Sorbus americana_), leaves and fruits.]

_Synonym._—_Pyrus americana_ DC.

_Other common names._—Roundwood, round-tree, American rowan-tree, American service-tree, mountain-sumac, dogberry, quick-beam, wild ash, wine-tree, witchwood, life-of-man, Indian mozemize, missey-moosey, moose-misse.

_Habitat and range._—The American mountain-ash occurs in swamps, low woods, or moist ground from Newfoundland south along the mountains to North Carolina, and to Michigan. It is most abundant in the northern portion of its range.

_Description of tree._—This is a rather small, smooth-barked tree, very brilliant in fall and early winter with its clusters of bright red berries. Its greatest height is about 30 feet, with the trunk measuring about 18 inches in diameter, and covered with a smooth, dull brown or grayish bark. The leaves, resembling those of the sumac, consist of from 11 to 17 lance-shaped, long-pointed leaflets about 1-1/4 to 4 inches long (fig. 23). When young they are somewhat hairy, both sides becoming smooth later, bright green on the upper surface, but usually lighter colored on the lower, the margins sharply toothed with short, stiff teeth. The white flowers are borne in dense clusters measuring 3 to 6 inches across, and have an urn-shaped calyx, 5 rounded petals, and numerous stamens. The American mountain-ash, which belongs to the apple family (Malaceæ), flowers about May or June, and is followed later in the season by large, dense, showy clusters of round, bright red berries, about the size of peas (fig. 23). It is indigenous to this country.

_Description of bark._—As found in the stores, American mountain-ash bark consists of coarse pieces of varying length, about a quarter of an inch in thickness, with the outer layer removed; the outside is yellowish or pale brown, smoothish or sometimes with faint, lengthwise wrinkles, the inside smooth and brown. It is odorless, but the taste is bitter and astringent.

_Prices and uses._—At present American mountain-ash bark brings from about 3 to 5 cents a pound. It is used for its tonic, astringent, and antiseptic properties.

WILD CHERRY.

_Prunus serotina_ Ehrh.

[Illustration: FIG. 24.—Wild cherry (_Prunus serotina_), trunk.]

_Pharmacopœial name._—Prunus virginiana.

_Synonym._—_Prunus virginiana_ Mill., _not_ of Linnæus.

_Other common names._—Wild black cherry, cabinet-cherry, black choke, rum-cherry, whisky-cherry, Virginian prune-bark.

_Habitat and range._—The wild cherry occurs in woods or open places, and is most abundant in the Southeastern States, but its range extends from Nova Scotia to Florida, westward to Texas, and north through Indian Territory, the eastern portions of Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

[Illustration: FIG. 25.—Wild cherry (_Prunus serotina_), leaves, flowers, and fruits.]

_Description of tree._—The elongated, drooping, pretty clusters of white flowers of the wild cherry are usually produced in May. The tree sometimes reaches a height of 90 feet, and a maximum trunk diameter of 4 feet. The trunk is straight and covered with a rough black bark (fig. 24), the young branches, however, smooth and reddish. The reddish brown wood of the wild cherry is fine grained, hard and strong, susceptible of polish, and is used in cabinetmaking.

The leaves are thick and oval, about 2 to 5 inches long, smooth and shining, bright green above and somewhat hairy on the veins beneath, the margins furnished with callous teeth. The clusters of flowers borne at the ends of leafy branches are generally somewhat drooping, and consist of many small, white, 5-petaled flowers with numerous yellow stamens, the clusters of white against the green background making it a rather attractive tree. The cherries ripen about August or September, and are globular, black, or very dark purple, about the size of a pea, and have a sweet, somewhat astringent, and bitter taste. (Fig. 25.) The wild cherry, which is a native of this country, belongs to the plum family (Amygdalaceæ).

_Description of bark._—In commerce wild cherry bark is usually found in curved or irregular pieces, the outer surface smooth and somewhat shining, of a light green or brownish green color, and showing numerous transverse, light-colored lines or grooves, or “lenticels,” as they are technically known. The inner surface is rust colored, marked with netlike grooves, or fissures. It breaks with a short, granular fracture. The taste is aromatic, astringent, and pleasantly bitter, reminding one somewhat of bitter almonds, as does the odor when the bark is soaked in water.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—The bark, which is official in the United States Pharmacopœia, should be collected in autumn, as at that time it contains the greatest amount of hydrocyanic acid. The outside layer is removed, so that the green layer underneath shows, and the bark is then carefully dried and preserved. Wild cherry bark should not be kept longer than a year, as it deteriorates with age. The bark from very small or very old branches should not be used. Young, thin bark is considered superior.

The price to collectors at present ranges from 1 to 6 cents a pound, the highest amount being paid for the “thin green,” the next best price for the “thick green,” and the lowest for the “thick rossed.”

Wild cherry bark is used for its tonic properties, and it also exerts a sedative action.

PRICKLY ASH.

(1) _Xanthoxylum americanum_ Mill. and (2) _Xanthoxylum clava-herculis_ L.

_Pharmacopœial name._—Xanthoxylum.

_Synonyms._—(1) _Xanthoxylum fraxineum_ Willd.; (2) _Xanthoxylum carolinianum_ Lam.; _Fagara clava-herculis_ (L.) Small.[4]

_Other common names._—(1) Northern prickly ash, toothache-tree, toothache-bush, yellowwood, angelica-tree, pellitory-bark, suterberry; (2) southern prickly ash, toothache-tree, Hercules-club, yellow Hercules, yellowthorn, yellowwood, yellow prickly ash, prickly yellowwood, West Indian yellowwood, sea-ash, pepperwood, wild orange.

_Habitat and range._—The northern prickly ash is common in woods, thickets, and along river banks from Virginia, Missouri, and Nebraska northward to Canada, while the southern prickly ash grows along streams from southern Virginia to Florida, west to Texas and Arkansas. Both are indigenous to this country, and are members of the rue family (Rutaceæ).

[Illustration: FIG. 26.—Southern prickly ash (_Xanthoxylum clava-herculis_), trunk.]

_Descriptions of trees._—The northern prickly ash (_Xanthoxylum americanum_) is smaller than the southern, usually 10 to 12 feet and rarely exceeding 25 feet in height, the branches having brown cone-shaped prickles. The leaflets in this species number from 5 to 11, and are ovate, practically stemless, 1-1/2 to 2 inches long, somewhat pointed at the apex, and with margins wavy toothed or entire. When young the leaflets are somewhat hairy, but later they become smooth or retain only a slight hairiness, and are dark green on the upper surface and paler underneath. The greenish yellow flowers appear before the leaves, about April or May, but instead of being borne in terminal clusters, like those of the southern prickly ash, they are produced from the axils of the branches, many crowded together in small stemless clusters. The seed capsules, containing one to two shining black seeds, are roundish or somewhat oval and greenish red, wrinkled and pitted, and have a lemon odor. The leaves and flowers are also aromatic.

The southern prickly ash (_Xanthoxylum clava-herculis_), although generally a taller tree than the northern, does not attain great height, not exceeding 45 feet, and sometimes it is only a shrub. The trunk is covered with a slate-gray bark, and the entire tree is furnished with sharp spines, or prickles, those of the trunk smaller and borne on broad corky excrescences which remain after the spines have fallen away (fig. 26), while those of the branches and leaf stems are larger, but also have a broad base (fig. 27).

[Illustration: FIG. 27.—Southern prickly ash (_Xanthoxylum clava-herculis_), leaves, fruits, and branchlet showing prickles.]

The leaves consist of 5 to 17 ovate lance-shaped leaflets 1-1/2 to 3 inches long, with pointed apex and uneven sides, smooth and shining on the upper surface, dull beneath, and margins wavy toothed (fig. 27). After the leaves are out—about June—the numerous small greenish white flowers appear, borne in large clusters at the ends of the branches, and not in axillary clusters like those of the northern prickly ash. The seed capsules are roundish-obovoid, wrinkled, and contain roundish-oblong, black, and coarsely wrinkled seeds (fig. 27).

_Description of bark._—The dried bark of both of these species is official in the United States Pharmacopœia under the general name Xanthoxylum. That of the northern prickly ash occurs in commerce in small curved or quilled pieces about 2 inches in length and sometimes nearly one-eighth of an inch thick, with a brownish gray, corky outside layer showing whitish patches and small black dots, slightly wrinkled, and a few shining, brown, straight spines, or prickles, about one-fourth of an inch in length and with a base about three-fourths of an inch long. The inner surface of northern prickly ash bark is smooth, whitish, or yellowish. It breaks with a short fracture, showing the green outer layer and the yellowish inner layer. The taste is very pungent and somewhat bitter, but there is no odor.

Southern prickly ash, as found in the trade, is in large sheets or quilled pieces, the outside a bluish gray or slate gray, with patches of silvery gray and numerous large corky excrescences sometimes with the large spines still attached. In other particulars it resembles the northern prickly ash.

_Prices and uses._—The price paid to collectors ranges from about 4 to 9 cents a pound for the northern prickly ash and from 3 to 8 cents for the southern prickly ash.

Prickly ash bark has alterative, stimulant, and sialagogue properties, and is used in rheumatism and for increasing the secretions, for toothache, and externally as a counterirritant.

[Footnote 4: The pharmacopœial usage.]

WAFER-ASH.

_Ptelea trifoliata_ L.

_Other common names._—Ptelea, wingseed, hop-tree, shrubby trefoil, swamp-dogwood, three-leaved hop-tree, ague-bark, prairie-grub, quinine-tree, stinking ash, stinking prairie-bush, sang-tree, pickaway-anise.

[Illustration: FIG. 28.—Wafer-ash (_Ptelea trifoliata_), leaves and fruits.]

_Habitat and range._—This indigenous shrub is found in shady woods from New York to Florida, west to Minnesota and Texas, occurring in greatest abundance west of the Alleghanies.

_Description of shrub._—The wafer-ash, belonging to the rue family (Rutaceæ), is a shrub or small tree usually from 6 to 8 feet and not more than 20 feet in height, with leaves consisting of three oval leaflets 2 to 5 inches long, dark green and shining above, paler beneath, the margins slightly round toothed (fig. 28). The leaves are borne on long stems, but the leaflets are stemless. The flowers, which appear in June, are numerous in terminal compound clusters, greenish white, and have a disagreeable odor. The foliage also has an unpleasant odor. The flowers are followed by large clusters of winged fruits, each one containing two seeds. These fruits are flat, rounded in outline, the seeds surrounded by a membranous, veined wing (fig. 28). They have a bitter taste and have been used in place of hops. The wood of the wafer-ash is light brown.

_Description of bark._—The dried bark of the root is the part employed in medicine, and as found in the stores it is in quilled pieces varying in length from one to several inches. The thin cuter layer is pale brown and irregularly ridged and wrinkled. The inner surface is yellowish white, becoming darker with age. The bark, which is brittle, breaks with a smooth fracture, has a peculiar odor, and a bitter, pungent, and somewhat acrid taste.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—The bark is taken from the roots. At present it brings collectors from about 4 to 8 cents a pound.