Part 2

_Collection, prices, and uses._—The best time to collect white willow bark is in the spring when the sap begins to flow, at which time it is easy to remove.

White willow bark should not be kept very long, as the salicin content diminishes with age. This bark itself is not official in the United States Pharmacopœia, but the glucoside salicin obtained from it is so recognized. The medicinal properties of willow bark depend upon its two most important constituents, salicin and tannin.

Salicin has tonic, antiperiodic, and febrifuge properties, and is occasionally employed in rheumatic affections.

The wood of white willow furnishes a very pure charcoal which is used in the manufacture of gunpowder. The young branches, known as osiers, are much used in the manufacture of baskets, etc.

The prices paid to collectors range from 2 to 5 cents a pound.

_Other species._—Roughly speaking, the willows, or Salix species, may be said to be divided into two classes, those with yellowish twigs and those with reddish or purplish twigs. Most of the yellow-barked species belong to the “crack willows,” which have their twigs attached in such a manner that they break off very easily. It is claimed that the red or purple barked twigs contain the most salicin, while those with yellow twigs are richest in tannin.[1]

Of those containing the most salicin may be mentioned the crack willow, or brittle willow (_Salix fragilis_ L.). This, a native of Europe, has escaped from cultivation in this country, and occurs from Massachusetts to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It is a tall and slender tree, the trunk covered with a rough gray bark, and the twigs with reddish green bark. At the point of attachment the twigs are very fragile and break off readily. The twigs when planted grow very rapidly. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches in length, long pointed and narrowing toward the base, smooth, dark green on the upper surface, and of a lighter color underneath, and with margins slightly toothed. The flowers appear in April or May; the fruiting catkin is rather loose and about 3 to 5 inches in length, while the staminate or male catkin is only about 1 or 2 inches long.

Another species employed in medicine is the black willow, pussy-willow, or swamp-willow (_Salix nigra_ Marsh). This is a native willow and occurs along the banks of rivers from Canada to Florida; it is not found west of the Great Plains, except in southern New Mexico and Arizona and isolated in California. It is tall and has a rough dark brown or black bark, and brittle yellowish branches. The leaves are narrowly lance shaped, and the catkins (pussy-willows) appear about the same time as the leaves, the male catkins about 1 to 2 inches long, and the female catkins as long as 3 inches, spreading apart in fruit. The bark of this species is used in medicine and the fresh aments, or catkins, are also employed.

[Footnote 1: The National Standard Dispensatory, 1905.]

BAYBERRY.

_Myrica cerifera_ L.

_Other common names._—Wax-myrtle, candleberry, candleberry-myrtle, wax-berry, tallow-bayberry, tallow-shrub, bayberry wax-tree, American vegetable tallow-tree, vegetable-tallow, American vegetable-wax.

_Habitat and range._—The bayberry, which is indigenous, is found in sandy swamps or wet woods from Texas and Florida northward to Arkansas and along the coast of Maryland. In its southern home it is a small evergreen tree, but as it goes farther north it becomes, successively, a tall semideciduous shrub or a dwarfed and deciduous shrub.

_Description of tree._—The greatest height attained by the bayberry is about 40 feet, but it is usually only 3 to 12 feet high. It is slender, with a gray, smoothish bark. The leaves, when crushed, have a fragrant odor, and are 1 to 4 inches long, narrow, dark green and shining above, lighter colored and dotted with resin cells beneath, and generally with margins entire (fig. 5).

The flowers appear from about March to May, according to locality, and generally before the leaves are fully expanded. They are borne in aments, or spikelike clusters, the male and female flowers being produced on separate trees. The yellowish aments bearing the staminate or male flowers are cylindrical, while the pistillate or female aments are oblong, shorter than the staminate, and greenish. The fruit, which remains on the tree for several years, consists of clusters of round, bluish white berries having a granulated appearance and covered with a greenish white wax (fig. 5). Each berry contains one seed. The bayberry belongs to the bayberry family (Myricaceæ).

_Description of bark._—As found in commerce, bayberry bark occurs in curved or quilled pieces, sometimes only about an inch in length and sometimes 6 inches or more. The outside is covered with a thin corky layer, which is whitish and somewhat fissured. Underneath this layer the dark reddish brown, smooth bark may be seen. The inner surface of the bark is also reddish brown, but marked with faint lines. The fracture is light red and granular. The bark, when powdered, has a pungent, aromatic odor, causing sneezing and coughing, and the taste is bitter, pungent, and acrid.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—Late autumn is the best time to collect this root, and after it has been thoroughly cleaned and while still fresh the bark is loosened and removed by beating the root with a mallet or similar instrument.

Bayberry bark brings from 2 to 5 cents a pound. It is used for its tonic and astringent properties.

The wax obtained from the berries is used for making candles.

BUTTERNUT.

_Juglans cinerea_ L.

_Other common names._—Juglans, white walnut, lemon-walnut, oilnut.

_Habitat and range._—The butternut tree, which is indigenous to this country, is of common occurrence in rich woods from New Brunswick to North Dakota and south to Georgia, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

_Description of tree._—This much-branched tree, belonging to the walnut family (Juglandaceæ), is generally from 30 to 50 feet in height, rarely exceeding 100 feet, and when old has a thick, rough, brownish gray, furrowed bark (fig. 6), and the twigs, leaf stems, and leaflets, especially in the early stages of growth, are furnished with sticky hairs.

The yellowish green leaves are composed of from 11 to 19 leaflets, all stemless except the terminal one; the leaflets are 2 to 3 inches long, oblong lance shaped and long pointed at the apex, rounded or blunt at the base, and toothed. The flowers are produced in May, or about the same time as the leaves, the yellowish green male catkins 3 to 5 inches in length, and the female flowers in clusters of 6 to 8 flowers each. In October the sweet and oily oblong nut matures, enveloped in a strong-smelling, sticky husk. The edible nut itself has a thick, hard shell, which is marked with deep furrows or lines.

_Description of bark._—Butternut bark, from the root collected in autumn, was official in the United States Pharmacopœia for 1890. It occurs in quilled pieces varying in length, and about an eighth of an inch or a trifle more in thickness, deep brown and smoothish or somewhat scaly on the outside, the inner surface likewise brown and with parts of the thin, stringy inner layer of the bark attached. It breaks with a short, fibrous fracture, finely checkered with white and brown. The odor is faint, and the taste bitter and acrid.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—Butternut bark, which will bring the collector from 1 to 4 cents a pound, is taken from the root collected in autumn. Its use in medicine is that of a mild cathartic and tonic.

IRONWOOD.

_Ostrya virginiana_ (Mill.) K. Koch.

_Synonym._—_Carpinus virginiana_ Mill.

_Other common names._—Hop-hornbeam, deerwood, leverwood, black hazel, Indian cedar.

_Habitat and range._—The ironwood is indigenous to this country, and is common in rich woods in Canada and the eastern United States, and westward to Minnesota and Texas. It is occasionally cultivated.

_Description of tree._—This usually slender tree attains its greatest height, sometimes 50 feet, in the western part of its range, while farther eastward it grows only about 15 to 20 feet high. The brownish trunk is finely furrowed in short, lengthwise lines. The wood is very hard and heavy, and is employed in making farm implements.

The leaves somewhat resemble those of the sweet birch, to which family (Betulaceæ) this tree belongs, but they are rough to the touch, instead of smooth and shining like the birch leaf. They are from 2-1/2 to 4 inches in length and about an inch or more in width, oval or oblong-oval in shape, long pointed at the apex, and rounded at the base, and with margins very sharply double toothed. The upper surface of the leaves is usually smooth, except sometimes slightly hairy on the veins, while the lower surface is hairy or even woolly. (Fig. 7.) The green, inconspicuous flowers are borne in catkins, male and female, and are produced from April to May. The male catkins are cylindrical, and about 1-1/2 to 3 inches long, while the female catkins are short, maturing in July or August into large fruiting cones from 1-1/2 to about 2-1/2 inches in length, and very much resembling hops (fig. 7).

_Description of wood and bark._—The inner wood and the bark, which are bitter, are the parts employed in medicine. The wood is white, very hard and strong, and occurs in pieces a few inches in length and of varying thickness. The bark as found in the stores is in flat pieces about 2 inches in length; the outside grayish green with thin, short scales; the inside brown, marked with long fine lines or ridges, and generally with considerable of the woody portion adhering. There is practically no odor.

_Prices and uses._—At present the price paid to collectors runs from about 5 to 6 cents a pound.

Ironwood is used for its tonic, alterative, and antiperiodic properties.

SWEET BIRCH.

_Betula lenta_ L.

_Other common names._—Black birch, cherry-birch, spice-birch, river-birch, mahogany-birch, mountain-mahogany.

_Habitat and range._—This indigenous tree occurs in rich woodlands from Newfoundland to Ontario, south to Florida and Tennessee.

_Description of tree._—Sweet birch, which somewhat resembles the cherry tree, attains a height of from 50 to 80 feet, and has brownish red, sweet, and aromatic bark. The bark of the trunk of older trees is rather thick, as much as one-half inch, and has rough, platelike fissures (fig. 8). The younger branches are covered with a beautiful, shining, reddish brown bark, with a layer of yellowish green beneath the surface, and furnished with numerous small, whitish spots, known technically as “lenticels,” and which may be designated as “breathing pores.” In most of the birches the bark comes off in layers, but this is not the case with the sweet birch. The youngest twigs of the sweet birch are densely hairy. The wood is much used in cabinet work, being fine and close grained, and taking on a very high polish. It has a rosy color when first cut, which becomes darker by exposure.

The young leaves are covered with shining, silvery, silky hairs, but as they grow older these disappear almost entirely. In shape the leaves are oval or oblong-oval, acute or acuminate at the apex, somewhat heart shaped at the base, and sharply toothed; they are about 3 to 4 inches long and 1 to 2 inches wide, smooth, bright green and shining on the upper surface, and dull green on the lower surface with hairy veins. (Fig. 9.) Like the bark, the leaves are also aromatic.

The flowers are of two kinds, staminate or male and pistillate or female, and are borne in separate catkins or slender spikes. The male catkins are in drooping clusters 2 to 3 inches long, while the female catkins are shorter, only about 1 inch or less in length, thicker, stemless, and nearly erect. (Fig. 9.) They expand with the leaves or before, about April or May. The cylindrical, conelike fruit is about an inch in length. The sweet birch belongs to the birch family (Betulaceæ).

_Description of bark._—The birch bark of commerce consists of pieces of irregular size, generally reddish brown and smooth on the outside, the thin outer layer having been removed, but with pieces of it sometimes adhering. The inner surface is also reddish brown and smooth. Birch bark breaks with a clean, even, somewhat granular fracture.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—The bark is collected in late summer. It furnishes the oil of sweet birch or oil of Betula, official in the United States Pharmacopœia, and obtained by maceration and distillation. It is almost identical with wintergreen oil, and is employed for similar purposes. Both bark and oil are used for flavoring. Birch bark will bring from about 1 to 3 cents a pound.

The bitter, aromatic leaves are also used in domestic practice, and birch beer is made from the sweet sap.

TAG-ALDER.

_Alnus rugosa_ (Du Roi) K. Koch.

_Synonym._—_Alnus serrulata_ Willd.

_Other common names._—Common alder, red alder, smooth alder, green alder, American alder, speckled alder, swamp-alder, notch-leaved alder.

_Habitat and range._—Tag-alder is found in swamps and along the marshy banks of streams from New England south to Florida and Texas, and westward to Ohio and Minnesota. It is a native of this country.

_Description of tree._—Sometimes the tag-alder, which belongs to the birch family (Betulaceæ), attains the height of a tree, but more often it is only a shrub, growing from 5 to 20 feet high, with a smooth brownish gray bark. The leaves are 2 to 4-1/2 inches long, oval, somewhat leathery, green above and below, the apex round or blunt, and the base narrowed or rounded, the margins minutely but sharply toothed. The flowers are produced before the leaves are out, early in spring, about March or April. They are reddish green, the female flowers borne in an erect catkin, while the male flowers are borne in a drooping catkin. The small, oval, conelike fruit usually remains on the shrub throughout the winter. (Fig. 10.)

_Description of bark._—As it occurs in commerce, tag-alder bark is in straight, curved, or occasionally quilled pieces of varying length and width, but generally broken up into rather small pieces, the outer surface brownish gray or greenish gray and smoothish, the inside cinnamon colored and closely and coarsely ridged. It breaks with a sharp, even fracture. The odor is strong and rather aromatic, and the taste astringent and bitter.

_Prices and uses._—The amount paid to collectors ranges from 1 to 4 cents a pound.

Tag-alder bark is used in medicine for its astringent, alterative, and emetic properties.

WHITE OAK.

_Quercus alba_ L.

_Pharmacopœial name._—Quercus.

_Other common names._—Stone-oak, stave-oak.

_Habitat and range._—The white oak is found in woods from Maine to Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas, but is most abundant in the Middle States. It is indigenous to this country.

_Description of tree._—In dense woods this stately tree sometimes reaches a height of 150 feet. Usually it is about 60 to 80 feet high, the trunk about 3 to 4 feet in diameter, and with many wide-spreading branches. The bark is grayish and comes off in thin scales (fig. 11). When young, the leaves are red and hairy, becoming smooth and thin when older, with a light green upper surface and paler lower surface furnished with prominent veins. In autumn they turn a beautiful red. The leaves are 4 to 7 inches long, and about half as wide, borne on stems about half an inch in length; they are divided into from 3 to 9 oblong, blunt lobes, with entire or toothed margins (fig. 12). About the time that the leaves appear, the very small greenish or yellowish flowers are produced. The male flowers are borne in slender, usually drooping aments, or spikelike clusters, and the female flowers singly. The fruits (acorns) mature the first autumn, and are about 1 inch in length, about one-fourth covered by the scaly cup (fig. 12). The white oak is a member of the beech family (Fagaceæ).

_Description of bark._—The dried bark of the white oak is official in the United States Pharmacopœia. As found in the stores it is in nearly flat pieces about one-eighth of an inch or more in thickness, rough and fibrous on the outside, with the outer layer removed, brownish, and the inside with short, coarse grooves, the whole breaking with a coarse, tough, and splintery fracture. The odor is rather strong, reminding one somewhat of tanbark, and the taste very astringent. The Pharmacopœia adds that it does not tinge the saliva yellow when chewed.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—The best time for collecting white oak bark is in the spring, as at that time it is said to contain the greatest amount of tannic acid. The outer layer is first scraped off. As directed by the United States Pharmacopœia, the bark should be “collected from trunks or branches 10 to 25 years of age, and deprived of the periderm.”

The price paid for white oak bark ranges from 1 to 3 cents a pound.

The bark is a powerful astringent and is also antiseptic.

SLIPPERY ELM.

_Ulmus pubescens_ Walt.

_Pharmacopœial name._—Ulmus.

_Synonym._—_Ulmus fulva_ Michx.[2]

_Other common names._—Moose-elm, red elm, Indian elm, rock-elm, sweet elm.

_Habitat and range._—This tree is native in woods, along streams, and on hills from Quebec to North Dakota, south to Florida and Texas. It is more common in the western part of its range.

_Description of tree._—The slippery elm is usually about 40 to 50 feet in height, although it will sometimes grow as tall as 70 feet, with a trunk about 2-1/2 feet in thickness. In dense woods it grows tall and straight, branching some distance from the ground, but in open woods and fields, where it often occurs singly, it is more spreading and irregular in growth. It has a dark, reddish wood, hard and durable, and is covered with a rough, reddish brown bark (fig 13). Even the small branches are rough and the twigs are furnished with rough hairs. The leaf buds, a few weeks before expanding, are soft and downy with rust-colored hairs. Short downy stalks support the rather large leaves, the upper surface of which is very rough and the lower hairy. The leaves are about 4 to 8 inches long and about 2 to 2-1/2 inches wide, pointed at the apex, usually lance-shaped oval in outline, sharply toothed, and with an obtuse, unevenly shaped and generally heart-shaped base. The flowers appear very early in the spring (in March or April), before the leaves. They occur in dense, lateral clusters and consist of a bell-shaped, downy calyx, usually 7 lobed, no corolla, and 5 or 7 reddish stamens. The winged fruit which follows, known botanically as a “samara,” is flattened and circular; the seed is borne in the center, surrounded by the winged, membranous margin, which aids its dispersion by the wind (fig. 14). Slippery elm belongs to the elm family (Ulmaceæ).

_Description of bark._—The commercial article consists of pale brown or whitish brown flat pieces tied in bundles, and it also occurs on the market in smaller pieces of uneven size, suitable for grinding purposes, but which bring a lower price. The flat pieces are of varying length and width, about an eighth of an inch in thickness, the outer bark having been removed in accordance with the requirements of the Pharmacopœia, but sometimes patches of it are still found adhering. They are tough, and break with a fibrous fracture. The inner surface is yellowish brown and marked with fine furrows. Slippery elm has a faint, peculiar odor, and a mucilaginous but insipid taste.

_Collection, prices, and uses._—The outer bark is rossed or shaved off before removing the inner bark from the tree, which alone is recognized as official in the United States Pharmacopœia. It is taken from the tree in long strips, and generally dried under pressure so that it will remain flat.

The price paid for slippery elm bark is from 3 to 10 cents a pound, depending upon quality, the small, irregular pieces having less value than the large, flat pieces.

The mucilaginous character of slippery elm bark renders it useful in relieving coughs, and it is also employed in treating diarrheal complaints. It is soothing and allays inflammation, and is also somewhat nutritious. In certain sections of the country poultices are made from the bark and applied to abscesses.

[Footnote 2: The pharmacopœial usage.]

MAGNOLIA.

(1) _Magnolia acuminata_ L.; (2) _Magnolia tripetala_ L.; (3) _Magnolia glauca_ L.

_Synonyms._—(1) _Magnolia umbrella_ Lam.; (2) _Magnolia virginiana_ L.

_Other common names._—(1) Cucumber-tree, mountain-magnolia, blue magnolia; (2) cucumber-tree, umbrella-tree, elkwood; (3) sweet bay, white bay, sweet magnolia, beaver-tree, swamp-sassafras, swamp-laurel.

_Habitat and range._—(1) _Magnolia acuminata_ occurs in the mountainous regions from New York to Georgia, but is most abundant in the Southern States; (2) _Magnolia tripetala_ grows in rather moist, rich soil; it is nowhere very common, but is widely distributed in the Appalachian Mountain region; (3) _Magnolia glauca_ is found in swamps and swampy woods from Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico.

_Descriptions of trees._—_Magnolia acuminata_, which is native in this country, reaches a height of from 60 to 80 feet, the trunk straight, from 4 to 5 feet in diameter, and with a rough, dark gray bark. The leaves are 6 to 10 inches long and about 3 inches wide, oval and thin, pointed at the apex, and generally rounded at the base; they are pale green underneath and somewhat hairy, especially along the veins (fig. 15). The numerous, slightly fragrant flowers, which appear from May to June, are rather large, measuring 5 to 6 inches across, oblong bell shaped, greenish yellow with a bluish tinge, and having 6 to 9 obovate petals. The cylindrical, fleshy fruit cone, about 3 inches in length, turns rose colored as it matures. In form it resembles a small cucumber, whence the name “cucumber-tree” is derived. When ripe, the several capsules composing these cones burst open, disclosing bright scarlet, shining seeds about the size of a pea, which after a while are suspended from the cone by means of a slender, elastic thread for some time before falling to the ground. All of the species of Magnolia here mentioned, and which belong to the magnolia family (Magnoliaceæ), bear these scarlet seeds, and the method of separating from the cone is the same. The soft heartwood is yellowish brown, while the sapwood is lighter.

_Magnolia tripetala_ is a smaller tree, not exceeding 40 feet in height, also native; the smooth, gray, slender trunk measures from 4 to 18 inches in diameter. Its leaves are clustered at the ends of the flowering branches, and are from 12 to 18 inches long and about 4 to 8 inches wide, obovate, pointed at both ends, the upper surface dark green and smooth, the lower light green and more or less pubescent (fig. 16). The flowers are white, faintly odorous, produced in May, and are 7 to 8 inches in diameter, with 5 to 12 narrow, lance-shaped petals. The mature fruit cone is rose colored, conical, 4 to 6 inches long, and contains numerous scarlet seeds.