Part 2

=Range and habitat.=—The range of this very common weed extends from the New England States to Oregon and south to Florida and Texas; it occurs in waste places.

=Description.=—Broad-leaved dock differs from the yellow dock principally in its more robust habit of growth. It grows to about the same height, but its stem is stouter, and the leaves, which are wavy along the margin as in the yellow dock, are much broader and longer. The lower leaves have long stalks, and are from 6 to 14 inches in length, with heart-shaped or roundish bases, while the upper ones are from 2 to 6 inches long and are on short stalks.

The green flowers appear from June to August, and are in rather long, open clusters, the groups rather loose and far apart. In all of the docks here mentioned, the three inner divisions of the calyx (outer covering of flower) in fruiting form a kind of triangular nut, like the grain of buckwheat (to which family, Polygonaceæ, the docks belong), and one or more of these divisions bear on the back a small granule. The difference between flower and fruit is barely distinguishable when seen from a little distance so long as the fruit is immature, both being green, but later in the season, as the fruit ripens, the spikes take on a rusty-brown color. (Fig. 7.)

Yellow-rooted Water Dock. _Rumex britannica_ L.

=Habitat and range.=—As the common name indicates, this plant frequents swampy and wet places and banks of streams. It is found from Canada to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and westward to Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa.

=Description.=—The yellow-rooted water dock is a taller plant than either of the docks previously mentioned, its stout stem sometimes reaching a height of 6 feet. The leaves at the base of the plant are borne on long stalks, and are from 1 to 2 feet in length, but, as with the other two species, the leaves toward the top of the plant are shorter, as are also the stalks supporting them. The densely flowered clusters are not as leafy as in the preceding species mentioned. The plant flowers from July to August.

Dock Roots.

The root, which is the part to be collected for medicinal purposes, is very similar in all of these species of dock (figs. 7 and 8), usually from 8 to 12 inches long, fleshy, often somewhat branched, the outside dark reddish-brown with a rather thick bark, internally yellowish. It possesses but a very faint odor and a bitter, astringent taste. The roots should be collected in late summer or autumn after the fruiting tops have ripened, then washed, split lengthwise into halves or quarters, and carefully dried.

The docks are largely employed for purifying the blood and as a remedy in skin diseases.

=Imports and prices.=—Rumex or dock roots are imported into this country to the extent of about 125,000 pounds annually. The price ranges from 2 to 8 cents per pound.

COUCH GRASS. _Agropyron repens_ (L.) Beauv. (_Triticum repens_ L.)

=Other common names.=—Dog-grass, quick-grass, quack-grass, quitch-grass, scutch-grass, twitch-grass, witch-grass, wheat-grass, Chandler’s grass, creeping wheat-grass, devil’s-grass, durfa-grass, Durfee-grass, Dutch-grass, Fin’s grass, quake-grass. (Fig. 9.)

=Range and habitat.=—Couch grass, like so many other pernicious weeds, was introduced into this country from Europe, and is now a most troublesome pest in cultivated ground, causing the farmer a loss of thousands of dollars annually by taking possession of fields and crowding out valuable crops. It is most abundant from Maine to Maryland, and westward to Minnesota and Missouri, but is rather sparingly distributed in the South. It is gaining ground on farms on the Pacific slope.

=Description.=—This rather coarse grass produces several stems, 1 to 3 feet high, from a long, creeping, jointed rootstock, and bears densely flowered spike-like heads resembling those of rye or beardless wheat. The stems are round, smooth, thickened at the joints, and hollow, bearing from five to seven leaves. These have a long cleft sheath, and are rough on the upper surface. The heads or spikes are terminal, solitary, compressed, with two rows of spikelets on a wavy and flattened axis.

Couch grass is one of the most difficult weeds to eradicate, on account of the long jointed rootstock, each joint of which is capable of producing a new plant. Every bit of the rootstock must therefore be removed from the soil or killed in order to eradicate it.

=Part used.=—The most important part of this grass, not only agriculturally but also pharmaceutically, is its long, tough rhizome or rootstock, creeping along underneath the ground and pushing in every direction. It is pale yellow, smooth, about one-eighth of an inch in diameter, with joints at intervals of about an inch from which slender branching rootlets are produced.

One of the best methods of destroying this weed is to plow up the roots and burn them. They need not be burned, however, but may be saved and prepared for the drug market. After the rootstocks have been collected and washed the rootlets should be removed and the rhizome or rootstock (not the rootlets) cut into short pieces about two-fifths of an inch long. An ordinary feed-cutting machine may be used for this purpose. These should then be dried as suggested in the general instructions.

In the drug trade this plant is generally known as dog grass or triticum. As found in the stores, it is in the form of small, angular pieces, about one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch long, straw colored, shining, and hollow. These pieces are odorless but have a somewhat sweetish taste.

The fluid extract prepared from dog grass is used in kidney and bladder troubles.

=Imports and prices.=—Couch grass is almost wholly an imported article, some 250,000 pounds coming into this country annually from Europe. The price is about 3 to 7 cents per pound.

POKEWEED. _Phytolacca americana_ L. (_Phytolacca decandra_ L.)

=Other common names.=—Poke, pigeon-berry, garget, scoke, pocan, coakum, Virginian poke, ink-berry, red-ink-berry, American nightshade, cancer jalap, redweed. (Fig. 10.)

=Range and habitat.=—Pokeweed is common in rich, moist soil along fence rows, margins of fields, and in uncultivated land from the New England States to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas. It is native in this country and naturalized in Europe, where it is regarded as an ornamental garden plant.

=Description.=—The reddish purple stems, rich green foliage, and clusters of white flowers and dark-purple berries give to this plant a rather handsome appearance. Pokeweed attains a height of from 3 to 9 feet from a very large perennial root. It is erect, branched, the stems stout, smooth, green at first, then reddish. On examining a piece of the stem, the pith will be seen to be divided into disk-shaped pieces, with hollow spaces between them. The leaves are ovate or ovate-oblong, acute at the apex, smooth, about 5 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide, on short stems. The margins are without indentation. About July to September the long clusters of whitish flowers are produced, followed by the green berries, which upon ripening become a rich dark-purple color. The flower clusters are from 3 to 4 inches in length and on long stalks, the flowers numerous and borne on reddish stems. The berries are globular, flattened both at top and bottom, smooth and shining, and contain ten black seeds imbedded in a rich crimson juice. (Fig. 11.)

=Parts used.=—For medicinal purposes the berries and roots are employed. Both of these should be collected when the berries are fully mature, which usually occurs about two months after flowering. The clusters of berries should be carefully dried in the shade. They are poisonous, have no odor, a sweetish taste at first, then acrid.

Pokeweed has a very large, fleshy, and poisonous root, conical in shape and branched. (Fig. 12.) It should be gathered in the latter part of the fall, thoroughly cleaned, cut into transverse slices, and carefully dried. When dry it has a grayish, wrinkled appearance, breaks with a fibrous fracture, and the slices show many concentric rings. There is a slight odor and the taste is sweetish and acrid.

Both the berries and roots are alterative, act upon the bowels and cause vomiting, and preparations made from them are used in treating various diseases of the skin and blood, and in certain cases in relieving pain and allaying inflammation.

=Price.=—Phytolacca or pokeroot brings from 2 to 5 cents per pound, and the dry berries about 5 cents per pound.

FOXGLOVE. _Digitalis purpurea_ L.

=Other common names.=—Purple foxglove, thimbles, fairy cap, fairy fingers, fairy thimbles, fairy bells, dog’s finger, finger flower, lady’s glove, ladyfingers, lady’s thimble, popdock, flapdock, flopdock, lion’s mouth, rabbit’s flower, cottagers, throatwort, Scotch mercury. (Fig. 13.)

=Range and habitat.=—Foxglove was originally introduced into this country from Europe as an ornamental garden plant, but has now escaped from cultivation in a few localities and is assuming the character of a weed. This is the case in parts of Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia, where the plant is found in great abundance in dry, sandy soil, along roads and fence rows, on the borders of timber land, and in small cleared places.

=Description.=—This is a very handsome plant of the figwort family (Scrophulariaceæ), biennial, and the first year forms only a rosette of dense leaves, but in the second year of its growth the simple erect flowering stalk is produced, attaining a height of from 3 to 4 feet. This is round, indistinctly angled toward the top, leafy and downy. The leaves are oblong-ovate, narrowed at the base into long winged stalks; the upper surface of the leaves is dull-green and wrinkled, while the under side is grayish, with short, soft hairs and a thick network of prominent veins. The root leaves are rather large and are borne on long stalks, but as the leaves approach the top of the plant they become smaller and the leafstalks shorter.

The plant is in flower about June, and the long clusters of numerous tubular bell-shaped flowers are very showy. The clusters are terminal, and about 14 inches in length. The flowers are large, about 2 inches long, the color ranging from white through lavender to purple, the inside of the lower lobe bearing long, soft, white hairs and crimson spots on a white ground.

=Part used.=—Leaves of the second year’s growth only are employed, and these should be collected when about two-thirds of the flowers have expanded. They should be very carefully dried in the shade and then kept in closed boxes or barrels so as to keep out all moisture. The greatest care is necessary in curing, as the leaves soon lose their medicinal properties if not properly dried.

Preparations made from foxglove are of great value in heart troubles, but they are poisonous and should never be used except on the advice of a physician.

=Imports and prices.=—From 40,000 to 60,000 pounds of digitalis or foxglove are annually imported into this country from Europe, where the plant is cultivated. The American-grown product has so far never been used, but leaves from the wild American plant have been assayed and found to be equally as good as the European article.

The price per pound ranges from about 6 to 8 cents.

MULLEIN. _Verbascum thapsus_ L.

=Other common names.=—Great mullein, velvet or mullein dock, Aaron’s rod, Adam’s flannel, blanket leaf, bullock’s lungwort, cow’s or clown’s lungwort, candlewick, feltwort, flannel leaf, old-man’s flannel, hare’s beard, hedge taper, ice leaf, Jacob’s staff, Jupiter’s staff, lady’s foxglove, Peter’s staff, shepherd’s club, torches, torchwort, velvet plant. (Fig. 14.)

=Range and habitat.=—Mullein is a native of Europe, and occurs in this country as a troublesome weed in fields and pastures, waste places, and along roadsides from Maine to Minnesota and southward, and it is also spreading in the far Western States. It produces great quantities of seed, and, if allowed to persist, will soon stock the ground with seeds which may retain their vitality and germinate at intervals for a number of years.

=Description.=—Mullein can be easily recognized by its tall, erect habit of growth, the white-woolly or felty appearance of the entire plant, and its spike of golden-yellow flowers. It is a biennial belonging to the figwort family (Scrophulariaceæ).

This plant has a stout, straight stem, which sometimes grows as tall as 7 feet. The stem and also the leaves are densely hairy, the latter alternate, sessile (stemless), their margins extending in wings along down the stem. The rather thick, rough leaves are from 4 to 12 inches in length, oblong, acute, and densely hairy above and below.

In the first year of its growth only a rosette of downy leaves is produced, but during the second year the flower stalk with its densely flowered spike appears. The golden-yellow flowers are produced from June to August.

=Parts used.=—As the leaves and flowers are to be collected at the time when the plant is in bloom, the propagation of the plant by the dissemination of its seed is prevented. The leaves are cured in the usual manner. They are practically inodorous, and have a somewhat bitter, mucilaginous taste.

It is very desirable to have the flowers retain their bright yellow color: they must therefore be thoroughly dried, and then kept free from moisture in well-stoppered bottles. They readily absorb moisture and if allowed to become damp will turn black. The corolla (petals), with the adhering stamens only, is dried, the calyx being rejected. Mullein flowers have a sweetish, pleasant odor.

Mullein is used in coughs and catarrh, to quiet nervous irritation, and to relieve pain and inflammation. According to some authors the dried leaves are often smoked like tobacco to relieve nasal catarrh and throat affections.

=Imports and prices.=—About 5,000 pounds of verbascum or mullein flowers are annually imported, chiefly from Germany, in which country this plant is cultivated. The leaves are also imported to a small extent.

The price paid for the leaves ranges from 2½ to 5 cents per pound, and that for the flowers may range from 25 to 75 cents per pound.

LOBELIA. _Lobelia inflata_ L.

=Other common names.=—Indian tobacco, wild tobacco, bladder pod, asthma weed, gagroot, pukeweed, vomitwort, low belia, eyebright. (Fig. 15.)

=Range and habitat.=—This poisonous weed occurs nearly everywhere throughout the United States, being most plentiful east of the Mississippi River, and thriving in dry, clayey, or siliceous soil in sunny situations along roadsides, and in old fields and pastures.

=Description.=—The erect leafy stem of this annual herbaceous plant is from 1 to 3 feet high, from a fibrous root. It is simple and rough-hairy below, smooth above, and bears a few short branches. The entire plant contains an acrid milky juice. It belongs to the bellflower family (Campanulaceæ).

The pale-green leaves are alternate, from 1 to 2½ inches long, gradually diminishing in size as they reach the summit of the plant, the lower leaves being borne on stalks, while the upper ones are stemless. They are thin, oblong or oval, blunt, irregularly toothed, and almost wavy, with short hairs on both surfaces.

From July until frost the rather inconspicuous, very small pale-blue flowers appear. These are very numerous, each one borne in the axils of the upper leaves on very short stems, all together forming a long, spike-like head. The lower lip of the flower has three lobes, the upper one two segments, and from the center of the latter the tube of the flower is cleft to the base. The seed pods are in the form of inflated capsules, nearly globular, striated (grooved or marked with parallel lines), and contain very numerous minute dark-brown seeds.

=Parts used.=—The leaves and flowering tops are used in medicine, and there is also a good demand for the seed. The leaves and tops should be gathered after some of the pods have become inflated, should be dried in the shade, and when dry kept in covered vessels. The dried leaves and tops have a rather disagreeable, somewhat sickening odor, and the taste, though mild at first, soon becomes strongly acrid and nauseous. The seeds are extremely minute, and each capsule is said to contain from 450 to 500 seeds.

Lobelia is an expectorant, acts upon the nervous system and bowels, causes vomiting, and is poisonous.

=Price.=—The price paid for the dried leaves and tops ranges from 3 to 8 cents per pound, and that for the seed from 15 to 20 cents per pound.

TANSY. _Tanacetum vulgare_ L.

=Other common names.=—Bitter buttons, ginger plant, parsley fern, scented fern. (Fig. 16.)

=Range and habitat.=—Tansy was originally introduced into this country as a garden plant from Europe, where it is native. It has now escaped from cultivation and is found as a weed along waysides and fences in many places from New England to Minnesota and southward to North Carolina and Missouri.

=Description.=—This strong-scented perennial herb belongs to the aster family (Asteraceæ). The stout, erect stem is from 1½ to 3 feet high, branching near the top, somewhat reddish, and usually smooth. The general outline of the leaf is oval, and it is divided nearly to the midrib into about seven pairs of segments, which, like the terminal one, are again divided for about two-thirds of the distance to the midvein into smaller lobes having saw-toothed margins. The entire leaf is about 6 inches in length.

Tansy is in flower from July to September, and the roundish but flat-topped yellow flower heads are produced in dense terminal clusters.

=Parts used.=—At the time of flowering the leaves and tops are collected for medicinal purposes and are dried in the usual manner. The odor of tansy is strongly aromatic and the taste bitter. In drying, tansy loses about four-fifths of its weight.

Tansy is employed in derangements of women, and has stimulant and tonic properties. It is also used for expelling worms. This drug is poisonous and has been known to produce fatal results.

=Imports and prices.=—About 30,000 pounds of tanacetum or tansy are imported annually. The price paid per pound ranges from 3 to 6 cents.

GUM PLANT. _Grindelia robusta_ Nutt.

=Range.=—The gum plant (fig. 17) occurs in the States west of the Rocky Mountains.

=Description.=—The entire plant is covered with a resinous substance, which gives it a gummy, varnished appearance, whence its common name, gum plant, is derived.

This perennial of the aster family of plants has an erect habit of growth, and sends up a round, smooth stem about a foot and a half high, narrowly grooved and freely branching near the top, each branch terminating in a large yellow flower. The branches near the flower heads have a slightly reddish appearance.

The pale-green leaves are about an inch long, of a leathery texture, rather rigid, coated with resin, and show numerous translucent dots. The leaves are oblong-spatulate (having a gradually narrowed base below the broader rounded summit) and are more or less clasping at the base, the lower ones somewhat saw-toothed.

The yellow flowers are borne singly at the ends of the branches and measure about three-quarters of an inch across. The involucre (set of small leaves immediately beneath the flower) is very resinous and consists of numerous thick, overlapping scales, the tips of which are rolled forward.

=Parts used and prices.=—The flowering tops and leaves of this and of the scaly grindelia are collected indiscriminately, and bring from 5 to 12 cents per pound.

They are used in asthma and similar affections, and externally in cases of poisoning by poison ivy.

SCALY GRINDELIA. _Grindelia squarrosa_ (Pursh) Dunal.

=Range.=—Scaly grindelia (fig. 18) has a wider distribution than the gum plant, being quite common on the plains and prairies from the Saskatchewan to Minnesota, south to Texas and Mexico, and westward to California.

=Description.=—This species is very similar to the gum plant, with the exception that it is smaller and does not have the gummy appearance of the former. The slender, erect stems are from 1 to 2 feet high and somewhat sparingly branched near the top. The branches near the flower heads appear to be somewhat more reddish than in the species previously mentioned. In this species, also, the leaves are not borne on stalks, but are somewhat clasping at the base, and they are longer (about 2 inches long), not rigid, thinner, and more prominently toothed. The flowers are also very similar to those of the gum plant, but are smaller, the scales narrower, and the recurved tips longer and more slender.

=Parts used.=—The leaves and flowering tops are collected with those of the gum plant, _Grindelia robusta_.

BONESET. _Eupatorium perfoliatum_ L.

=Other common names.=—Thoroughwort, crosswort, wood boneset, teasel, ague-weed, feverwort, thorough-stem or thorough-wax, vegetable antimony, sweating plant, Indian sage, wild sage, tearal, wild Isaac. (Fig. 19.)

=Range and habitat.=—Boneset delights in moist situations, and is common as a weed in clayey or sandy soil, in low, wet ground, and along streams, on the edges of swamps and in thickets from the New England States west to Nebraska and south to Texas and Florida.

=Description.=—One of the features which will aid in recognizing this plant is the peculiar arrangement of the leaves. These are opposite each other and joined together at the base around the stem, and therefore have the appearance of a single leaf with the stem passing through the center of it.

Boneset is a perennial herb of the aster family of plants (Asteraceæ), with stout, rough, hairy stems 1 to 5 feet high, from a horizontal, crooked root. The leaves are opposite, united at the base, lance shaped, tapering to a point, bluntly toothed, rough with prominent veins, wrinkled, dark green on the upper surface, downy and paler green on the lower surface. Both leaves together measure from 8 to 14 inches from point to point and 1 to 1½ inches wide. The flowers are white, tubular, ten to twenty or more united in dense heads, and the heads are borne in rather crowded flat-topped clusters, appearing from July to September.

=Parts used.=—The leaves and flowering tops are the parts used in medicine, and these should be collected when the plants are in flower, stripped from the stalk, and carefully dried. They lose about three-fourths of their weight in drying. The odor is faintly aromatic, the taste bitter and astringent.

As indicated by the common names “ague-weed” and “feverwort,” this is a popular remedy in fever and ague. It is used also in colds, dyspepsia, jaundice, and for toning up the system. In large doses it is an emetic and cathartic.

=Prices.=—Eupatorium or boneset leaves and tops bring from 2 to 8 cents per pound.