Angewandte Botanik, 605 



Holm, T., Medicinal plants of North America. 41. Glechoma 

 hederacea L. (Merck's Report 19. p. 194—196. fig. 1 — 14. July 1910.) 



Although no longer officinal in this country, Glechoma hederacea 

 L. is still used as a domestic remedy, and is said to be gently 

 stimulant and tonic, diuretic, and aperient; it is considered very 

 useful in chronic pulmonary and urinary catarrhs. According to 

 Rafinesque it was formely used for coughs, also to purify the 

 blood, cleaning ulcers in the lungs and kidneys. The plant is figured 

 and described, the germination quoted from Ir misch. In respect 

 to the internal structure, very little is known about that of the roots; 

 in Glechoma the secondary roots are contractile (exodermis), and 

 large spheric crystals abound in the cortex of roots preserved in 

 alcohol, but not in fresh material. The stem is quadrangular with four 

 Strands of hypodermal collenchyma in the angles; the cortex con- 

 tains Chlorophyll beside spheric crystals, and endodermis is very 

 distinct. There is no stereomatic pericycle, and the stele shows four 

 primary, collateral mestome-strands connected with each other by 

 a band of procambium, which soon gives rise to four secondary 

 mestome-strands of leptome, cambium, porous tracheids, and thick- 

 walled libriform. The leaf is dorsiventral, and the stomata are sur- 

 rounded by two ordinary epidermis-cells, vertical on the Stoma. 

 Pointed and glandulär hairs are frequent, and the latter occur in 

 two types: with a small head consisting of onlj^ 2 cells, or with a 

 much larger of 12 cells. The palisade tissue, one layer, covers about 

 four strata of irregularly branched cells, the pneumatic tissue; the 

 midrib is supported by hypodermal collenchyma on both faces, and 

 by a slightly stereomatic pericycle. The structure is compared with 

 that of Cunila, Collinsonia and Hedeom,a, previously described in 

 Merck's Report. Theo Holm. 



Holm, T., Medicinal plants of North America. 42. Rubus 

 vülosus Ait. (Merck's Report 19. p. 217—220. fig. 1—8. Aug. 1910.) 



The drug Riibus is yielded by the dried bark of the roots of 

 R. villosus, nigrobaccus, and cuneifolius. Tannin is the chief consti- 

 tuent, and may be extracted by boiling water or by diluted alcohol; 

 the Woody part is inert. Rubus is a favorite domestic astringent 

 remedy in diarrheas, besides that Rafinesque mentions the drue 

 as useful in chronic dysentery, hematemesis cet. ; the Cherokee 

 Indians chew the drug for cough. Very useful are, furthermore, 

 the fruits of all the species, being cooling, mild astringent, and in 

 the shape of preserves, jam, jelly, or syrup, are beneficial in 

 diarrheas, gravel, phthisis, scurvy etc. The seedling resembles that 

 of R. phoeniculasius and rugosus, described by Lubbock. In regard 

 to the internal structure the following points deserve attention: the 

 roots lack a „reseau sous-endodermique", but stereomatic (secondary) 

 Strands develop from the pericambium on the inner face of the 

 cork-zone. In the stem the phellogen develops in the innermost 

 Stratum of cortex, and the pith is heterogeneous, being composed 

 of large, empty, and much narrowed starch-bearing cells. The leaves 

 show a bifacial structure with the mechanical tissue poorly repre- 

 sented, there being only a little hypodermal collenchyma, and small 

 Strands of stereome in the pericycle on the leptomeside of the 

 midrib. Very caracteristic is the structure of the petiole, and it so 

 happens that the petiole of the leaf of the floral shoot has seven 

 mestome-strands arranged in an arch, while that of a vegetative 



