128 Eupatorium perfoliatum. 
several of the red-flowered species being from five to seven feet 
high. They decorate our autumnal landscapes, by the profusion 
of their red and white flowers, and by the abundance in which they 
are every where met with. 
The present is perhaps one of the commonest, if not the most 
common, of all the species inhabiting our country; being found 
in meadows, damp woods, watery thickets, and on the margins of 
brooks, rivulets and other small waters, in the greatest profusion— 
covering indeed occasionally, whole acres of ground. It is peculiar 
to North America, and is easily distinguished from all the other spe- 
cies, to many of which it is nearly allied by its general habit and its 
flowers, by the remarkable structure of its leaves, which decussate 
each other in such a manner as to have given rise to the appellation 
of cross-wort. It may also be readily known by its blistered or rugose 
leaves, which have imposed on it the epithet of Indian Sage. But 
another discriminating mark in the leaves, arises from the manner 
in which they are perforated by the stem; and hence the vulgar 
names, Thorough-wort and Thorough-wax. 
The origin of the common name bone-set, it is not easy to as- 
certain; though a mere suggestion of Professor Barton seems to 
have afforded a late writer on the Materia Medica a hint for a 
derivation, which he has not failed to avail himself of. We are 
toldby this gentleman, upon what authority other than his own, we are 
