•^ NOTE and COMMENT [^» 



Plants Used ix Medicine;. — Vendors of patent medi- 

 cines are fond of emphazing the fact that their nostrums con- 

 tain only vegetable ingredients, but the stock in trade of the 

 regular physician does not differ much in this respect. Nor 

 are most of the plants used in medicine imported from re- 

 mote parts of the world. Probably the majority of them are 

 dug up in our own woods and fields. Since there are a 

 number of showy wildflowers in the list, a new aspect is put 

 on the protection of our native flora. We may yet have to 

 decide whether to "leave the dainty recluse to fulfill the law 

 of its being", or to tear it ruthlessly from the earth to as- 

 suage our aches and pains. At the present time efforts are 

 being made to grow several of the wildflowers in commer- 

 cial quantities but thus far with only partial success. It is 

 the same with many drug plants. We no longer hear of 

 the vast sums to be made from a garden of ginseng. Doubt- 

 less the ginseng-promoters are now selling oil-stock, or in- 

 dulging in other get-rich-quick schemes. Contrary to 

 general opinion, there in very little money in collecting drugs. 

 The price for most plants, dried, is under fifty cents a 

 pound and this does not pay for the time and labor expended 

 in digging, cleaning and marketing. In this magazine for 

 1919 we have listed both the official and officinal drug plants 

 of North America, but it may be well to mention here the 

 species with showy flowers used in medicine, that are often 

 regarded as wildflowers to be protected. The list includes 

 devil's-bit, colic-root, red trillium, blue flag, all the lady's- 



