PLANTS FURNISHING MEDICINAL I.KAVES AND IIKKBS. 



11 



in April. They lowt; about three-fourths of their \vei<^ht in dryiuf^. The price at 

 j)renent paid for them is al)out 4 to 5 cents a pound. 



Liverleaf is employed for its tonic properties and is said lo he useful in affections 

 of the liver. 



CELANDINE, 



Chelidonium run jus l>. 



Other common names. — Chelidonium, garden celandine, greater celandine, tetter- 

 wort, kilhvart, wart flower, wartweed, wartwort, felonwort, cockfoot. devil's-milk, 

 Jacob's ladder, swallow- 

 wort, wretweed. 



Habitat and range. — Cel- 

 andine, naturalized from 

 Europe, is found in rich 

 damp soil along fences and 

 roadsides near towns from 

 Maine toOntarioandsouth- 

 ward It is common from 

 southern Maine to Penn- 

 sylvania. 



Description. — This plant, 

 which has rather weak, 

 brittle stems arising from 

 a reddish-brown, branch- 

 ing root, is a biennial be- 

 longing to the poppy fam- 

 ily (Papaveraceae) and, 

 like other members of this 

 family, contains an acrid 

 juice, which in this species 

 is colored yellow. It is 

 an erect, branched, spar- 

 ingly hairy herb, from 

 about 1 to 2 feet in height 

 with thin leaves 4 to 8 

 inches in length. The 

 leaves, which are lyre 

 shaped in outline, are 

 deeply and variously cleft, 

 the lobes thus formed be- 



FlG. 



-Celandine (Chelidonium majus), leaves, flowers, and seed 

 pods. 



ing oval, blunt, and wavy or round toothed, or rather deeply cut. They have a 

 grayish-green appearance, especially on the lower surface. The small, 4-petaled, 

 sulphur-yellow flowers of the celandine are produced from about April to Septem- 

 ber, followed by smooth, long, pod-shaped capsules crowned with the persistent style 

 and stigma and containing numerous seeds. (Fig. 3.) 



Collection, prices, and uses. — The entire plant, which was official in the United States 

 Pharmacopoeia for 1890, is used. It should be collected when the herb is in flower. 

 At present it brings about 6 or 8 cents a pound. 



The fresh plant has an impleasiant, acrid odor when bruised, but in the dried state 

 it is odorless. It has a persistent acrid and somewhat salty taste. 



Celandine is an old remedy. It has cathartic and diuretic properties, promotes 

 perspiration, and has been used as an expectorant. The juice has been employed 

 externally for warts, corns, and some forms of skin diseases. 

 219 



