PLANTS FURNISHING MEDICINA]. J. EAVES AND HERBS. 



23 



HOREiinrxi). 



Marruhium rulgarc L. 



Pharviacopceial name. — Marrubium. 



Other common muxes. — lloundsbene, nuirvcl, marrube. 



Habitat and range. — Ilorehound grows in dry sandy or stony soil in waste j^laces, 

 along road.sides and near dwellings, in fields, and pastures. It is found from Maine to 

 South Carolina, Texas, and westward 

 to California and Oregon. It is very 

 abundant in jiastures in Oregon and 

 California, and especially in southern 

 California, where it is a very trouble- 

 some weed, covering vast areas and 

 in such dense masses as to crowd out 

 all other vegetation. It has been 

 naturalized from Europe. 



Description. — The entire plant is 

 thickly covered with hairs, which 

 give it a whitish, woolly appearance. 

 It is a bushy, branching herb, having 

 a pleasant aromatic odor, and is about 

 1 to 3 feet high, with many woolly 

 stems rounded below and four augled 

 above, with opjiooite, oval or round- 

 ish, wrinkled, strongly veined, and 

 very hoary leaves. The leaves are 

 about 1 to 2 inches in length, placed 

 opposite each other on the stem, oval 

 or nearly round, somewhat blunt at 

 the apex, and narrowed or somewhat 

 heart shaped at the base, the margins 

 round toothed; the upper surface 

 is wrinkled and somewhat hairy, 

 while the lower surface is very hoary 

 and prominently veined. The lip- 

 shaped flowers, which appear from 

 June to September, show that it is a 

 member of the mint family (Mentha- 

 ceae). These are borne in dense 

 woolly clusters in the axils of the 

 leaves and are whitish, two lipped, the upper lip two lobed, the lower three lobed. 

 The hooked calyx teeth of the mature flower heads cling to the avooI of sheep, resulting 

 in the scattering of the seeds. (I'^ig. 15.) 



Collection, prices, and nses.— The leaves and tops are the parts used in medicine and 

 are official in the United States Pharmacopoeia. These are gathered just before the 

 plant is in flower, the coarse stalks being rejected. They should be carefully dried in 

 the shade. The odor is pleasant, rather aromatic, but diminishes in drying. The 

 taste is bitter and persistent. Horehound at present brings about 1 \ to 2 cents a pound. 



It is well known as a domestic remedy for colds and is also used in dyspepsia and for 

 expelling worms. 



219 



Fig. 15.— Horehound (Marrubium vulgare), leaves, 

 flowers, and seed clusters. 



