12 AMERICAN EOOT DRUGS. 



Description of the rootstock. — These ferns have stout ascending or erect 

 chaffy i-ootstalks, or rhizomes (PI. I, fig. 1) as they are technically known. As 

 taken from the ground the rootstock is from 6 to 12 inches in length and 1 to 2 

 inches thick, covered with closely overlapping, hrown, slightly curved stipe 

 bases or leaf bases and soft, brown, chaffy scales. The inside of the rootstock 

 is pale green. As found in the stores, however, male-fern with the stipe bases 

 and roots removed measures about 3 to 6 inches in length and about one-half to 

 1 inch in thickness, rough where the stipe bases have been removed, brown out- 

 side, pale green and rather spongy inside. 



The stipe bases remain green for a very long period, and these small, claw- 

 shaped, furrowed portions, or " fingers " as they are called, form a large pro- 

 portion of the drug found on the American market and, in fact, are said to have 

 largely superseded the rootstock. Male-fern has a disagreeable odor, and the 

 taste is described as bitter-sweet, astringent, acrid, and nauseous. 



Collection, prices, and uses. — The best time for collecting male-fern root is 

 from July to September. The root should be carefully cleaned, but not washed, 

 dried out of doors in the shade as quickly as possible, and shipped to druggists 

 at once. The United States Pharmacopoeia directs that " the chafC, together 

 with the dead portions of the rhizome and stipes, should be removed, and only 

 such portions used as have retained their internal green color." 



Great care is necessary in the preservation of this drug in order to prevent 

 it from deteriorating. If kept too long, its activity will be impaired, and it is 

 said that it will retain its (lualities much longer if it is not peeled until i-equired 

 for use. The unreliability sometimes attributed to this drug can in most in- 

 stances be traced to the presence of the rootstocks of other ferns with which 

 it is often adulterated, or it will be found to be due to improper storing or to 

 the length of time that it has been kept. 



The prices paid "for male-fern root range from 5 to 10 cents a pound. 



Male-fern, official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, has Iteen used since 

 the remotest times as a remedy for worms. Grave results are sometimes 

 caused by overdoses. 



COUCH-GRASS. 

 Agropyrnn repens (L. ) Beauv. 



Synonym. — Triticum repens L. 



PharmacopcBial vume. — Triticum. 



Other common names. — Dog-grass, quick-grass, quack-grass, quitch-grass, 

 quake-grass, scutch-grass, twitch-grass, witch-grass, wheat-grass, creeping wheat- 

 grass, devil's-grass, durfa-grass, Durfee-grass, Dutch-grass, Fin's-grass, 

 Chandler's-grass. 



Habitat and range. — Like many of our weeds, couch-grass was introduced, 

 from Europe, and is now one of the worst pests the farmer has to contend with, 

 taking possession of cultivated ground and crowding out valuable crops. It 

 occurs most abundantly from Maine to Maryland, westward to Minnesota and 

 Missouri, and is spreading on farms on the Pacific slope, but is rather sparingly 

 distributed in the South. 



Description of plant. — Couch-grass is rather coarse, 1 to 3 feet high, and 

 when in flower very much resembles rye or beardless wheat (fig. 1). Several 

 round, smooth, hollow stems, thickened at the joints, are produced from the 

 long, ci-eeping, jointed rootstock. The stems bear 5 to 7 leaves from 3 to 12 

 inches long, rough on the upiier surface and smooth beneath, while the long, 

 cleft leaf sheaths are smooth. The solitary terminal flowering heads or spikes 

 107 



