PLANTS FURNISHING ROOT DRUGS. 



48 



Description of lool.s. — Tlic root of Portcrantliiis trifolittfus is thk-k and 

 knotty, witli many sniootliish. rctUUsb l)ro\vn rootlets (PL V. fl«. 1), the latter 

 ill tlryinj,' l.t'coiiiin- uriiiUIed Icn^'thwiso and showing a few transverse fissures 

 or breaks in the bark, 

 and the interior white 

 and woody. There is 

 practically no odor, and 

 the woody portion i- 

 tasteh'ss. but the bark, 

 which is readily separ- 

 able, is bitter.' increasinii 

 the How of saliva. 



PorfeniiiUi iix .stiiiiilatus 

 lias a l.-irirer. more knotty 

 root, with rootlets that 

 are more wav.v. con- 

 stricted, or marked with 

 n u m e r o u .s transverse 

 riujKs, and the bark fis- 

 sured or breaking from 

 the white woody portion 

 at frequent intervals. 



Collection, prices, and 

 iiscf. — The roots of both 

 species are collected in 

 autunui. The price ranges 

 from 2 to 4 cents a pound. 

 Indian-physic or bow- 

 man's root, as tliesc 

 names imply, was a popu- 

 lar remedy with the In- 

 dians, who used it as an 

 emetic. From them the 

 white settlers learned of 

 its properties, and it is pie. i6._w'ild indigo (-K<(p//»ia ^Hrfoiw), braiich showing flowers 

 still used for its emetic- and seed pods. (Modified from Barton's Vegetable Materia 

 action. This drug was at Medica.) 



one time otticial in the United States Pharmacopoeia, from 1820 to 1880. 

 action is said to resemble that of ipecac. 



Its 



AVILD IXDIGO. 



Baptixid tinctoriti (L. ) R. Br. 



Other common ho/»c.v.— P>aptisia. indigo-weed, yellow indigo. American indigo, 

 yellow broom, indigo-broom, clover-broom, broom-clover, horsefly-weed, shoofly, 



rattlebusb. 



Habitat and ranc/e.— Thin native herb grows on dry, poor land, and is found 

 from Maine to ]^Iinnesota, south to Florida and Louisiana. 



Description of y^/o/zf.— Many who have been brought up in the country will 

 recognize in the wild indigo the plant so frequently used by farmers, especially 

 in Virginia and Maryland, to keep flies away from horses, bunches of it being 

 fastened to the harness for this purpose. 



Wild indigo grows about 2 to ?. feet in height, and the cloverlike blossoms and 

 leaves will show at once that it belongs to the same family as the common 

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