TLA^'TS FURNliSlllNti HOOT DHUGS. 



47 



Seneca snakeroot is often mm-b jululteratrd witli the roots of other species 

 of Polygala and of other plants. 



Collection, itrircs. and uses. — The time for eollectinj: Seneca snakeroot is in 

 autumn. Labor conditions play a great part in tlie riso and fall of prices for 

 this drug. It is said that very little Seneca snakeroot has been dug in the 

 Xortbwest during liKu;. due to the fact tliat tlie Indians and others who usually 

 engage in tills work were so nuich in demand as farm hands and railroad 

 laborers, which paid them far better than the digging of Seneca snakeroot. 

 Collectors receive from about 'm to 70 cents a pound for this root. 



This drug, tirst brought into prominenee as a cure for snake bite among the 

 Indians, is now employed as an expectorant, emetic, and diuretic. It is official 

 in the I'harmacopoeia of the United States. 



STILLINGIA. 

 atUUiHfia Kijlvatira L. 



Phannaco}K£ial name. — Stillingia. 



Other eommon names. — Queen's-delight. queen's-root, silverleaf, nettle-potato. 



Habitat and rant/e. — This plant is found in dry. sandy soil and in pine 



barrens from Maryland to 



Florida west to Kansas and 



Texas. 

 Description of plant. — Like 



most of the other memliers of 



the spurge fannly (Euj)hor- 



biacete) stillingia also contains 



r.nnlkyjuice. This indigenous. 



herbaceous perennial is about 



1 to 3 feet in height, bright 



green and somewhat fleshy, 



with crowded leaves of a some- 

 what leathery texttu-e. The 



leaves are practically stemless 



and vary greatly in form. 



from lance shape*!, oblong, to 



oval and elliptical, round 



toothed or saw tootheil. The 



pale-yellow flowers, which ap- 

 pear from April to October, 



are borne in a dense terminal 



spike and consist of two kinds, 

 male and female, the male 

 flowers arranged in dense 

 clusters around the upjier 

 part of the stalk and the 

 female flowers occurring at 

 the base of the spike. (Fig. 

 19.) The seeds are contained 

 in a roundish 3-lobed cap- 

 sule. 



Description of rooL— Stillingia consists of somewhat cylindrical or slenderly 

 spindle-shaped roots from inches to a foot in length, slightly branched, the 

 yellowish white, porous wood covered with a rather thick, reddish brown, 

 wrinkled bark, the whole breaking with a fibrous fracture. As found in com- 

 merce, stillingia js usually in short transverse sections, the ends of the sections 

 107 



Fig. 19.— Stillingia {Stillingia sylvatiea), upper portion of plant 

 and part of spike showing male flowers. '(After Bentley 

 and Trimen, Medicinal Plants.) 



