48 AMERICAN ROOT DRUGS. 



Ijiukish and fuzzy with numerous fine, silky bast fibers, and the bark showing 

 scattered yellowish brown resin cells and milk ducts. It has a peculiar 

 unpleasant odor, and a bitter, acrid, and pungent taste. 



Collection, i)rices, and uses. — Stillingia root is collected late in autumn or 

 early in spring, usually cut into short, transverse sections and dried. The price 

 ranges from 3 to 5 cents a pound. 



This root, which is official in the United States I'harmacopoeia. has been a 

 popular drug in the South for more than a century, and is employed princi- 

 pally as an alterative. 



WILD SARSAPARILLA. 



Aralia nndieaulis L. 



Other common names. — False sarsaparilla, Virginian sarsaparilla, American 

 sarsaparilla, small spikenard, rabbit's-root, shotbush, wild licorice. 



Habitat and range. — Wild sarsaparilla grows in rich, moist woods from New- 

 foundland west to Manitoba and south to North Carolina and Missouri. 



Description of plant. — This native herbaceous perennial, belonging to the gin- 

 seng family (Araliacete), produces a single, long-stalked leaf and flowering 

 stalk from a very short stem, both surrounded or sheathed at the base by thin, 

 dry scales. The leafstalk is about 12 inches long, divided at the top into three 

 parts, each division bearing five oval, toothed leaflets from 2 to 5 inches long, 

 the veins on the lower surface sometimes hairy. 



The naked flowering stalk bears three spreading clusters of small, greenish 

 flowers, each cluster consisting of from 12 to 30 flowers, produced from May to 

 June, followed later in the season by purplish black roundish berries, about 

 the size of the common elderberries. (PI, V, fig. 2.) 



Description of rootstock. — Wild sarsaparilla rootstock , has a very fragrant, 

 aromatic odor. Rabbits are said to be very fond of it, whence one of the com- 

 mon names, " rabbit's-root," is derived. The rootstock is rather long, hori- 

 zontally creeping, somewhat twisted, and yellowish brown on the outside. (PI. 

 V, fig. 2.) The taste is warm and aromatic. The dried rootstock is brownish 

 gray and wrinkled lengthwise on the outside, about one-fourth of an inch in 

 thickness, the inside ^whitish with a spongy pith. The taste is sweetish ami 

 somewhat aromatic. 



Collection, prices, and uses. — The root of wild sarsaparilla is collected in 

 autumn, and brings from 5 to 8 cents a pound. 



This has long been a popular remedy, both among the Indians and in domestic 

 practice, and was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1880. 

 Its use is that of an alterative, stimulant, and diaphoretic, and in this it resem- 

 bles the official sarsaparilla obtained from tropical America. 



Similar .species. — The American spikenard (Aralia racemosa L.), known also 

 as spignet, spiceberry, Indian-root, petty-morrel, life-of-man, and old-man's-root, 

 is employed like Aralia nudicaulis. It is distinguished from this by its taller, 

 herbaceous habit, its much-branched stem from 3 to G feet high, and very large 

 leaves consisting of thin, oval, heart-shaped, double saw-toothed leaflets. . The 

 small greenish flowers are arranged in numerous clusters, instead of only three 

 as in nudicaulis, and also appear somewhat later, namely, from July to August. 

 The berries are roundish, reddish brown, or dark purple. 



The rootstock is shorter than that of nudicaulis, and much thicker, with 

 prominent stem scars, and furnished with numerous, very long, rather thick 

 roots. The odor and taste are stronger than in nudicaulis. It is also collected 

 in autumn, and brings from 4 to 8 cents a pound, 

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