56 AMERICAN ROOT DRUGS. 



This plaut is perfectly smnotli and has white flowers and relatively smaller 

 leaves than .1. cannabhinm. 



Velvet dogbane i A. pubescens. R. Br.), which is common from Virginia to 

 Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. The entire plant has a soft, hairy or velvety ap- 

 pearance, which renders identification easy. According to the latest edition of 

 the National Standard Dispensatory it is not unlikely that this is the plant 

 that furnishes the drug that has been so favorably reported upon. 



Apoc'iinum aiHlrosaemifoliitin is also gathered by drug collectors for Apocjinum 

 cainiahinnm. Its root is likewise employed in medicine, but its action is not 

 the same as that of cannahinum. and it should therefore not be substituted for it. 

 It closely resembles cannahinum. 



Description of rootstocl-. — The following description of the drug as found in 

 commerce is taken from the T'nited States Pharmacopoeia : " Of varying length, 

 3 to 8 mm. thick, cylindrical or with a few angles produced by drying, lightly 

 wrinkled longitudinally, and visually more or less fis.sured transversely ; orange- 

 brown, becoming gray-brown on keeping ; brittle ; fracture sharply transverse, 

 exhibiting a thin brown layer of cork, the remainder of the bark nearly as thick 

 as the radius of the wood, white or sometimes pinkish, starchy, containing lati- 

 eiferous ducts ; the wood yellowish, having several rings, finely i-adiate and 

 very coarsely porous ; almost inodorous, the taste starchy, afterwards becoming 

 bitter and somewhat acrid." 



Collection, prices, and uses. — The root of black Indian hemp is collected in 

 autumn and brings from 8 to 10 cents a pound. 



It is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia and has emetic, cathartic, 

 diaphoi-etic. expectorant, and diuretic properties, and on account of the last- 

 named action it is used in dropsical affections. 



The tough fibrous bark of the stalks of black Indian hemp was employed by 

 the Indians as a substitute for hemp in making twine, fishing nets, etc. 



PLEURISY-ROOT. 



Asclepidx tiiherosa I.. 



Pharmacopoeial name. — Asclepias. 



Other common names. — Butterfly-weed, Canada-root, Indian-nosy, orange- 

 root, orange swallowwort. tuberroot. whiteroot. windroot. yellow or orange 

 milkweed. 



Habitat and range. — Pleurisy-root flourishes in the open or in pine woods, in 

 dry sandy <jr gravelly soil, usually along the banks of streams. Its range 

 extends from Ontario and Maine to Minnesota, south to Florida, Texas, and 

 Arizona, but it is found in greatest abundance in the Soiith. 



Bescription of plant. — This is a very showy and ornamental perennial plant, 

 indigenous to this country, and belonging to the milkweed family (Asclepiada- 

 cese) ; it is erect and rather stiff in habit, but with brilliant heads of bright 

 orange-colored flowers that attract attention from afar. 



The stems are rather stout, erect, hairy, about 1 to 2 feet in height, sometimes 

 branched near the top, and bearing a thick growth of leaves. These are either 

 stemless or borne on short stems, are somewhat rough to the touch. 2 to 

 inches long, lance shaped or oblong, the apex either sharp pointed or blunt, 

 with a narrow, rounded, or heart-shaped base. The flower heads, borne at the 

 ends of the stem and branches, consist of numerous, oddly shaped orange- 

 colored flowers. The corolla is composed of five segments, which are reflexed 

 or turned back, and the crown has five erect or spreading " hoods." within 

 each of which is a slender incurved horn. The plant is in flower for some 



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