PLANTS FUHNlSHINt; HOOT UKUUS. 63 



be stringy ami wixidy. Owing to the interlacing habit of the rootlets, uuu-U dirt 

 adheres to the root, but it should be well cleaned, cut into transverse or length- 

 wise sli<-es, and carefully dried in the shade. Collectors receive from ."i to 5 , 

 cents a pound for this root. 



Elecampane, wliich was ..llicial in tlie Initi'd Slates I'harmacopieia of ISUO. 

 is much used in affections of the respiratory organs, in digestive and liver 

 disorders, catarrhal disdiarges. and in .skin diseases. 



ECHINACEA. 



UniiiiKiiii iiiinnstifiiliii ( 1 )C. I Holler. 



iSi/iii)ii!/iii- — lUliiiiiti(H <iii(ni'<til'(jli(t 1>C. 



Oilier rtniniioii ikiiiics — Piile-jmrple coneHowcr. Sani|>son-r(M)t. niggerhead (in 



Kansas). 



Habitat ami nnnje. — Echinacea is found in scattered pali-hes in rich jirairie 

 soil or sandy soil from Alabama to 'i'exas and northwestward, being most 

 abundant in Kansas and Nebritska. Though not growing wild in the Eastern 

 States, it has succeeded well under cultivatinn in the testing gardens of the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washington. 1). C. 



Description of plant. — This jiative herbaceous i)erennial. lielonging to tlu> 

 aster family (Asteracese), grows to a height of fn.m 2 to 'A feet. It sends up 

 a rather stout bristly-hairy stem, bearing thick rough-hairy loaves, which are 

 broadly lance shaped or linear lance shaped, entire, ."1 to S inches long, nar- 

 rowed at each end, and strongly three nerved. The lower leaves have slender 

 stems, but as they approach the top of the plant the stems become shorter and 

 some of the upper leavt>s are stemless. 



The flower heads, appearing from July to October, are very pretty, and the 

 plant would do well as an ornamental in gardens. The flowers remain on the 

 plant for a long time, and the color varies from whitish rose to pale jiurple. 

 The heads consist of ray tlowers and disk flowers, the former constituting the 

 "petals" surrounding the disk, and the disk itself being composed of small, 

 tubular, greenish yellow^ flowers. When the flowers first appear the disk is 

 flattened or really concave, but as the flowering progresses it becomes conical 

 in shape. The brown fruiting heads are conical, chaffy, stiff, and wiry. (PI. 



VII, fig. 4.) 



Description of root. — Echinacea has a thick, blackish root (I'l. VII, fig. --i). 

 which in commerce occurs in cylindrical pieces of varying length and thickness. 

 The dried root Is grayish brown on the outside, the bark wrinkled length- 

 wise and sometimes spirally twisted. It breaks with a short, weak fracture, 

 showing yellow or greenish yellow wood wedges, which give the impression that 

 the wood is decayed. 



The odor is scarcely perceptible, and the taste is mildly aromatic, afterwards 

 becoming acrid and ind\n;ing a flow of saliva. 



Collection, prices, and uses.— The root of echinacea is collected in autumn 

 and brings from 20 to 30 cents a pound. It is said that echinacea varies greatly 

 in quality, due chiefly to the locality in which it grows. According to .J. U. 

 Lloyd, the best quality comes from the prairie lands of Nebraska, and that 

 from marshy places is inferior. 



Echinacea is said to be an alterative, and to promote perspiration and induce 

 a flow of saliva. The Indians used the freshly scraped roots for the cure of 

 Knake bites. 

 107 



