ee i 
10 MEDICAL BOTANY. 
the root is collected ; and in the dried state, upon the manner of drying and preserving it. It should be collected lets | 
in the summer or in the autumn. | ; 
According to the analysis made by Mr. Tilghman (Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, vol. vi. p. 20), it contains ful 
matter, resin, tannin, gallic acid, wax, gum, starch, sugar, oil, colouring matter, &c. The experiments led to no 
decided conclusion as to the nature of the active principle. “'The peculiar bitterness and nauseating properties of the 
plant seemed more fully developed in the ethereal extract, than in any other form.” | 
A variety of opinions have existed, with respect to the medical properties of the Black Snakeroot. Dr. B | 
S. Barton regarded it as an astringent; Dr. Mears and Garden as a narcotic; and Dr. Chapman as an expectorant 
and antispasmodic. Still later, it has been proposed by Dr. Young as a remedy in chorea ; ‘his ideas of its therapeutic 
value in this disease, have been confirmed by Dr. Wood. (See U. S. Dispensatory, and Am. edition of Pereira’s Mat. 
Med.) It is given in substance, in tincture, and decoction. : | 
Piare [Ll —Represents the plant in flower, an enlarged flower and petal. 
COP Lipa RIKOLIEA. 
4 | SALSBURY. 
‘ GOLDEN THREAD, 
Gen. Cuar.—Sepais five to six, petaloid, deciduous. Petals five to six. Stamens fifteen to twenty-five. Follicles 
five to ten, on long stipes, somewhat stellately diverging, membranaceous, ovate-oblong, pointed with the style, four to 
sight seeded. "Herbs with radical, divided, subcoriaceous leaves, and very slender, extensively-creeping roots. 
_ ‘Speer. Cuar—Leaves three-foliate ; leaflets cuneiform, obovate, crenately and mucronately toothed, obscurely — 
Seach ake ea op age — consisting of long, bright, yellow fibres, intensely bitter. Leaves evergreen; 
Bee da dele Gas et © five inches high. Sepals five to seven, oblong, obtuse, white 
ae aia beg rans eens yellow at base. Carpels acuminated with the persistent style. Seeds oblong 
agge ogre Mice ye J eae (Torrey and Gray, Flor. of North America.) ‘ 
| Nehatiyomnd hat 9 avin er homiemee bogs, from Greenland and Labrador to Pennsylvania. The root is 
| , e, and of a deep golden-yellow colour, very bitter. It is prepared by the Shakers, at Lebanon, 
in } : os 
note York, who dry it and compress it into packages of a square form. There is no odour to it, but the taste is 
wpon a bitter extract : pure bitters; the medicinal activity appears to 
ets five matter. Tt is used as a tonic, and ranks with gentian, quassia, and the pure bitters. 
Piate IV.—Represents the plant in flower and fruit. 
~MAGNOLIACER. 
shrubs. Leaves alternate, pinnat; ; albumen fleshy ; embryo straight, small, inferior. Elegant trees of 
oe The predominating multe ee Conspicuous, often son Geitiaicn (De Candolle, Prodromus.) 
_ Mmpregnated with it. In the bark, it is fy amily is an essential oil; the flowers, fruit, and in many cases the bark, are 
Of Magnolia, a peculiar crystalli ; : requently associated with a bitter principle and tannin. In one of the spec 
Tg Pea : —e has been discovered by Dr. S. Procter, which exists in other plants of 
