160 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



oled, pointed, serrate; flowers in teraunal panicled spikes; 

 parts sometimes in fives; corolla small, white or bluish; 

 stamens and style much exserted; capsule, oblong, obtuse. 



This species is found in moist soil in woods, thickets or 

 meadows, and ranges from Nova Scotia to British Colum- 

 bia, south to Alabama, Missouri, Nebraska, and Arkansas. 

 The flowering season is from June until September. This 

 species has received considerable attention in medical 

 practice and in domestic arts. Various popular names 

 have been given it, of which Culver's-root, Culver's Ph5'sic, 

 Tall Speedwell, and Elackroot are the most common. The 

 root is horizontal, irregular, and wood3\ about half an inch 

 in thickness, 6 — 12 inches long, brownish internall3^ black- 

 ish externally, the dark rootlets being long and slender and 

 issue horizontally. The root is the officinal portion of the 

 plant and is gathered in the fall of the year. The proper- 

 ties are extracted in water heated to 212 degrees or in alco- 

 hol. Linna?us gave the type locality as: "Habitat in 

 Virginia." 



Specimens in our collection show considerable varia- 

 tion in certain characters of the leaves. Small forms often 

 have the whorls of three leaves and one specimen has the 

 leaves opposite. Whorls of four and six leaves are fre- 

 quent, but whorls of five leaves are the most common. 

 The number of leaves in a whorl usually remain constant 

 in the same specimen, but one of our specimens has the 

 lower whorls of six leaves and the upper of four. Doubt- 

 less there are other combinations. The leaves may 

 be narrowly lanceolate, rather long acuminate and finely 

 serrate or ovate-lanceolate to nearly ovate, short-acumin- 

 ate and coarsely serrate or even a mixture of these char- 

 acters. Occasionally a forked spike ma}^ be found. On 

 the variation of this species Pursh says: "On the moun- 

 tains of Virginia I observed a tall-growing variety, with 

 purple flowers, extremely beautiful." This was described 

 and figured by liafinesque as a distinct species under the 

 name of Leptandra purpurea. In Iowa the species is com- 

 mon and widelv distributed. 



