200 
as “sweet-wood,” having a very fine flavor and agreeable taste. 
It is a distinct laxative, slightly diuretic and a useful expectorant. 
In licorice confections prepared from the extract, anise oil is so 
frequently used as an added flavor that it is often popularly con- 
fused with the taste of licorice. The powdered root is used as 
pill excipient. 
LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY (Convallaria majalis) N.F. This is a 
perennial herb, native of Europe and a favorite garden flower 
everywhere. The plant has been used in domestic medicine for 
several hundred years, being mentioned in the early Materia Medica 
of Dioscorides. The action and uses are almost identical with 
ab] 
c 
those of Digitalis and other cardiac stimulant drugs. The rhizome 
and roots have also been used in exterminating rodents. The ac- 
tive principle is convallarin. It can be standardized and serves a 
useful purpose in the medication of certain cardiac patients who 

are under constant treatment and have developed a resistance to 
digitalin. 
Ma Huanc. See Epuepra. 
MANDRAKE (Podophylliin peltatum), May-Apple, N.F. The 
mandrake is a low perennial herb with long freely branching jointed 
rhizomes which root at the joints or nodes. Its therapeutic ac- 
tivity is due to a resinous principle found in the rhizome and roots. 
The rhizome was well known to the Indians as an active cathartic, 
both the Cherokees and the Wyandottes having usec 
jar 
it for this 
purpose. The leaves are reputed to be poisonous, the young shoots 
of the plant being used by the aborigines for suicidal purposes. 
Maricoitp (Calendula officinalis), N.F. This annual is a na- 
tive of southern Europe and adjacent Asia, and is commonly culti- 
vated both for the drug and as a decorative plant. The foliage has 
an aromatic, somewhat narcotic, not unpleasant odor and a salty, 
rather disagreeable taste. It has been in use since medieval days 
as a household remedy, mainly as a vulnerary, stomachic and 
diaphoretic. 
MoonseeD (Menispermum canadense), Canada moonseed, N.O. 
A herbaceous twiner, abundant in mountains and hilly forests 
throughout the eastern and central U.S. The rhizome and roots 
contain alkaloids and other bitter principles which give it medi- 
