G8 KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



ccnce. There arc ten or twelve pairs of strong ribs or veins on each 

 side of the central midrib. The flowers are small and occur in clnstera 

 of ten to twelve, which proceed from the axils of the leaves, there being^ 

 one common stalk or peduncle, and a more delicate pedicel for each 

 Uower. The liov»'ers are greenish in color, with five acute sepals and as 

 many smaller hooded petals, which are divided at the j)oint. They al«) 

 liave each four or five stamens, and a short three to four cleft style. The 

 flowers arc succeeded by small black berries of the size of a pea, which 

 have a thin pulpy exterior, the main i^ortion consisting of three bony 

 nutlets or seeds. 



The bark possesses very active cathartic properties, and has been re- 

 cently introduced into medical practice, and large quantities are annu- 

 ally gathered in Oregon for the drug trade. The bark of Eltamiiu,s ca- 

 tharticus of Europe possesses cathartic properties and has been nnHlici- 

 nally employed for a long period. Probably this pro])erty is common 

 to many species. In California there is a species called lihamnus cali- 

 fornicus, the bony seeds of which have been sometimes employed as a 

 substitute for coffee, although they contain nothing of the peculiar prin- 

 ciples of the true coffee. Plate III, Fig. b, flower enlarged; c, trans- 

 verse section of fruit. 



Cassia makilandica— TH/tZ ^S'ewwa; American Senna. 



The genus Cassia belongs to the order Ler/uminosa;, and is very ex- 

 tensively diffused over the globe, and includes some four hundred spe- 

 cies, mostly herbaceous, but some shrubs and some trees. The common 

 medicinal senna consists of the leaves of two or three species of Cassia 

 which grow in Egypt, India, and iVrabia. 



In the United States we have about twenty herbaceous species, only 

 one of which, Cassia mar Handicap has obtained reputation for medical 

 use. This is a vigorous plant, liaving a perennial root, the stalks, many 

 from the same root, growing 4 or 5 feet high, with numerous alternate 

 large i)innate leaves, C or 8 inches long, and composed of about eight 

 pairs of oblong-lanceolate leaflets of alight-green color, which arc about 1 

 inch to 1^ inches in length, smooth, tipped vrith a very short bristle- 

 like point. Near thebase of the leaf-stalk is a small dark-colored stalked 

 gland of unknown use. The flowers groAV at and near the top of the 

 stem in short racemes from the axils of the upper leaves and are each 

 about one-half inch long. The sepals are five, oblong, thin, shorter than 

 the petals ; the petals are five, bright yellow, half an inch long, rather 

 curved, obtuse, and broadest near the top. There are ten stamens, 

 which are unequal in length, and some of them imperfect, the anthers 

 opening by two pores at the apex. The young germ or pod is quite 

 hairy, but becomes in age a smooth, linear, curved pod, 4 to 6 inches 

 long, and containing twenty or more seeds, a depression of the pod oc- 

 curring between each of the seeds. 



Our plant is related to the Eastern senna in its botanical habit and 

 resembles it in its medicinal virtues, but requires about one-third 

 greater quantity to produce the same effect. The Eastern senna is so 

 cheap that there is little inducement for the gathering or use of our 

 native one. Plate IY, Fig. 1, an enlarged flower; 2, mature pods. 



Gillenia teifoliata — Indian Physic. 



A perennial neroaceous plant of the natural order Rosacea^, grow- 

 ing throughout most of the States east of the Mississippi Eiver m 



