72 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



ipecac, for which it has been substituted. Plate X, Fig. 1, an enlarged 

 flower showing the involucre in part, with the stamens, and the ovary 

 raised on a stalk or stipe above the flower. 



EirpnoRBiA IPECACUANHA — Wild Ijjecac; American Ipecac. 



This, like the preceding species {IE. corollata), is an herbaceous per- 

 ennial, low and tufted ; numerous slender stems arise from a thick, irreg- 

 ular root, which sometimes penetrates several feet in the sand in which 

 it grows. The stems are erect or procumbent, smooth, from G inches to 

 1 foot long, and fork or divide in twos several times. The leaves are 

 very variable in size and form, being sometimes narrowly linear, some- 

 times oblong or obovate, and from half an inch to an inch and a half 

 long; they are opposite, sessile, smooth, and entire. The flowers are 

 single, on peduncles an inch or more in length, proceeding from the forks 

 or axils. In &tructure the flowers and pods are essentially the same as 

 those of Euiihorhia corollata, already described. 



The plant grows in sandy woeds and shores, near the sea coast, from 

 New Jersey southward to Florida. 



Like all the species of the genus Eiiphorhia the stems abound in an 

 acrid, milky juice. The root is the part wliich is mediciDally employed. 

 Its action is similar to that of the ofiicinal ipecac. Plate XI, Fig. 2, 

 transverse section of pod; 3, seed. 



AmsTOLOcniA serpentaeia — Virginia SnaJceroot' 



A small herbaceous^ereunial plant; the slender stems are unbranched 

 and usually about 1 foot high, the upper part having about 4 to G com- 

 paratively large leaves, the lower i)art of the stems naked, except near 

 the base, where they give rise to a few long stalked dowers. The leaves 

 are ovate or oblong, with a heart-shaped base, 2 to 4 inches long, 

 smooth orsmoothish, rather acute pointed, and on short petioles. The 

 flowers, of which there are but 2 to 4, are all mar the base of the stem, 

 on small branches or peduncles. They are sinall, half to three-fourths 

 of an inch long, of a purplish color, and a peculiar form. They are des- 

 titute of a calyx, and have a tubular corolhi, bent like the letter S, nar- 

 row below and expanded at the top. There are six sessile anthers at- 

 tached to the sides of the fleshy pistil. The fruit is, when mature, a 

 small obovate, G sided, G-valved, capsule or pod. The flowers ai)pear 

 in May and June and the pod matures in September or October. It 

 grows in rich, shady woods, from Connecticut to Indiana, and southward 

 along the Alleghany Mountains. From the main root proceeds a mass 

 of slender fibers 3 to 6 inches long. This is the portion of the plant 

 which is used as a medicine. There are several other species of iSer- 

 pentaria in the Southwest, which probably have the same properties to 

 a greater or less extent. There are also two species in Europe which 

 are there employed for the same i)urposes as our plant. Although Ser- 

 pcntaria is an old remedy, it does not appear to be extensively employed 

 at the present time. Plate XII, Fig. 2, a flower enlarged; 3, stamens 

 on the interior of the corolla ; 4, capsule or jiod. 



ASAEUM CANADENSE — Wild Ginger. 



A small perennial herbaceous plant, growing in rich, shady woods on 

 hill-sides, from Canada to the mountains of North Carolina and west 

 to Iowa. 



That part which is commonly called the root is botanically called the 

 rlii2;oma, or a creeping underground stem, usually 2 or 3 inches long, and 



