SENECA SNAKEROOT 



Polygala senega L. 



May Senega Eoot, it was called in the early days of our country. 



Woods when the pioneers pushing west of the Alleghenies sought plants 

 for home remedies to cure all the ailments besetting mankind. 

 It was believed faithfully by many that there was a plant which would 

 cure each disease, if the right one could be found to treat the disease, in 

 question. Polygala, or Seneca snakeroot, was one whose hard, knotty 

 rootstock was gathered and used medicinally in many a home on the 

 Illinois prairie. 



The Polygalas were given their name, which means "^much milk", 

 in the belief that cows which ate the plants produced more milk. The 

 name originally came from that given by the old l)otanist of Greece, 

 Dioscorides, who labored under many current delusions of the day but 

 sought earnestly to learn the truth about Nature and its manifestations. 



The Polygalas are among the most varied flower clans to be found. 

 Not an extensive group — eight s])ecies are listed in Jones's Flora of 

 Illinois — they nevertheless range from extremely showy ilowers to some 

 which are dull, small, and uninteresting. Most beautiful of all and one 

 of the most exquisite of wild flowers is the fringed polygala or gayAvings; 

 it is believed to be entirely absent from Illinois, but is common in late 

 spring in northern forests. 



In extreme contrast are the thin, sparsely flowered sjiikes of Seneca 

 ,«nakeroot, with tiny greenish white flowers and small, nari'ow leaves. 



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