66 KANUNCULACE^E. 



the drug. It lias been used successfully as a substitute for quinine in the 

 treatment of interniittents, in convalescence from acute disease, and in 

 general where a vegetable tonic is indicated. This fact is worthy of re- 

 membrance, since there are numerous instances in which quinine is indi- 

 cated but cannot be employed on account of idiosyncrasy. It is not, 

 however, as a substitute for quinine that hydrastis has been most em- 

 ployed or has gained its greatest reputation. It seems to exert an es- 

 pecially tonic influence upon mucous surfaces, and has been employed 

 beneficially in a great variety of catarrhal affections. Prior to its use in 

 scientific medicine it had been employed by the aborigines as a topical ap- 

 plication in catarrhal affections of the eyes and as a stimulant to old 

 ulcers. It is still used with benefit in such cases, and in chronic coryza, 

 in gonorrhoea, leucorrhcea, hemorrhoids, and prolapsus ani. That it 

 exerts an influence upon the liver seems well demonstrated, and it has 

 been used with benefit in torpid conditions of this organ, and in catarrhal 

 inflammation of the gall-bladder and gall-duct. Though not directly 

 cathartic in its action, in certain cases of habitual constipation it produces 

 a laxative effect. It has been employed beneficially in glandular swell- 

 ings, undoubtedly through its general tonic power, and hence has prob- 

 ably derived its undeserved reputation as a remedy for cancer. 



XANTHORHIZA. 



Xanthorhiza apiifolia L'Heritier. Yellow-Root, Shrub Yellow-Root. 



Description. Calyx : sepals 5, petal-like, deciduous, spreading, ovate- 

 acuminate, brownish-purple. Corolla : petals 5, very small, 2-lobed, ele- 

 vated upon a claw, colored like the sepals. Stamens 5 to 10, hypogynous, 

 filaments thick, purple, anthers adnate. Ovaries 5 to 15, each bearing two 

 pendulous ovules attached to the middle. Pods 1-seeded, oblong, the style 

 becoming lateral during development. 



A shrubby perennial, 1 to 3 feet high, with a large rootstock and numer- 

 ous round, slightly branched stems. Outer bark gray, smooth, and shin- 

 ing ; within bright yellow. Leaves alternate, unequally 1- to 2-piunate, on 

 long stalks. Leaflets in two pairs with an odd terminal one, 2 to 3 inches 

 long, rhomboid-ovate or lanceolate, tapering at the base, sessile, incisely 

 lobed and dentate, smooth, dark green above, lighter beneath. Flowers 

 polygamous, in long, drooping compound racemes, appearing from April 

 to June. The rootstock is from 3 inches to 1 foot or more in length, from 

 one-eighth to one-half inch in thickness, more or less branched, yellowish- 

 brown externally, internally of a deep yellow, and having an exceedingly 

 bitter taste. 



Habitat. Central New York (one station only) to the middle and upper 

 districts of the Carolinas and Georgia, chiefly along the mountains and 

 highlands. 



