376 



PLANTS AND MAN 



dried leaves and tops, is used to induce vomiting and to promote 

 discharge of mucus from the lungs and throat. 



The important drugs belladonna and atropine are yielded 

 by a coarse, herbaceous plant native to Southern and Central 

 Europe and Asia Minor. This plant is now widely cultivated in 



the United States, Europe, and 

 India. The leaves, tops, and to a 

 limited extent the roots, are col- 

 lected at about the time the plant 

 is flowering and dried (fig. 244). 

 The drugs obtained from bella- 

 donna leaves are used in the relief 

 of coughs, excessive perspiration, 

 to dilate the pupil of the eye in 

 making examinations of that or- 

 gan, and externally to relieve pain. 

 Aloes are stemless tropical 

 plants with basal clusters of thick 

 fleshy, often spiny edged, leaves. 

 They grow native in the western 

 and southern parts of Africa, and 

 in the West Indies; and are grown 

 under cultivation in Florida and 

 California. The leaves are cut and placed in troughs, where the 

 resinous juice gradually exudes. This is collected and evaporated 

 to the point of solidification. The principal medicinal use of aloes 

 is as a purgative, although some recent use of it is being made in 

 the treatment of inflammation of nerve tissues such as exists in 

 neuritis. 



Tobacco 



Tobacco, although not used as a drug plant, is included here 

 because of the narcotic content of its leaves and stems. The use 

 of tobacco cannot be labeled a "white man's vice," since it had 

 been practiced by the South American Indians for centuries 

 before white men set foot on this continent. The plant was taken 

 first to southern Europe about 1 560, and the use of it has a fumi- 



FiG. 244. — Belladonna and 

 atropine come from the leaves of a 

 European plant. 



I 



