380 PLANTS AND MAN 



Under cultivation, cinchona trees require rich soil and abundant 

 moisture. Growth is rapid, and the trees are cut and peeled 

 when about seven years old, at which time the bark will yield 

 5% or more of quinine. In addition to its use as a specific for 

 malaria, quinine is used as a tonic, and for fevers in general. 



Cascara is probably the most important native drug in the 

 United States. It is obtained from the bark of a small tree, the 

 western buckthorn (fig. 247), native to the Pacific Northwest 

 and Canada. The bark is peeled from the trees in the summer, 

 and dried and seasoned for a year before it is ready for use. At 

 the present time, the entire supply comes from wild sources, but 

 it may be necessary at some future time, to establish plantations 

 of buckthorn. It flourishes in a region that is fitted only for forest 

 growth, and reproduces itself well by seed. Cascara is widely used 

 in the United States and abroad as a laxative and tonic. 



Drugs Obtained from Plant Roots 



Garden heliotrope, a native of Eurasia but long cultivated 

 as an ornamental in the United States, yields the drug valerian, 

 an essential oil used in the treatment of nervous disorders such 

 as coughing, hysteria, and pain. The dried roots, and under- 

 ground creeping stem by which this perennial plant spreads, 

 are the commercial sources of this drug. 



May apple, mandrake, or Podophyllum as it is known in 

 the drug trade, occurs commonly throughout the eastern states, 

 but is of commercial importance only in the southern Appala- 

 chian mountains. The roots and rhizomes of this spring-flowering 

 herb yield the drug, which is used as a cathartic and to induce 

 vomiting. Collection of the plant takes place in the spring or fall, 

 at which time the underground portions are dug, cut into pieces, 

 and dried. Podophyllum is not an important drug, hence no 

 attempts at cultivation have been made. 



Ginseng is one of the most important of oriental drugs. The 

 Chinese especially have used it for centuries as a sort of cure-all, 

 attributing to it innumerable curative properties which research 

 in medicine has been unable to prove. The original drug plant 

 of this name is native to Korea and Manchuria, but the American 



