NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 



To these simple people, no doubt, we owe many of the 

 significant local names by which our native plants are still 

 distinguished, and which will always be adopted when 

 speaking of them in familiar parlance. Occasionally we 

 pause and ponder on the source whence such a name as 

 Boneset, for Eupatorium perfoliatum (L.), has been derived. 

 We can only surmise that the powerful virtues of the plant 

 are serviceable, in cases of dislocations and fractures, in 

 reducing fever and causing a more healthy action of the 

 blood, thus accelerating the return of strength to the injured 

 limb. 



The sanative qualities of these plants are no new dis- 

 covery, nor are the medicinal properties confined to one 

 species alone; some are used in curing the bites of snakes, 

 as E. ageratoides (L.), and an infusion of the leaves of 

 another species is an excellent diet drink; almost all are 

 sudorifics and tonics. 



The genus Eupatorium is dedicated to Eupator Mithri- 

 dates, who is said to have used a species of the genus in 

 medicine. Several species of these homely plants are used 

 in fevers and intermittents by the herb-doctors and Indians. 



The tallest and most showy of the Eupatoriums is 



TRUMPETWEED THOROUGHWORT E. purpureum (L.). 



The flowers, in dense corymbs, are of a deep flesh-color, 

 approaching to red; leaves shining, coarsely veined, narrow- 

 ing to a point, the upper ones much narrower, mostly 

 growing in whorls round the stout stein. The plant has a 

 bitter, somewhat resinous scent when the leaves are bruised. 

 This tall Thoroughwort is abundant on the banks of creeks 

 and in marshy places, where it often reaches the height of 

 five or six feet. 



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