76 



is common somewhere in the wild state.- (Some plants which 

 are cultivated for food or fiber, such as corn and cotton, do in- 

 deed yield medicinal products also; but those are by-products, 

 and plant breeders usually emphasize one particular quality in 

 a plant, and any other is only incidental.) 



If we study the representation of different families in the 

 medicinal flora of the world we find some interesting variations. 

 The families most largely represented in Dr. Newcomb's list 

 are Leguminosae (including Mimosaceae, Caesalpiniaceae and 

 Fabaceae, for these families are not usually separated in the 

 literature of pharmacy), Compositae (Carduaceae), Umbelli- 

 ferae, Solanaceae, Liliaceae (including Melanthaceae, etc.), Zin- 

 giberaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rutaceae, Rosaceae (including 

 Amygdalaceae, etc.), Labiatae (Nepetaceae), Rubiaceae, Gram- 

 ineae (Poaceae), Malvaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Piperaceae, Cu- 

 puliferae (Fagaceae), Lauraceae, Menispermaceae, Loganiaceae, 

 Rhamnaceae,Gentianaceae,Iridaceae,Berberidaceae,and Capri- 

 foliaceae(each of these includingat least three medicinal species). 

 But if we consider the ratio of medicinal plants to total number 

 of species, the sequence would be quite different, and some 

 small families might outrank the Leguminosae and Compositae. 



There is of course a vast difference in the families repre- 

 sented in the temperate and tropical floras. The leading drug 

 plant families in the North Temperate zone seem to be Composi- 

 tae, Umbelliferae, Leguminosae (etc.), Solanaceae, Labiatae, 

 Malvaceae, Rutaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Berberidaceae, Rhamnace- 

 ae, Cupuliferae, Gentianaceae, Rosaceae, and Caprifoliaceae; 

 and in the tropics Leguminosae (etc.), Piperaceae, Rubiaceae, 

 Zingiberaceae, Menispermaceae, Simarubaceae, Myrtaceae, 

 Sterculiaceae, Loganiaceae. Solanaceae, and Rosaceae. 



In the North Temperate list there are 3 algae, 2 fungi, 1 

 lichen, 2 pteridophytes, 4 conifers, and 19 monocotyledons. 

 The tropical drug plants are all angiosperms, and only 8 of them 

 monocotyledons; though the proportion of monocotyledons is 

 about 13% in both zones.^ 



* Report upon the Cultivation of Drug and Dye Plants, H. H. Rusby, 

 Journal of the New York Botanical Garden 16, 155, Aug. 1915. 



The Outlook for Drug Culture in North America, H. H. Rusby, Columbia 

 University Quarterly, 19: 7-14, Dec. 1916. 



3 See Torreya 5: 207-210. (Jan. 1906). 



