460 



MEDICINAL PLANTS 



MEDICINAL PLANTS 



quality can be distilled from the leaves by steam, 

 and further experiments are now in progress in the 

 hope of utilizing this source or method for camphor 

 products. 



Caraway (Carum Carui, Linn.). UmbeUiferce. (G. P. 

 Klugh.) 



Caraway is usually a perennial herb, having an 

 enlarged, fleshy root ; erect, slender, somewhat 

 branching stem, reaching a height of two feet, 

 bearing pinnately compound leaves, the segments 

 of which are very narrow, almost filiform ; the 

 small w^iite flowers form a flat-topped umbel ; the 

 fruits, the so-called "caraway," are narrow, ribbed, 

 pointed at the ends, and have the characteristic 

 caraway flavor due to the volatile oils contained 

 in them. It is a native of Europe but is widely 

 introduced into the United States, occurring wild 

 or in kitchen gardens. Attempts are being made 

 to produce it commercially in the United States to 

 supply the large demand now satisfied from abroad, 

 chiefly from Holland and middle Russia. 



It grows well on heavy soils, but a moderately 

 light soil gives larger yields and is supposed to 

 give a grade containing more oil. The seed should 

 be sown about the first of April in three-foot drills, 

 at the rate of about eight pounds per acre, or in 

 sufficient quantity to give a stand of plants about 

 three inches or less apart. After the plants come 

 up the soil should be cultivated shallow and weeds 

 killed regularly until late summer the first year 

 and early spring of the second year. Weeds left in 

 the field at harvest time will contaminate the 

 product when the seeds are harvested and reduce 

 the value. 



The seeds ripen about the middle of June the 

 second year, and may be cut with a mower, threshed 

 out and cleaned. The seed* should be light brown 

 if cut just aftfer the first seeds are ripe and before 

 the stalks are dead. Cutting at this time makes a 

 good salable product and avoids waste by shatter- 

 ing of the seeds. An acre should yield about 1,000 

 pounds of seed. 



On distillation with steam the fruits yield a 

 pleasant volatile oil with the odor and taste of 

 caraway. According to the geographical source 

 and conditions of soil and climate, caraway fruits 

 yield 3 to 6 per cent of their weight in oil. 



Catnip (Nepeta Cataria, Linn.). LaMatw. Catmint. 

 Fig. 684. 



A perennial-rooted herb having a branching, 

 erect- or somewhat decumbent square-cornered 

 stem, three to four feet high, bearing cordate or 

 broadly ovate petiolate leaves with crenate mar- 

 gins, softly woolly surfaces and veins sharply 

 marked on the pale under side; the small nearly 

 white flowers are collected in terminal spikes, 

 flowering late in the summer or early fall. It is a 

 frequent garden plant, and has also escaped over a 

 wide area. 



Catnip is propagated by seeds or by root divi- 

 sion. It likes a moderately rich garden loam, but 

 does well on a variety of soils. The seed should be 

 sown about the first of March, or as early as 



possible in the spring, in drills three feet apart, at 

 the rate of one to two pounds per acre. After the 

 plants are four or five inches in height, they 

 should be thinned out to stand about eighteen 

 inches apart in the rows. Shallow cultivation to 

 keep the soil loose and 

 conserve soil moisture 

 will incidentally kill the 

 weeds and produce a 

 healthy growch. The 

 plant will flower the first 

 year in August or Sep- 

 tember and in subsequent 

 years in June. The flow- 

 ering tops are used. They 

 should be picked free 

 from large stems and 

 dried carefully in the 

 shade to preserve their 

 green color. The yield of 

 tops per acre is about 

 2,000 pounds under good 

 conditions. 



Fennel (FcBnieulum offi- 

 cinale, AH.). Umbel- 

 Zi/e™.(G.F. Klugh.) 



Fennel is an herba- 

 ceous perennial of the 

 parsnip family, native to 

 the Old World, grown for 

 its aromatic fruit, and in 

 India and Japan for its 

 edible root. It is grown 

 in central Europe and in the Mediterranean coun- 

 tries as well as in Japan and India, and sparingly 

 in the United States as a garden herb. The fleshy 

 root-stem of fennel gives rise to stout, smooth, suc- 

 culent stems reaching a height of three feet, which 

 bear the dark green, finely dissected aromatic 

 leaves and numerous very small yellow flowers 

 in branching, umbel-like, terminal clusters ; the 

 fruits, ripened in late summer,, are about one-third 

 inch long, conspicuously ribbed and have the pleas- 

 ant fragrance characteristic of plants containing 

 anethol. 



Fennel does well on a moderately rich, well- 

 drained loam or sandy loam, a heavy wet soil giving 

 too much leaf and stem and too little fruit. It is 

 sown in three-foot drills as soon in the spring as 

 the ground is ready for garden planting, about five 

 pounds of seed being used per acre. It is cultivated 

 as an ordinary garden crop. The fruit ripens in 

 the fall and is gathered at once in order to pre- 

 serve a fresh, bright appearance. It is less desir- 

 able for the market if allowed to turn dark. After 

 it is dry it can be cleaned of the immature fruit, 

 some of which is unavoidably collected, since all 

 fruits do not mature simultaneously. 



The aromatic flavor is due to a volatile oil pres- 

 ent in the ribs of the fruits. This oil is obtained 

 by distillation with steam, a yield of 4 to 5 per cent 

 being obtained. The fruit remaining after distilla- 

 tion is used in some parts of Germany as a food 

 for cattle- 



Fig. 684. Catnip (Nepeta 

 Cataria). 



