MEDICINAL PLANTS 



MEDICINAL PLANTS 



463 



tate cultivation, and the plants left thick in the 

 drill. The whole herb should be cut when in full 

 flower and dried in the shade to preserve the green 

 color. Good soil should yield about 1,000 or 1,200 

 pounds of dry herb per acre. 



Lovage (Lsvisticum officinale, Koch.). UmbeUiferce. 

 (S. C. Hood.) 



An aromatic perennial of the Parsley family, 

 characterized by a system of thickened, fleshy, 

 aromatic roots, having the odor of celery, a tall 

 smooth stem bearing twice or thrice divided leaves, 

 segments wedge-shaped at base ; yellowish flowers 

 in umbels ; seed three-ribbed and also aromatic. 

 The large root is used both as a condiment and 

 for medicinal purposes. 



Lovage is an old garden plant introduced from 

 Europe, and is grown as a crop in certain parts of 

 the West and in New England by the Shakers. It 

 is easily propagated either by root division or by 

 seeds, but since the seeds grow so readily it is 

 probably cheaper to use them. Planting should be 

 done in fall in light soil, in drills eighteen inches 

 apart. Heavy fertilization with stable manure 

 should not be used, since it causes the plant to pro- 

 duce too much top. Cultivation consists in keep- 

 ing the crop free from weeds. The plants will 

 flower the second year and supply a large amount 

 of seed, which also has a market value. The root 

 should be gathered in the late fall and be well 

 washed and cut into slices about one-half inch 

 thicli. These are then dried by heat at about 125° 

 Fahr. "When dry, they are ready for market. 



Opium. Poppy {Papaver somniferum, Linn.). Popo- 

 veracecB. 

 A tall, smooth, somewhat branching annual, of 

 grayish green color, reaching a height of about 

 five feet, bearing large, ovate leaves with irregu- 

 larly cut margins and clasping base. The large, 

 solitary flowers are borne at the ends of somewhat 

 elongated stems. The flowers vary in color from 

 pure white to a striking magenta or purplish color, 

 petals usually with a spot of darker color at the 

 base. The fruit capsules are roundish in outline, 

 somewhat elongated, or sometimes oblate. Some 

 forms bear valves near the top, which open at ma- 

 turity and permit the seed to escape ; in others the 

 valves do not open. The capsules, when scored 

 superficially, yield abundant milky juice ; in India, 

 China, Persia and Turkey this is collected and dried 

 to form opium, the crude gum from which the 

 alkaloids morphine and codeine are separated. The 

 white seeds are used under the name of "maw" seed 

 in bird-seed, and as a source of a pleasant bland 

 oil used for food purposes. The blue-seeded form is 

 prized for culinary purposes in making the "Mohn 

 Kuchen" of Germany and Austria, and in other 

 forms of bakery. The oil is used for burning, in 

 soap-making, and as a salad oil, either under its 

 own or under some other name. Experiments being 

 conducted by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture have in view the cultivation of the 

 poppy in the United States for the seed and for the 

 alkaloids. Opium-making is not encouraged. 



The commerce in products of the opium poppy 

 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1905, is as 

 follows : 



Crude opium . . . 456,563.79 lbs. $913,770 

 Prepared for medici- 

 nal purposes . . 723 

 Prepared for smok- 

 ing 144,997 lbs. 1,316,096 



Morphine and its 



salts 21,290 oz. 41,734 



Seed 38,399.25 bu. 76,779 



Poppy seed oil . . "3,491.45 gal. 1,892 



Total value $2,350,994 



Pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides, Pers.). Lahiatm. 

 (G. F. Klugh.) 



A low, annual, erect, branching herb, six to 

 eighteen inches high, with hairy, angled stem, and 

 hairy, oblong or ovate leaves bearing short petioles, 

 margins obscurely and bluntly serrate, glandular, 

 especially on underside ; flowers pale blue, crowded 

 into loose terminal spikes. A native herb found 

 wild in open woods along fences, usually in some- 

 what shaded places. 



It grows on a variety of soils but is best in a 

 garden soil where it makes an unusual growth. 

 The seed should be sown in late fall in three-foot 

 rows, at the rate of two pounds per acre. It should 

 be cultivated as a garden crop and cut when in 

 fiower. The dried herb may be sold to drug deal- 

 ers or the plants may be distilled, green or dry, 

 with live steam for their volatile oil. The yield of 

 dry herb per acre on good soil should be about two 

 tons. 



Peppermint {Mentha piperita, Linn.). Labiatce. 

 American mint. Fig. 689. 



A perennial herb, usually one and one - half to 

 three feet high, having a fibrous root system, many 

 running rootstocks by means of which it is rapidly 

 propagated, a thick growth of upright or ascend- 

 ing, branching, square stems, opposite leaves with 

 entire margin, acute apex, short petioles, punctate 

 with pellucid oil-glands ; flowers purplish in loose, 

 interrupted terminal spikes on the main stem and 

 branches formed by the whorled clusters of flowers 

 at the nodes. Characteristic when wild of wet 

 places. Introduced from Europe. 



Mentha piperita, var. officinalis. Sole., the so- 

 called "white mint," is a smaller plant, having 

 light green stems and foliage. It is grown chiefly 

 in England. 



Mentha piperita, var. vulgaris. Sole., the so-called 

 "black mint," is like the species in stature, with 

 large leaves, generally two to three inches long. 

 Entire plant dark in color, due to the presence of 

 a purplish pigment in lecves and stems. The va- 

 rieties are of European origin, and although both 

 have been introduced into the United States the 

 white mint has not been grown extensively. The 

 black mint is the most generally used. In America 

 it has proved hardy and very productive. 



Peppermint -culture is practiced in England, 

 Japan, Germany and some other countries on a 

 small scale, but extensively in the United States. 



