MEDICINAL PLANTS 



MEDICINAL PLANTS 



465 



this condition or after the removal of the stems. 

 The seeds may also be removed and sold separately. 

 Cayenne type. A variety of types of small pep- 

 pers from various geographical and botanical 

 sources, characterized by a high degree of pun- 

 gency, come on the market as cayenne pepper. 

 The culture method depends on the geographic 



Fig. 691. Branch of Japan chilli pepper, showing the clustered 

 arrangement of the fruit. (Yearbook. 1905.) 



source of the sorts used ; some are from tropical 

 and subtropical situations, others from temperate 

 regions. Some forms resembling the Japanese chil- 

 lies (Pig. 691) and Japanese capsicum of the 

 market are grown on a small commercial scale in 

 the southern and southeastern states. The methods 

 of propagation and cultivation here are similar to 

 those used in growing paprika peppers. These 

 peppers are often perennials in a warm climate and 

 produce during a long season, hence localities 

 which offer these conditions are preferable. The 

 so-called "bird peppers" belong to the general class 

 of fruits used in producing the "cayenne" pepper 

 of the market. 



Sassafras (Sassafras officinale, Nees.). Lauracece. 

 Fig. 2256, Cyclopedia of American Horticul- 

 ture. 



A tree of moderate size (fifty to ninety feet) ; 

 bark rather finely checked longitudinally and 

 ridged, dark grayish brown ; twigs greenish yel- 

 low ; leaves with moderately long petioles, smooth 

 when mature, ovate in form, entire to three-cleft, 

 with smooth margin ; flowers greenish yellow, in 

 clusters, appearing with the leaves ; buds and twigs 

 mucilaginous ; bark spicy and aromatic, especially 

 the bark of the root. The bark and wood of the 

 root are distilled for the oil of sassafras used in 

 perfuming soaps and for flavoring purposes. The 

 bark of the root and the pith are used in medicine. 

 The distillation has been practiced in the mountains 

 of eastern United States. 



The bark and wood of the root, after being 

 chopped up and split, are distilled by steam in an 

 apparatus not differing in principle from the usual 

 sorts of apparatus used for distilling volatile oils. 

 [See general introduction.] Sassafras is a well 

 known common tree, interesting in its habit and 

 very marked characteristics of bark, branding and 

 foliage. It is partial to sandy lands. 



B30 



Seneca snakeioot (Polygala Senega, Linn.). Poly- 

 galacex. (S. C. Hood.) 



A native herb with a rather thick, perennial, 

 branching, light-colored root supporting a rather 

 extensive crown, from which a large number of 

 erect, unbranched stems are given off, bearing 

 numerous, alternate, oblong or lanceolate-ovate, 

 very short-petioled leaves. The stem terminates in 

 a close spike of small white flowers, in general ap- 

 pearance suggesting the papilionaceous type seen 

 in the legumes. The plant is found in rocky woods 

 of New England, to the plains of Manitoba, and 

 northward and southward. It is much in demand 

 for medicinal purposes both for domestic and for- 

 eign use. In view of its commercial value and 

 threatened scarcity, its cultivation is receiving 

 attention from the United States Department of 

 Agriculture and other experimenters. 



Since the commercial supply of Seneca snake- 

 root has been derived wholly from wild root, the 

 plant cannot as yet be called an agricultural crop. 

 Its cultivation, although not difficult, has so far 

 been confined to certain experimental gardens. The 

 soil should be light and well drained, and should be 

 made rich with leaf-mold well worked in ; stable 

 manure is not advisable. The plant is propagated 

 from seed, which must be gathered in the early 

 summer as soon as ripe. Care must be taken not 

 to let the seeds dry. They should be mixed with 

 moist sand, placed in earthen pots and buried two 

 to three feet deep in the ground. They should be 

 dug up the following spring and planted in the 

 field in drills eighteen inches apart, and the seed 

 covered very lightly. Seedlings should appear in 

 two to three weeks. Cultivation consists simply 

 in keeping clean of weeds. The first year the 

 plants are not more than two to three inches high 

 and are not matured for gathering for perhaps fiw. 

 years. Plants will begin to seed when three years 

 old. No winter covering is needed if the soil is well 

 drained. Plants may be harvested in about four or 

 five years from the seed. 



The native range of this plant is chiefly the 

 northern half of the United States as far west as 

 the Rocky mountains and northward throughout 

 Canada. 



Tansy (Tanaeetum vulgare, Linn.). Compositce. 

 (G. P. Klugh.) Figs. 2463, 2464, Cyclopedia of 

 American Horticulture. 



A common perennial-rooted herb of waste places, 

 kitchen-gardens and waysides, sending up from a 

 strong crown a cliimp of upright stems, one to 

 three feet high, bearing smooth, da,rk green, pin- 

 nately compound leaves made up of sharply toothed 

 leaflets, the blade of the leaf running down from 

 the petioles; yellow flowers, reaching a diameter 

 of one-half inch, occur in terminal, branched, flat- 

 topped clusters. It is a rank-smelling herb, used 

 in a dry condition in medicine. It contains a volatile 

 oil. 



It likes a rather heavy soil, doing best on a clay 

 loam, but after having become established on a 

 heavy clay it makes a good growth. It may be 

 propagated either from seeds or by dividing the 



