SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 



feet high, bearing pinnate leaves and showy racemes 

 of yellow flowers in the upper leaf-axils, followed 

 in autumn by long, curved pods or legumes, and 

 occurs in damp ground and swamps from the Missis-' 

 sippi Valley to the Atlantic ; and from the Canadian 

 border to the Gulf. 



Another plant which, although indigenous, I be- 

 lieve, only to America, is so near akin to a popular 

 tonic herb of Europe that its use may have first been 

 suggested by the resemblance, is Boneset {Eupa- 

 torium perfoliatum, L.). This is a stout, hairy per- 

 ennial of the Composite tribe, with rather narrow, 

 pointed, wrinkled leaves opposite in pairs upon the 

 stem and united around it at the base, so as to make 

 each pair present the appearance of one long leaf 

 skewered through the middle; whence another com- 

 mon name for the plant, Thoroughwort. The large 

 clusters of white flower-heads are rayless. The 

 leaves and flowering tops are dried, and a bitter tea 

 is made of them. Taken cold, this is tonic and 

 stimulating in small doses and laxative in large ones. 

 The hot infusion is an old-time remedy for a fresh 

 cold or sore throat, and may be taken during the 

 cold stage of malarial fever. The plant is common 

 in low meadows and damp grounds throughout the 

 eastern United States and Canada. 



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