68 RANUNCULACE^E. 



Cimicifuga racemosa Elliott (Actcea racemosa Linne, Macrotys ser- 

 pentaria Eaton). — Black Snakeroot, Black Cohosh, Bugbane, Squaw Boot. 



Description. — Calyx : sepals 4, in pairs, the inner pair smaller, white, 

 falling soon after the flower expands. Corolla : petals 4 to 6, small, stamen- 

 like, on claws, 2-horned at the apex. Stamens numerous, with slender white 

 filaments, hypogynous ; anthers adnate. Ovary solitary, flask shaped, 1- 

 celled, with about 10 sessile ovules in two rows, no style, stigma sessile, 

 forming a dry pod in fruit. 



An herbaceous perennial, with a short, thick, horizontal rootstock, from 

 which spring several simple stems, 4 to 8 feet high, bearing, about midway, 

 large, decompound leaves, and at the summit long, wand-like tracemes. 

 Leaves 2 to 3, the lower very large, the upper smaller, alternate, on strong, 

 round, partially clasping petioles, ternate, the primary divisions bi-pinnate ; 

 leaflets 1 to 3 inches long, cut-serrate, the terminal one largest, and more 

 or less 3-divided, thin, smooth, of a bright green color. Flowers very 

 numerous, about one-half inch in diameter, in simple or sparsely branched 

 racemes, 8 to 12 inches long ; pedicels about one-fourth inch long, bracts 

 subulate, rachis pubescent. The plant flowers early in July in the latitude 

 of New York, and continues in bloom during some weeks, ripening its 

 fruit in September. Ehizome 2 to 6 or more inches in length, one-half 

 to 1 inch thick, horizontal, somewhat flattened, irregularly corrugated and 

 knotted, simple or branched, thickly beset above with the scars and stumps 

 of fallen stems, and laterally and beneath with long, strong roots, one- 

 twelfth to one-eighth inch in diameter. Scattered irregularly among the 

 stumps of previous stems are a number of terminal buds prepared for the 

 next season's stems. The rhizome and roots of recent growth are of a 

 dark reddish-brown color, the older portion of the rhizome almost black ; 

 its odor is earthy and unpleasant, and its taste bitter and nauseous. 



Habitat. — Common everywhere from Canada to Georgia, growing in 

 rich open woodlands and upon hillsides, but avoiding very wet or rocky 

 places. When in bloom its long and graceful racemes form a conspicuous 

 feature of the localities where it grows. 



Parts Used. — The rhizome and rootlets — United States Pharmacopoeia. 

 Official name : Cimicifuga — Black Snakeroot. 



Constituents. — Numerous analyses have been made of this plant with- 

 out, however, yielding any very satisfactory result when considered from 

 a therapeutic standpoint. In addition to the common plant constituents 

 like starch, gum, tannic and gallic acids, mineral salts, etc., a small pro- 

 portion of volatile oil, having the peculiar odor of the fresh drug, was de- 

 tected by one analyst, besides two resins of different character. Another 

 analyst found no volatile oil, but isolated a crystalline substance, probably 

 a neutral principle, whose alcoholic solution has an intensely acrid taste. 

 That the fresh drug possesses some active volatile principle would seem 

 probable from the fact that it certainly deteriorates by keeping, and all 





