11 



The principal uses for which these plants are employed in medicine 

 are briefly indicated, but none of the drugs mentioned should be taken 

 without the advice of a physician. 



With the exception of the figures "for dandelion and mustard, which 

 were obtained from the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of 

 Commerce and Labor, the imports are based on estimates furnished 

 by dealers, and the prices per pound, while serving to give an idea as to 

 what may be expected for 

 the drugs, will vary from 

 year to year, depending prin- 

 cipally upon supply and de- 

 mand. 



There are of course a large 

 number of plants used in 

 medicine that are not in- 

 cluded in this bulletin, which 

 is intended to cover only 

 such medicinal plants as may 

 be classed as weeds. 



c-L > 



Fk;. 1.— Burdock (Arctium lappa L.). Flowering plant. 



burdock:. 



Arctium lappa L. 



Other common names. — 

 Cock If button, cuckold dock, 

 beggar-' buttons, hurr-bur, 

 stick button, hardock, and 

 bardane. (Fig. 1.) 



Habitat and range. — Bur- 

 dock i- one of the most com- 

 mon weeds. It was intro- 

 duced from the Old World, 

 and is common and often very abundant in the Eastern and Central 

 States and in some scattered localities in the West, growing along 

 roadsides, in fields, pastures, and waste places. 



Description. — This is a coarse, unsightly biennial weed of the 

 aster family (Asteraceae), which produces during the first year of its 

 growth only a rosette of large, thin leaves (fig. 2) and a long, taper- 

 ing root having a diameter of from one-half to 1 inch. When full 

 grown it measures from 3 to T feet high. The round, fleshy stem is 

 branched, grooved, and hairy, with very large leaves, even in the 

 early stages of the growth of the plant, the lower leaves often meas- 

 uring 18 inches in length. The leaves are alternate, on long, solid, 

 deeply furrowed leafstalks; thin, roundish or oval, but usually heart- 

 shaped: with even, wavy, or toothed margins; smooth above, and 

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