36 



AMERICAN MEDICINAL BARKS. 



FALSE BITTERSWEET. 



Celastrus scandens L. 



Other common names. — Climbing bittersweet, shrubby bittersweet, fevertwig, 

 fever-twitch, staff-tree, climbing staff-tree, staff-vine, waxwork, Roxbury wax- 

 work, yellowroot, climbing orange-root, Jacob's-ladder. 



Habitat and range. — This woody vine or climbing shrub is found in woods 

 and thickets, growing in rich damp soil, from Ontario to Manitoba, south to 

 North Carolina and New Mexico. 



Description of plant. — False bittersweet is a most attractive plant in the fall, 

 with its brilliant orange-yellow and scarlet seed capsules adding a vivid dash 



of color to the fall and winter land- 

 scape, remaining on the vine well into 

 the cold season. 



It is an indigenous woody and 

 shrubby climber, growing over adja- 

 cent trees or near-by fences. The 

 leaves are thin and smooth, oval, 2 to 

 4 inches long, and about half as wide, 

 pointed at the apex, and with a pointed 

 or rounded base, the margins furnished 

 with fine, rounded teeth. The small, 

 greenish white or greenish yellow 

 flowers are produced in June, in short 

 terminal clusters, and the fruit is in 

 the form of a roundish, 3-celled, 

 orange-colored capsule, which opens in 

 autumn, disclosing the scarlet-covered 

 seed, making a very showy appear- 

 ance. This covering is known as an 

 "aril." (Fig. 31.) 



False bittersweet and true bitter- 

 sweet, on account of the similarity of 

 the common names, are often confused, 

 but the plants do not resemble each other at all, belonging to entirely different 

 families and possessing different medicinal properties. False bittersweet be- 

 longs to the staff -tree family (Celastracea 3 ), while the true bittersweet is a 

 member of the nightshade family ( Solanacere ) . 



Description of bark. — The bark of both plant and root is employed, but espe- 

 cially that of the root. The latter is rather smooth, in small quilled pieces, 

 the outer surface covered with a thin, papery layer of dark orange-brown and 

 the inner surface white and finely grooved. The bark from the stem has a 

 brown-gray color. There is practically no odor, and the taste is bitter, becom- 

 ing sweet, then somewhat acrid and rather sickening. 



Prices and uses. — The price paid to collectors varies from 5 to 10 cents a 

 pound. 



The bark of false bittersweet possesses alterative, emetic, diaphoretic, and 

 diuretic properties, and some narcotic action is also attributed to it. 

 139 



Fig. 31. — False bittersweet (Celastrus scan- 

 dens), leaves, flowers, and fruits. 



