TREES AND SHRUBS FURNISHING MEDICINAL BARKS. 



43 



in the Pharmacopoeia from 1S30 to 1S90. During the Revolutionary war it 

 was much employed as a substitute for Peruvian bark or cinchona. 



The flowers and fruits have properties similar to those of the bark. 



Other species. — The bark of the swamp-dogwood (Cornus amomum Mill., 

 syn.. ('. sericea L. ), and the round-leaved dogwood ( ('. circinata L'Her.) are also 

 used, being sometimes substituted for the flowering dogwood. 



The swamp-dogwood, known also as red osier, silky cornel, rose-willow, blue- 

 berried cornel, kinnikinnick, female dogwood, red-brush, red-rod, red willow, 

 and squawbush, is a shrub native in low woods and along streams from Canada 

 to Florida, west to Texas and the Dakotas. 



The bark of this species, which was official from 1820 to 1880, is used like 

 the flowering dogwood bark, but is said to be less bitter and astringent. It 

 occurs in thin, quilled pieces, of a purplish brown color on the outside, with 

 fewer warty excrescences than the following species, but otherwise similar. The 

 price paid for this bark ranges from 4 to 6 cents a pound. 



The round-leaved dogwood or cornel, called also green osier, is an indigenous 

 shrub growing in shady places in Canada and the northeastern United States. 



This bark is also used like that of the flowering dogwood, and was official 

 from 1820 to 1880. It is said to possess less a stringency than the flowering 

 dogwood, but is more bitter. In commerce it is found in quilled or curved 

 pieces, of a brownish gray or greenish color outside, with corky warts or marked 

 With lengthwise lines, the inside 

 brown. This also brings from about 

 4 to 6 cents a pound. 



AIOOSEWOOD. 



Dirca palustris L. 



Other common names. — Dirca, Amer- 

 ican mezereon. leatherwood, leather- 

 bush, leverwood. leaverwood. rope- 

 bark, swampwood, wickopy, wickup. 



Habitat and range. — This native 

 shrub is found in wet woods and 

 thickets from New Brunswick to 

 Florida, west to Missouri and Minne- 

 sota, but is most common in the 

 Northern and Eastern States. 



Description of shrub. — The moose- 

 wood, a shrub belonging to the meze- 

 reon family (Daphnaceae), is from 2 

 to about 6 feet in height, with tough, 

 fibrous bark, and smooth, yellowish 

 green twigs. The leaves, which are 

 hairy when young, are oval with a 

 blunt apex, rounded or narrowed at 

 the base; they become smoother as 

 they mature, and are from 2 to 3 

 inches long. The flower clusters are 

 produced from April to May, from 

 brown-hairy, scaly buds and consist of 2 to 4 yellowish, funnel-shaped flowers 

 about one-half inch in length, with stamens and style protruding. (Fig. 39.) 

 The one-seeded fruit, or berry, is small, red, oval oblong, and poisonous. 

 139 



Fig. CO. — Moosewood | Dirca palustris I, leaves 

 and flowers. (From Edwards's Botanical 

 Register.) 



