28 AMERICAN MEDICINAL BARKS. 



protuberances or numerous lenticels, and again it is furrowed and scaly, or 

 even ragged. The inside is pale brown or yellowish, usually with long, straight 

 lines. Sometimes fragments of the whitish wood are found adhering to the in- 

 ner surface, and such bark should be discarded. Witch-hazel bark breaks with 

 a weak fracture. There is a scarcely perceptible odor, and the taste is astrin- 

 gent and somewhat bitter. 



The tough, flexible twigs do not exceed one-quarter of an inch in diameter, are 

 branching, yellowish brown to a very dark or purplish brown, faintly wrinkled 

 lengthwise, and with small, round, light-colored lenticels. There is a small cen- 

 tral pith, and the bark which surrounds the greenish white wood occupies about 

 one-fifth of the radius. If the twigs are more than a quarter of an inch in 

 thickness, there will be too large a percentage of wood, which is inert. 



Collection, prices, and uses. — The bark and twigs are the parts designated as 

 official in the United States Pharmacopoeia. In the United States Pharmaco- 

 poeia, 1S90, the leaves only were official. The witch-hazel industry is carried 

 on to a considerable extent in portions of the New England States, the farmers 

 bringing in to the distilleries cartloads of the brush. Witch-hazel bark brings 

 about 1 to 4 cents a pound. 



Witch-hazel is generally used for relieving inflammation of various kinds, and 

 its soothing properties were known to the American Indians. The name " witch- 

 hazel " is derived from the fact that formerly the forked branches were used as 

 " divining rods," it having been the belief that these branches were endowed 

 with a miraculous power of locating treasures, sources of water for wells, etc. 



The leaves are still official in the United States Pharmacopoeia. 



BLACKBERRY. 



(1) Rubus rillosus Ait. ; (2) Rubus nigrobaccus Bailey; (3) Rubus cuneifolius 



Pursh. 



Pliarmacopaeial name. — Rubus. 



Synonym. — (2) Rubus villosus A. Gray, not Ait. 



Common names. — (1) American blackberry, bramble high-bush blackberry, 

 one-flowered dewberry, fingerberry ; (2) high-bush blackberry ; (3) sand-black- 

 berry, knee-high blackberry. 



Habitat and range. — (1) The American blackberry is found in sandy or dry 

 soil near the coast from Maine to South Carolina; (2) the high-bush blackberry 

 occurs in dry fields and along roadsides from the New England States to Flor- 

 ida, west to Arkansas; and (3) the sand-blackberry frequents sandy soil from 

 Connecticut to Florida, west to Missouri and Louisiana. 



Descriptions of plants. — The blackberries are so well known that it is unneces- 

 sary to describe them. They are very similar to each other, differing principally 

 in their habit of growth, the American blackberry being a trailing plant with 

 slender branches, whereas the high-bush blackberry and sand-blackberry are 

 more shrubby plants. 



Other species. — Besides the blackberries just mentioned, and which are offi- 

 cial in the United States Pharmacopoeia, Eighth Revision, there are two others 

 which were official in the United States Pharmacopoeia for 1890, and which are 

 still collected. These are the low-running blackberry {Rubus procumbens Muhl., 

 syn., R. canadensis T. & G., not L.), and the low-bush blackberry or southern 

 dewberry (Rubus trivialis Michx.), both being generally trailing plants. All 

 are members of the rose family (Rosaceae). 



Description of bark. — The three species of blackberries mentioned as official 

 have long, horizontal rootstocks covered with a thick bark, which is the part 

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