PLANTS FURNISHING MEDICINAL LEAVES AND HERBS. 11 
in April. They lose about three-fourths-of their weight in drying. The price at 
present paid for them is about 4 to 5 cents a pound. 
Liverleaf is employed for its tonic properties and is said to be useful in affections 
of the liver. 
CELANDINE., 
Chelidonium majus L. 
Other common names.—Chelidonium, garden celandine, greater celandine, tetter- 
wort, killwart, wart flower, wartweed, wartwort, felonwort, cockfoot. devil’s-milk, 
Jacob’s ladder, swallow- 
wort, wretweed. 
Habitat and range.—Cel- 
andine, naturalized from 
Europe, is found in rich 
damp soil along fences and 
roadsides near towns from 
Maine to Ontario andsouth- 
ward. It is common from 
southern Maine to Penn- 
sylvania. 
Description.—This plant, 
which has rather weak, 
brittle stems arising from 
a reddish-brown, branch- 
ing root, is a biennial be- 
Jonging to the poppy fam- 
ily (Papaveracee) and, 
like other members of this 
family, contains an acrid 
juice, which in this species 
is colored yellow. It is 
an erect, branched, spar- 
ingly hairy herb, from 
about 1 to 2 feet in height | 
with thin leaves 4 to 8 
inches in length. The 
leaves, which are lyre 
shaped in outline, are ; 
deeply and variously cleft, Fic. 3.—Celandine (Chelidonium majus), leaves, flowers, and seed 
the lobes thus formed be- eS 
ing oval, blunt, and wavy or round toothed, or rather deeply cut. They have a 
grayish-green appearance, especially on the lower surface. The small, 4-petaled, 
sulphur-yellow flowers of the celandine are produced from about April to Septem- 
ber, followed by smooth, long, pod-shaped capsules crowned with the persistent style 
and stigma and containing numerous seeds. (Fig. 3.) 
Collection, prices, and uses.—The entire plant, which was official in the United States 
Pharmacopceia for 1890, is used. It should be collected when the herb is in flower. 
At present it brings about 6 or 8 cents a pound. 
The fresh plant has an unpleasant, acrid odor when bruised, but in the dried state 
it is odorless. It has a persistent acrid and somewhat salty taste. 
Celandine is an old remedy. It has cathartic and diuretic properties, promotes 
perspiration, and has been used as an expectorant. The juice has been employed 
externally for warts, corns, and some forms of skin diseases. 
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