36 AMERICAN MEDICINAL LEAVES AND HERBS. 
BONESET. 
Eupatorium perfoliatum L. 
Pharmacopeial name.—Eupatorium. 
Synonym.—Eupatorium connatum Michx. 
Other common names.—Thoroughwort, thorough-stem, thoroughwax, wood boneset, 
teasel, agueweed, feverwort, sweating plant, crosswort, vegetable antimony, Indian 
sage, wild sage, tearal, wild 
isaac. 
Habitat and range.— 
Boneset is a common weed 
in low, wet ground, along 
streams, and on the edges 
of swamps and in thickets 
from Canada to Florida and 
west to Texas and Ne- 
braska. 
Description.—This plant 
is easily recognized by the 
peculiar arrangement of the 
leaves, which are opposite 
to each other, but joined 
together at the base, which 
makes it appear as though 
they were one, with the 
stem passing through the 
center. It is a perennial 
plant belonging to the aster 
family (Asteraceze), and is 
erect, growing rather tall, 
from 1 to 5 feet in height. 
The stout stems are rough 
hairy,and the leaves, united 
at the base, are rough, very 
prominently veined, wrin- 
kled, dark green above, 
lighter green and downy beneath, lance shaped, tapering to a point, and with bluntly 
toothed margins. The crowded, flat-topped clusters of flowers are produced from 
about July to September and consist of numerous white tubular flowers united in 
dense heads. (Fig. 28.) . 
Collection, prices, and uses.—The leaves and flowering tops, official in the United 
States Pharmacopeeia, are collected when the plants are in flower, stripped from the 
stalk, and carefully dried. They lose considerable of their weight in drying. The 
price per pound for boneset is about 2 cents. 
Boneset leaves and tops have a bitter, astringent taste and a slightly aromatic odor. 
They form an old and popular remedy in the treatment of fever and ague, as implied 
by some of the common names given to the plant. Boneset is also employed in 
colds, dyspepsia, jaundice, and as a tonic. In large doses it acts as an emetic and 
cathartic. 
Zi1'9 
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Fic. 28.—Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), leaves and flowers. 
