UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION NO. 77 



Washington, D. C. July, 1930 



AMERICAN MEDICINAL PLANTS OF COM- 

 MERCIAL IMPORTANCE' 



By A. F. Sievers, Senior Biochemist, Office of Drug and Related Plants, Bureau 



of Plant Industry 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 1 



Collection and preparation of material 2 



Page 

 Description of, and information concerning, the 



plants 4 



Index 68 



INTRODUCTION 



THE COLLECTION of medicinal plants for the crude-drug 

 market has long afforded a gainful occupation for many people in 

 the rural sections of this country. From the days of the early settlers 

 numerous native plants have been credited with medicinal properties, 

 which have led to their use as home remedies and in the manufacture 

 of proprietary medicines, although some of the more important ones 

 enter widely into official pharmaceutical products. Other plants of 

 similar interest have been introduced from foreign countries and have 

 become established and in some cases widely distributed. Among 

 the plants that furnish products for the crude-drug trade are common 

 weeds, popular wild flowers, and important forest trees. Many of 

 these possess no pronounced medicinal properties, but so long as there 

 is a market demand for them their collection continues to be of 

 interest. For many of these plants there is little commercial demand, 

 but a large number are consumed in substantial quantities, ranging 

 from a few tons to 50 tons or more annually. . 



With the agricultural development of the country the natural 

 supply of some of these medicinal plants has been reduced. The 

 activity of collectors has further depleted the supply, especially of those 

 plants that have a relatively high market value and therefore furnish 



1 This publication is largely compiled from and supersedes the following publications on medicinal 

 plants by the late Alice Henkel, published from 1904 to 1913: Farmers' Bulletin No. 188, Weeds Used in 

 Medicine; Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletins No. 107, American Root Drugs; No. 139, American Medi- 

 cinal Barks; and No. 219, American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs; Department Bulletin No. 26, American 

 Medicinal Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds. Some of the plants included in these various publications have been 

 eliminated because they appear to be of minor importance at the present time, while 20 others have been 

 added. For the most part the illustrations used are the same as those given in Miss Henkel's bulletins. 

 Others, not included in those publications, have been made from herbarium specimens lent by the U. S. 

 National Herbarium and from negatives furnished by various offices of the Bureau of Plant Industry. 

 Frederick V. Coville, Sidney F. Blake, and O. M. Freeman, of the Office of Botany of this bureau, have 

 cooperated in the preparation of this bulletin by a critical reading of the manuscript with special reference 

 to the botanical and principal common names, the habitat and range of the plants, and their descriptions. 



