44 
DESCRIPTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Hieracium venosum, L. Rattlesnake Weed. Smooth and 
slender perennial, leafs all radical or near the base, ob- 
ovate or oblong, nearly entire, scarcely petioled, thin and 
pale, purplish and glaucous underneath, often hairy along 
the midrib, marked above with purple veins. Stem or scape 
1-2° high, naked, or with a single leaf, smooth and slender, 
forking above into a spreading, loose corymb. Heads 12- 
many flowered. Involucre more or less imbricated. Achenes 
short, oblong or columnar, striate, not beaked ; pappus a 
single row of tawny and fragile capillary rough bristles. 
Dry woods. July-September. Collect in flower. 
Prenanthes serpentaria, Pursh. Rattlesnake-Root. Perennial 
herb with upright leafy stem 2° high, nearly smooth ; stem 
corymbose-panicled at the summit; leaves mostly deltoid,, 
roughish ; the lower variously 3-7 lobed, on margined pe- 
tioles ; the upper oblong-lanceolate, mostly undivided, nearly 
sessile ; involucre (greenish, rarely purplish, sometimes 
highly bristly) of about 8 scales, 8-12 flowered, flowers pur- 
plish, greenish-white or cream color. Achenes short, linear 
oblong, striate or grooved, not contracted at the apex. 
Pappus of copious straw-color or brownish and rough, capil- 
lary bristles. Western part of the State, Dickson county. 
Abundant. The herb. 
Prenanthes altissima, Gall of the Earth. Smooth, stem tall 
and slender, 3-7° high ; the heads in small axillary and 
terminal loose clusters, forming a long and wand-like leafy 
pannicle ; leaves membranaceous, all petioled, ovate, heart- 
shaped or triangular, and merely toothed and cleft, with 
naked or winged petioles or frequently 3-5 parted, with the 
divisions entire or again cleft; involucre slender, greenish, 
of 5 scales 3-6 flowered. FI. July-September. A tradi- 
tional belief, handed down from the Indians, attributes mar- 
velous power to this and the foregoing in counteracting the 
poison of rattlesnake bites. The bruised leaves are laid on 
the swollen parts, and a decoction is taken internally. 
Prenanthes alba, L. White Lettuce. Rattlesnake-Root. 
