32 
ON  THE  MEDICAL  PLANTS  OF  MICHIGAN. 
ble  still",  mentioned  under  the  head  of  Abies,  for  distilling  oil  of 
hemlock.  Large  quantities  of  the  berries  are  annually  offered 
for  sale  in  Detroit,  and  are  simply  eaten  as  a  relish.  The  unu- 
sual abundance  of  this  plant  has  occasioned  a  great  variety  of 
names  being  applied  to  it ;  one  gentleman  jokingly  stated,  that 
he  seriously  thought  of  publishing  a  small  quarto  volume  of  them. 
The  following  are  a  few  of  them,  as  employed  by  the  people  in 
the  Wintergreen  districts :  Partridge  Berry,  Deer  Berry,  Aro- 
matic Wintergreen,  Three-leaved  Wintergreen,  Teaberry,  Check- 
erberry,  Roxberry,  Wintergreen,  Common  Wintergreen,  Pigeon 
Berry,  Mountain  Tea,  etc. 
The  berries  and  leaves  are  both  used  for  their  pleasant  aro- 
matic, stimulating  powers,  but  the  essential  oil  is  the  product 
most  used,  and  by  which  only  is  it  known  in  medicine. 
Vlmus  fulva.    Slippery  Elm  or  Red  Elm. 
Ind.  The  U.  fulva  is  very  abundant  throughout  the  middle 
and  south  of  L.  P.  Hundreds  of  tons  of  the  valuable  inner 
bark  of  this  tree  are  collected  and  sent  East  every  year  from  our 
State.  The  following  is  a  statement  of  the  manner  of  curing, 
etc.,  this  bark,  as  related  by  a  person  who  makes  it  a  livelihood* 
The  Indian  name  in  Michigan  is  Sharscope  ;  time  to  commence 
collecting  is  15th  of  May,  continuing  about  six  weeks.  Best 
way  to  dry  the  bark  is  to  nail  up  the  large  pieces  in  a  room 
heated  by  a  stove,  or  else  in  the  direct  sunlight.  Must  be  kept 
from  rains  and  dew.  Requires  about  three  days  to  thoroughly 
dry  in  favorable  circumstances.  The  larger  trees  afford  the 
most  brittle  and  thick  white  bark,  which  if  white  brings  the  high- 
est price,  but  which  is  not  best  for  medicinal  use,  as  the  tough, 
stringy,  thin  bark  affords  the  best  and  most  mucilage.  About 
half  the  weight  of  the  green  bark  is  wasted  in  drying.  The 
Indians  are  usually  paid  one  cent  per  pound  for  collecting  the 
green  bark,  and  the  price  of  the  bark  when  brought  into  market 
varies  from  five  to  ten  dollars  per  cwt.  In  grinding  the  tough 
bark  it  yields  two-thirds  of  its  weight  of  superfine  flour,  and  the 
balance  is  coarse  ligneous  powder  suitable  for  cataplasms.  I 
believe  that  considerable  slippery  elm  bark  is  exported. 
Proceedings  Am.  Pharm.  Association. —1^8. 
