196  Pharmacognostical  Notes.  {k"mT<Jm™' 
by  the  aborigines,  and  to  be  still  used  to  a  considerable  extent  near 
the  North  Carolina  coast. 
Dr.  Porcher*  states  that  the  Creeks  employed  it,  according  to  Elli- 
ott, at  the  opening  of  their  councils  sending  to  the  sea  coast  for  a 
supply  ;  they  considered  it  one  of  their  most  powerful  diuretics.  The 
inhabitants  of  North  Carolina  purify  brackish  water  by  boiling  in  it 
cassena  leaves.  In  North  and  South  Carolina  much  use  is  made  of 
the  leaves  for  making  tea.  The  leaves  act  as  a  powerful  diuretic,  and 
are  employed  in  calculous,  nephritic  diseases,  diabetes,  gout  and  small- 
pox. The  so-called  black  drink  of  the  Indians,  which  in  its  effects 
resembled  opium,  was  believed  by  some  to  have  been  made  from  these 
leaves,  but  by  other  writers  is  referred  to  various  unknown  roots. 
In  a  letter  written  three  years  ago,  Mr.  Chns.  K.  Gallagher,  of 
Washington,  N.  C,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  some  of  the  leaves, 
states  that  they  are  used  extensively  along  the  eastern  coast  of  that 
State,  and  that  they  are  cured  for  use  by  heating  in  ovens  with  heated 
stones,  and  constantly  stirring  during  the  process,  as  practiced  by  the 
Indians. 
The  cassena  is  an  evergreen  shrub,  attaining  a  height  of  10  to  15 
feet ;  the  leaves  are  alternate,  coriaceous,  short  petiolate,  about  an 
inch  long,  varying  in  shape  from  roundish  oval  to  lanceovate,  obtuse 
and  slightly  emarginate,  crenate  with  a  minute  spine  inserted  near  the 
base  of  each  crenature,  smooth  on  both  sides  and  shining  above ;  their 
taste  is  mildly  astringent  and  tea-like,  scarcely  bitterish. 
It  would  be  very  interesting  to  ascertain  whether  cassena  contains 
caffeina,  like  the  so-called  Paraguay  tea,  which  is  obtained  from  Ilex 
Paraguay ensis,  Lamb.f 
Artemisia  Ludoviciana,  Nuttall,  Oompositce,  wag  sent  to  me,  two 
years  ago,  from  Kansas,  where  a  package  of  it  had  been  received  by 
an  army  officer  from  Colorado,  with  the  statement  that  it  would 
"  make  the  hair  growr,"  if  applied  in  the  state  of  infusion.  The  plant 
is  indigenous  to  North  America,  and  grows  from  the  shores  of  Lakes 
Huron  and  Michigan  south-westward  to  Missouri  and  westward  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  from  2  to  4  feet  high,  branched ;  leaves  lanceo- 
late, sessile  and  entire  above,  the  lower  variously  toothed,  canescent 
on  both  sides,  with  a  dense,  closely  adpresspd  wool ;  heads  small, 
ovoid,  nearly  sessile,  crowded  in  dense,  somewhat  leafy  panicles ; 
*Loc.  cit.,  p.  431. 
f  See  the  paper  on  Yaupon,  by  Mr.  Henry  M.  Smith,  in  this  number. 
