AMERICAN JOURNAL 
OF 
PHARMACY. 
APRIL., 1843. 
ART. I.— ON C1MICIFUGA RACEMOSA. 
By Joshua S. Jones. 
(~ An Inaugural Essay. J 
Cimicifuga Racemosa or Actaea Racemosa, (from the 
Greek afcte, the elder bush, from a supposed resemblance 
in the foliage,) is commonly called Black Snake Root, or 
Cohosh. The plant belongs to the class and order Polyan- 
dria,Monogynia. 
Generic Characters. — Calyx of four caducous sepals ; 
petals four to eight or ten, sometimes wanting, caducous ; 
carpels many seeded, dry and dehiscent or berry-like, and 
not opening; herbaceous; leaves decompound ; flowers, in 
terminal racemes. 
Natural order, Ranunculacese. 
Specific Characters. — Leaves ternately decompound ; 
leaflets ovate, oblong; racemes compound; virgate pedicils 
slender; petals minute; carpels dry, opening with two 
valves. 
Description. — Root perennial, large, branching; stem 
four to six feet high, slender, smooth, naked, and towards 
vol. ix. — no. i. 1 * 
