2 
ON CIMICIFUGA RACEMOSA. 
the summit leafy, near the middle with one to two radical 
leaves on long erect petioles; leaves triternate, petiolate; 
leaflets two to four inches long, and one to two inches wide, 
ovate, oblong, acute or acuminate, nearly smooth, unequal- 
ly incised, dentate; teeth acuminate, the terminal leaflet 
larger, often three-lobed ; racemes terminal and subtermi- 
nal, six to twelve inches long, many flowered ; pubescent; 
pedicils about one-third of an inch long, sometimes in pairs 
or branched, each with a short subulate bract at base; se- 
pals roundish, ovate, concave, greenish white, cadaceous; 
petals four, white, very small, oblong, pedicellate, bifurcate 
at apex ; stamens numerous, white, twice as long as the 
ovar) T ; fruit ovoid, somewhat compressed, dry and capsular, 
obliquely beaked by the short, thick, persistent style. 
Habitat. — Rich woodlands ; common throughout the 
United States. Flowers in June and July ; and the fruit 
ripens in September. 
Observations. — The white racemes of this plant when in 
flower are quite conspicuous in our woodlands. The plant 
itself has a heavy, disagreeable odor when bruised ; the 
root is somewhat mucilaginous and astringent, and is a very 
popular medicine both for man and beast; it is used in infu- 
sion or decoction, chiefly as a pectoral remedy for human 
patients. 
Sensible Properties. — The part of this plant used is the 
root, which should be dug up in July while the plant is in 
flower, washed clean, and dried in the shade. It is packed 
usually in small square bundles, and is brought into market 
chiefly by the Shaker Society of New Lebanon. It is com- 
posed of a head or caudex from one-third of an inch to one 
inch in thickness, two or three inches long; rough and knotty, 
caused by the remains of the stem of successive years. Ex- 
ternally it is of a dark brown, approaching to black ; inter- 
nally whitish, breaking with a short fracture. Many radical 
fibres are given off in all directions ; the fibres are lighter co« 
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