Ara'jan"'i89:5anu-}  Indigenous  Plants  of  Medical  Interest.  43 
Such  knowledge  is  easily  obtained,  and  is  not  only  profitable,  but  pleasur- 
able in  its  attainment.  If  used  properly,  it  is  also  the  best  advertisement  you 
can  make  for  your  store,  leading  to  the  confidence  of  the  public.  As  an  illus- 
tration of  its  obversion,  that  was  the  losing  point  in  "  our  first  rush  of  cus- 
tomers," which,  of  course,  was  unexpected,  we  gave  a  man  a  quantity  of  some- 
thing for  "sage,"  and  left  him  go  rejoicing  on  his  errand  of  relief.  In  our 
cooler  moments  we  found  that  that  something  was  not  sage  whatever,  and 
never  would  be,  so  we  composed  ourself,  as  well  as  we  could  under  the  circum- 
stances, to  attend  a  funeral  at  short  notice.  But  even  in  this  we  were  to  be 
mistaken  ;  for  we  were  new  to  the  vicinity,  positively  unacquainted,  and  on 
looking  at  that  singular  sage  again,  found  it  to  be  only  sweet  marjoram,  pre- 
pared for  a  manufacturer  of  sausages.  Needless  to  add  our  funeral  brow  was 
laid  aside  then  and  there.  Hence,  we  reiterate  the  importance  of  intimate 
knowledge  of  vegetable  friends  that  you  may  determine  the  difference  between 
white  hellebore  and  black  hellebore  as  clearly  as  between  Edward  Charles 
Jones  and  Charles  Jones  Edwards. 
Well,  there  is  nothing  like  starting  at  the  beginning  of  things  ;  hence, 
Christopher  Columbus,  who  has  the  honor  of  discovering  this  New  World, 
must  have  been  the  first  white  man  to  see  an  Indian  turnip.  History  says 
the  Aborigines  met  him  at  the  shore.  The  greeting,  therefore,  was  a  cordial 
one,  as  any  school-boy  of  this  period  can  vouch  for  the  very  warm  reception 
an  Indian  turnip  gives  even  to  this  day,  some  400  years  later. 
But  to  return  to  our  theme,  several  medicinal  plants  are  included  in  our 
flora  now,  because  they  have  become  widely  distributed,  and  also  form  con- 
siderable lines  of  trade  ;  for  example,  the  mints,  spearmint  and  peppermint. 
But  we  had  better  begin  according  to  an  accepted  Manual  of  Botany,  Dr. 
Gray's  Pocket  Edition. 
We  find  under  the  order  Ranunculaceae,  a  veritable  Virgin's  Bower,  Clema- 
tis virginiana,  which  is  a  beautiful  climber  in  most  woodlands  and  thickets, 
an  attractive  plant  in  flower  and  in  fruit,  the  latter  making  it  quite  conspicuous 
in  early  summer.  Although  very  common  it  receives  little  attention  from 
practitioners  of  any  school.  The  same  can  be  said  of  C.  verticillatis  and 
C.  Viorna,  both  found  in  this  section. 
L/iverleaf,  liverwort  or  kidneywort,  Anemone  Hepatica,  is  a  pretty  peren- 
nial plant  found  in  nearly  all  upland  woods  or  those  rather  dry,  and  is  widely 
distributed  over  the  Eastern  United  States.  It  is  one  of  the  earliest  spring 
flowers  we  have,  sends  up  numerous  scapes,  each  bearing  one  blue  flower 
very  shortly  after  snows  have  disappeared,  and  were  it  not  for  the  fact  of 
the  leaves  being  in  poor  condition  from  remaining  over  the  winter,  it  would 
really  be  a  growing  bouquet  of  rare  beauty.  But  for  some  reason  Nature  has 
thought  fit  to  furnish  it  otherwise  and  the  new  leaves  do  not  show  themselves 
properly  for  some  time  after  blooming.  It  has  always  seemed  that  this  plant 
was  destined  for  good  in  this  world,  principally  on  account  of  its  numerous 
rootlets,  which  are  large  for  the  size  of  the  plant,  and  very  uniform  in  shape 
and  size;  they  seem  suggestive  of  concealed  merit.  But  as  far  as  we  are  able 
to  ascertain,  nothing  has  been  tried  but  the  leaves  and  they  were  no  doubt 
used  for  liver  or  kidney  diseases  from  the  fancied  resemblance  of  the  leaves  to 
the  affected  portion.  At  present  the  plant  receives  encouragement  from  no 
school,  and  its  consumption  is  under  a  dignified  name  of  special  manufacture. 
