326  Some  North  American  Medicinal  Plants \km'^x;^xm' 
The  plant  is  described  by  Coulter  (Rocky  Mountain  Botany,  p. 
217)  as  follows:  Robust,  a  foot  or  two  high  ;  hairs  long  and  soft 
setose,  whitish  or  yellowish  ;  leaves  lanceolate  or  spatulate-lanceolate, 
3  to  6  inches  long;  panicle  irregidar  or  branching ;  involucre  some- 
what furfuraceous  and  glandular,  also  sparsely  or  copiously  beset 
with  long  bristly  hairs  ;  akenes  columnar  and  short ;  pappus  whitish 
— from  Montana  to  Oregon  and  south  to  the  Wahsatch. 
It  may  not  be  without  interest  to  refer  in  this  connection  to  a 
species  introduced  from  Europe,  Hieracium  praealtum,  Villars, 
which  according  to  Lester  F.  Ward  {ibid.,  1889,  p.  10-17),  has 
become  such  a  pest  in  Jefferson  county,  New  York,  that  it  is  now 
known  there  as  devil-weed  and  king-devil. 
The  common  name  fever-root,  by  which  Triosteum  perfoliatum, 
Linne,  is  known  in  some  localities,  indicates  the  use  which  is  said  to 
have  been  made  of  it  by  the  Cherokee  Indians.  It  is  a  mild  cathar- 
tic and  in  the  fresh  state  possesses  emetic  properties.  The  drug 
appears  to  enjoy  considerable  popular  reputation  in  various  com- 
plaints, as  may  be  judged  from  information  received  by  me  from 
different  sections  of  the  country.  Lately  I  have  learned  that  near 
Dallas,  Georgia,  it  is  in  local  repute  as  a  remedy  in  rheumatic  affec- 
tions, and  that  it  is  cultivated  there  by  a  farmer  and  prescribed  in  rheu- 
matism with  seeming  success.  The  plant  grows  mostly  in  woodlands, 
from  Canada  to  Iowa  and  southward  to  Alabama.  It  deserves  a 
thorough  chemical  investigation.  It  has  been  variously  known  as  Dr. 
Tinker's  weed,  wild  ipecac,  horse-gentian,,  and  wild  coffee,  the  latter 
name  having  reference  to  the  use  which  has  formerly  been  made  of 
the  hard  nutlets,  three  of  which  are  contained  in  the  rather  dry 
drupaceous  fruit. 
Ceanothus  americanus,  Linne,  is  perhaps  best  known  in  the  Atlantic 
States  as  New  Jersey  tea  in  reference  to  the  use  sometimes  made  of  the 
leaves  as  a  substitute  for  tea.  Medical  works  also  speak  of  the 
use  of  root  by  the  Cherokees  in  gonorrhoea,  cancer  and  syphilis. 
Until  recently  I  had  not  learned  that  it  was  popularly  employed 
for  one  of  these  complaints ;  some  time  ago  I  received  information 
from  the  central  part  of  Texas  that  it  is  used  there  in  a  crude  man- 
ner in  gonorrhoea  with  much  success  and  is  designated  as  clap-root. 
The  drug  is  astringent,  and  from  a  recent  investigation  made  by 
F.  C.  Gerlach  appears  also  to  contain  an  alkaloid. 
Helianthemum  canadense,  Michaux,  is  the  only  plant  of  the 
