10  Impurities  in  Rhizome  of  Cypripedium.  {AMian*£  Im?*' 
said  to  be  also  found  in  rich  low  woodlands,  in  localities  in  which 
hydrastis  grows.  I  have  observed  this  latter  plant  to  be  pretty  frequent 
in  some  localities  in  the  mountains  of  the  northeastern  section  of 
Schuylkill  County,  Pa.,  but  did  not  find  any  cypripedium  there,  and 
it  seems  to  me  as  if  hydrastis  could  hardly  grow  in  swamps,  where 
the  other  plants  probably  thrive  best. 
However  this  may  be,  it  is  a  fact  that  occasionally,  at  least,  cypri- 
pedium is  mixed  with  a  considerable  proportion  of  hydrastis,  which 
may  escape  detection  on  superficial  examination,  particularly  if  Cypri- 
pedium parviflorum  has  been  principally  collected,  the  color  of  the 
rhizome  of  which  is  a  brownish  grey,  resembling  the  yellowish  grey  of 
the  corky  layer  on  hydrastis,  while  the  rhizome  of  Cypripedium  pubes- 
cens  has  a  blackish  brown  color  externally.  There  is,  however,  no  diffi- 
culty in  distinguishing  the  admixture  by  its  growth,  as  well  as  by  its 
structure  and  color  internally.  Cypripedium  parviflorum  has  the  cup- 
shaped  scar3  of  the  overground  stems  directly  upon  and  above  the  rhi- 
zome, which  is  hollowed  out  considerably  and  bent  zigzag  up  and 
down  ;  hydrastis  has  an  oblique  rhizome,  with  very  distinct  nodes,  and 
"bears  the  stem  scars  upon  short  but  distinct  branches,  of  which  only  the 
older  ones  have  concave  or  cup-shaped  terminations.  It  breaks 
with  a  short  fracture,  exhibiting  a  resinous  lustre  and  a  reddish 
to  brownish  yellow  color  in  which  the  eight  to  twelve  almost  linear 
light  yellow  ligneous  rays  are  distinctly  visible,  enclosing  an  orange 
yellow  pith.  The  rhizomes  of  both  species  of  cypripedium  break 
likewise  short,  parviflorum  usually  circular,  pubescens  often  nearly  two- 
edged  upon  the  fracture,  which  has  little  lustre,  is  white,  almost  mealy 
in  appearance,  and,  with  the  scattered  bundles  of  ligneous  tissue,  very 
indistinct.  The  rootlets  exhibit  a  similar  difference,  those  of  hydrastis 
being  bright  yellow,  with  a  central  ligneous  cord  of  a  quadrangular 
or  triangular  shape. 
In  another  specimen  of  ladies'  slipper  root,  some  senega  and  roots 
of  other  dicotyledonous  plants,  not  further  determined,  were  observed. 
It  appears  from  the  foregoing  that  the  pharmacist  must  exercise 
care  in  selecting  ladies'  slipper  root  for  medicinal  use,  lest  it  may  be 
contaminated  with  other  medicinal  and  non-medicinal  roots  to  such  an 
extent  that  garbling  may  be  too  tedious  and  expensive  an  operation. 
