American Medicinal Barks

Part 1

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY—BULLETIN NO. 139. B. T. GALLOWAY, Chief of Bureau.

AMERICAN MEDICINAL BARKS.

ALICE HENKEL, ASSISTANT, DRUG-PLANT INVESTIGATIONS.

ISSUED JUNE 5, 1909.

WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1909.

BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY.

Chief of Bureau, BEVERLY T. GALLOWAY. Assistant Chief of Bureau, ALBERT F. WOODS. Editor, J. E. ROCKWELL. Chief Clerk, JAMES E. JONES.

DRUG-PLANT INVESTIGATIONS.

SCIENTIFIC STAFF.

R. H. True, Physiologist in Charge.

W. W. Stockberger, Frank Rabak, Arthur F. Sievers, Experts. Alice Henkel, Assistant. G. Fred Klugh, T. B. Young, S. C. Hood, Scientific Assistants.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF,

Washington, D. C., September 1, 1908.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith and to recommend for publication as Bulletin No. 139 of the series of this Bureau the accompanying manuscript, entitled “American Medicinal Barks.” This paper was prepared by Miss Alice Henkel, Assistant in Drug-Plant Investigations, and has been submitted by the Physiologist in Charge with a view to its publication.

Thirty-five drugs are fully described, and under many of the descriptions briefer information concerning closely related species is included. All of the “official” barks obtained from trees and shrubs occurring in this country are described, as well as many “nonofficial” ones.

This bulletin forms the second installment on the subject of American medicinal plants, the first one treating of American root drugs, and has been prepared to meet the steady demand for information concerning the medicinal plants of this country. It is intended as a guide and reference book for those who may be interested in the study or collection of the medicinal plants found in the United States.

Respectfully,

B. T. GALLOWAY, Chief of Bureau.

Hon. JAMES WILSON, Secretary of Agriculture.

CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction 7

The collection of barks 8

Trees and shrubs furnishing medicinal barks 9

White pine (Pinus strobus) 9

Tamarack (Larix laricina) 10

Aspen (Populus tremuloides) 11

Part 2

White willow (Salix alba) 12

Bayberry (Myrica cerifera) 14

Butternut (Juglans cinerea) 15

Ironwood (Ostrya virginiana) 15

Sweet birch (Betula lenta) 16

Tag-alder (Alnus rugosa) 18

White oak (Quercus alba) 18

Slippery elm (Ulmus pubescens) 20

Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata, M. tripetala, and M. glauca) 21

Tulip-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) 23

Sassafras (Sassafras sassafras) 25

Spicebush (Benzoin benzoin) 26

Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) 27

Blackberry (Rubus villosus, R. nigrobaccus, and R. cuneifolius) 28

American mountain-ash (Sorbus americana) 29

Wild cherry (Prunus serotina) 30

Prickly ash (Xanthoxylum americanum and X. clava-herculis) 31

Wafer-ash (Ptelea trifoliata) 33

Black alder (Ilex verticillata) 34

Wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus) 35

False bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) 36

Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) 37

Cascara sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana) 38

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) 40

Dogwood (Cornus florida) 41

Moosewood (Dirca palustris) 43

White ash (Fraxinus americana) 44

Fringe-tree (Chionanthus virginica) 45

Part 3

Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) 46

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) 47

Cramp-bark tree (Viburnum opulus) 48

Black haw (Viburnum prunifolium) 48

Index 51

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

FIG. 1. White pine (Pinus strobus), leaves and cones 10

2. Tamarack (Larix laricina), leaves and cones 10

3. Aspen (Populus tremuloides), trunk 11

4. Aspen (Populus tremuloides), leaves and capsules 12

5. Bayberry (Myrica cerifera), leaves and fruit 14

6. Butternut (Juglans cinerea), trunk 15

7. Ironwood (Ostrya virginiana), leaves and fruit 16

8. Sweet birch (Betula lenta), trunk 17

9. Sweet birch (Betula lenta), leaves, catkins, and fruit 17

10. Tag-alder (Alnus rugosa), leaves, catkins, and fruit 18

11. White oak (Quercus alba), trunk 19

12. White oak (Quercus alba), leaves and acorns 19

13. Slippery elm (Ulmus pubescens), trunk 20

14. Slippery elm (Ulmus pubescens), leaves, flowers, and fruits 21

15. Cucumber-tree (Magnolia acuminata), leaves 21

16. Umbrella-tree (Magnolia tripetala), leaves 22

17. Sweet bay (Magnolia glauca), leaves and fruiting cones 23

18. Tulip-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), trunk 24

19. Tulip-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), leaves, flowers, and fruit 24

20. Sassafras (Sassafras sassafras), leaves and fruits 25

21. Spicebush (Benzoin benzoin), leaves, flowers, and fruits 26

Part 4

22. Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), leaves, flowers, and capsules 27

23. American mountain-ash (Sorbus americana), leaves and fruits 29

24. Wild cherry (Prunus serotina), trunk 30

25. Wild cherry (Prunus serotina), leaves, flowers, and fruits 30

26. Southern prickly ash (Xanthoxylum clava-herculis), trunk 32

27. Southern prickly ash (Xanthoxylum clava-herculis), leaves, fruits, and branchlet showing prickles 32

28. Wafer-ash (Ptelea trifoliata), leaves and fruits 33

29. Black alder (Ilex verticillata), fruits 34

30. Wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus), leaves and fruits 35

31. False bittersweet (Celastrus scandens), leaves, flowers, and fruits 36

32. Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), trunk 37

33. Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), leaves and fruits 37

34. Cascara sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana), five-year-old tree 38

35. Cascara sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana), leaves and fruits 39

36. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), leaves, flowers, and bolls 41

37. Dogwood (Cornus florida), trunk 42

38. Dogwood (Cornus florida), leaves, flowers, and fruits 42

39. Moosewood (Dirca palustris), leaves and flowers 43

40. White ash (Fraxinus americana), trunk 44

41. White ash (Fraxinus americana), leaves and fruits 44

42. Fringe-tree (Chionanthus virginica), leaves and flowers 45

43. Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara), leaves, flowers, and fruits 46

44. Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), leaves and flowers 47

45. Black haw and nanny-berry (Viburnum prunifolium and V. lentago), leaves and flowers 49

B. P. I.—424.

AMERICAN MEDICINAL BARKS.

INTRODUCTION.

Among the manifold uses of the trees of our forests not the least important is the utilization of their barks for medicinal purposes.

Part 5

While the “official” barks—that is, those that are recognized in the Eighth Decennial Revision of the United States Pharmacopœia—number only seventeen in all, twelve of which are furnished by trees and shrubs growing in the United States either as native or introduced species, there are many others which are nevertheless used in medicine to a considerable extent by one or another school of practitioners. All of the “official” barks are described in this bulletin, and an effort has been made to include such “nonofficial” ones as seemed to be most in demand, judging from the trade catalogues of wholesale dealers in crude drugs, but a number of others that are not so much used have been omitted on account of lack of space. The number of drugs fully described is thirty-five, but under many of the descriptions closely related species are also briefly treated.

Many factors have contributed to the destruction of our forests. Beginning with the settlement of this country, when land had to be cleared of timber to make way for homes, and on through the centuries there have been steady and increasingly heavy drafts upon our natural forest resources by an increasing population and the building up of various new enterprises, and until within very recent years with little or no thought for the needs and welfare of generations to come. In the collection of barks, too, may be seen another instance contributing in a measure to the depletion of our forests; for too often trees are felled and killed outright simply for the sake of obtaining the bark, or a tree is peeled to such an extent that death is certain to result. When it is considered that of cascara sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana) alone about 100,000 trees are annually sacrificed, and that the oak, pine, elm, birch, poplar, willow, and larch all contribute their quota of bark, it will be seen that at no very distant date more careful methods of bark collection and the replanting of now denuded areas will be needed. The Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture has issued Forest Planting Leaflets, giving full information in regard to the planting and propagation of many of our forest trees, and anyone interested in the subject can have these leaflets for the asking.

The statements herein regarding medicinal uses are based on the information contained in various dispensatories and other works relating to materia medica, and in a publication of the character of this bulletin can, of course, be referred to only in the most general manner. It is not the purpose herein to prescribe the use of any of these barks for medicinal purposes; such use should be made only under the direction of a physician.

The writer is indebted to Mr. George B. Sudworth, Dendrologist of the Forest Service, for an examination of the manuscript and for the use of a number of photographs taken by him and other members of that Service.

Other illustrations in this bulletin have been reproduced from photographs taken from nature by Mr. C. L. Lochman, and use has also been made of a number of illustrations found in the Handbook of the Trees of the Northern States and Canada, by Mr. R. B. Hough.

The writer also wishes to gratefully acknowledge information of various kinds furnished by wholesale drug dealers.

THE COLLECTION OF BARKS.

As with other medicinal portions of plants, the best time to collect the barks is at a period when the greatest quantity of the active constituents is contained therein. In the case of barks this is in early spring, before active growth takes place, or in late fall or even winter.

There are various methods of obtaining the bark. In some cases the outer corky layer is first shaved off before the bark is peeled, a process which is known as “rossing.” This is generally done where the outer layer is considered inert. Then incisions a few inches wide are made, and, depending upon the nature of the bark, sometimes strips several feet in length are peeled. The barks of some branches or roots are removed by making long, lengthwise incisions, permitting the bark to be readily slipped off, or in other cases the bark is first loosened by pounding with a mallet.

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