Part 10

Goldenseal is now becoming scarce throughout its range. Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia have been the greatest goldenseal-producing States.

Description of plant.—Goldenseal is a perennial plant belonging to the same family as the buttercup, namely, the crowfoot family (Ranunculaceæ). It has a thick yellow rootstock, which sends up an erect hairy stem about 1 foot in height, surrounded at the base by 2 or 3 yellowish scales. The yellow color of the roots and scales extends up the stem so far as it is covered by soil, while the portion of the stem above ground has a purplish color. The stem, which has only two leaves, seems to fork at the top, one branch bearing a large leaf and the other a smaller one and a flower. A third leaf, which is much smaller than the other two and stemless, is occasionally produced. The leaves are palmately 5 to 9 lobed, the lobes broad, acute, sharply and unequally toothed; they are prominently veined on the lower surface, and at flowering time, when they are very much wrinkled, they are only partially developed, but they continue to expand until they are from 6 to 8 inches in diameter, becoming thinner in texture and smoother. The upper leaf subtends or incloses the flower bud. The greenish white flower appears about April or May, but it is of short duration, lasting only five or six days. It is less than half an inch in diameter and, instead of petals, has three small petal-like sepals, which fall away as soon as the flower expands, leaving only the numerous stamens (as many as 40 or 50), in the center of which are about a dozen pistils, which finally develop into a round, fleshy, berry-like head which ripens in July or August. The fruit when ripe turns a bright red and resembles a large raspberry, whence the common name “ground-raspberry” is derived. It contains from 10 to 20 small, black, shining, hard seeds. (Fig. 9.)

Description of rootstock.—The fresh rootstock of goldenseal, which has a rank, nauseating odor, is bright yellow, both internally and externally, with fibrous yellow rootlets produced from the sides. It is from 1½ to 2½ inches in length, from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch in thickness, and contains a large amount of yellow juice. (Fig. 10.)

In the dried state the rootstock is crooked, knotty, and wrinkled, from 1 to 2 inches in length, and from one-eighth to one-third of an inch in diameter. It is of a dull-brown color on the outside and breaks with a clean, short, resinous fracture, showing a lemon-yellow color inside. After the rootstock has been kept for some time it will become greenish yellow or brown internally and its quality impaired. The cup-like depressions or stem scars on the upper surface of the rootstock resemble the imprint of a seal, whence the most popular name of the plant, goldenseal, is derived. The rootstock as found in commerce is almost bare, the fibrous rootlets, which in drying become very wiry and brittle, breaking off readily and leaving only small protuberances.

The odor of the dried rootstock, while not so pronounced as in the fresh material, is peculiar, narcotic, and disagreeable. The taste is exceedingly bitter, and when the rootstock is chewed there is a persistent acridity, which causes an abundant flow of saliva.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The root should be collected in autumn after the seeds have ripened, freed from soil, and carefully dried. After a dry season goldenseal dies down soon after the fruit is mature, so that it often happens that by the end of September not a trace of the plant remains above ground; but if the season has been moist, the plant sometimes persists to the beginning of winter. The price of goldenseal ranges from $1 to $1.50 a pound.

Goldenseal, which is official in the United States Pharmacopœia, is a useful drug in digestive disorders and in certain catarrhal affections of the mucous membranes, in the latter instance being administered both internally and locally.

Cultivation.—Once so abundant in certain parts of the country, especially in the Ohio Valley, goldenseal is now becoming scarce throughout its range, and in consequence of the increased demand for the root, both at home and abroad, its cultivation must sooner or later be more generally undertaken in order to satisfy the needs of medicine. In some parts of the country the cultivation of goldenseal is already under way.

The first thing to be considered in growing this plant is to furnish it, as nearly as possible, the conditions to which it has been accustomed in its native forest home. This calls for a well-drained soil, rich in humus, and partially shaded. Goldenseal stands transplanting well, and the easiest way to propagate it is to bring the plants in from the forest and transplant them to a properly prepared location, or to collect the rootstocks and to cut them into as many pieces as there are buds, planting these pieces in a deep, loose, well-prepared soil, and mulching, adding new mulch each year to renew the humus. With such a soil the cultivation of goldenseal is simple, and it will be necessary chiefly to keep down the weeds.

The plants may be grown in rows 1 foot apart and 6 inches apart in the row, or they may be grown in beds 4 to 8 feet wide, with walks between. Artificial shade will be necessary, and this is supplied by the erection of lath sheds. The time required to obtain a marketable crop is from two to three years.

Detailed information regarding the experiments made by the Department will be found in another publication.

GOLDTHREAD.

Coptis trifolia (L.) Salisb.

Other common names.—Coptis, cankerroot, mouthroot, yellowroot.

Habitat and range.—This pretty little perennial is native in damp, mossy woods and bogs from Canada and Alaska south to Maryland and Minnesota. It is most common in the New England States, northern New York and Michigan, and in Canada, where it frequents the dark sphagnum swamps, cold bogs, and the shade of dense forests of cedars, pines, and other evergreens.

Description of plant.—Anyone familiar with this attractive little plant will agree that it is well named. The roots of goldthread, running not far beneath the surface of the ground, are indeed like so many tangled threads of gold. The plant in the general appearance of its leaves and flowers very closely resembles the strawberry plant. It is of low growth, only 3 to 6 inches in height, and belongs to the crowfoot family (Ranunculaceæ). The leaves are all basal, and are borne on long, slender stems; they are evergreen, dark green and shining on the upper surface and lighter green beneath, divided into three parts, which are prominently veined and toothed. A single small, white, star-shaped flower is borne at the ends of the flowering stalks, appearing from May to August. (Fig. 11.) The 5 to 7 sepals or lobes of the calyx are white and like petals, and the petals of the corolla, 5 to 7 in number, are smaller, club shaped, and yellow at the base. The seed pods are stalked, oblong, compressed, spreading, tipped with the persistent style, and containing small black seeds.

Description of root.—Goldthread has a long, slender, creeping root, which is much branched and frequently matted. (Fig. 11.) The color of these roots is a bright golden yellow. As found in the stores, goldthread consists usually of tangled masses of these golden-yellow roots, mixed with the leaves and stems of the plant, but the root is the part prescribed for use. The root is bitter and has no odor.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The time for collecting goldthread is in autumn. After removing the covering of dead leaves and moss, the creeping yellow roots of goldthread will be seen very close to the surface of the ground, from which they can be very easily pulled. They should, of course, be carefully dried. As already stated, although the roots and rootlets are the parts to be used, the commercial article is freely mixed with the leaves and stems of the plant. Evidences of the pine-woods home of this plant, in the form of pine needles and bits of moss, are often seen in the goldthread received for market. Goldthread brings from 60 to 70 cents a pound.

The Indians and early white settlers used this little root as a remedy for various forms of ulcerated and sore mouth, and it is still used as a wash or gargle for affections of this sort. It is also employed as a bitter tonic.

Goldthread was official in the United States Pharmacopœia from 1820 to 1880.

BLACK COHOSH.

Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt.

Synonym.—Actaea racemosa L.

Pharmacopœial name.—Cimicifuga.

Other common names.—Black snakeroot, bugbane, bugwort, rattle-snakeroot, rattleroot, rattleweed, rattletop, richweed, squawroot.

Habitat and range.—Although preferring the shade of rich woods, black cohosh will grow occasionally in sunny situations in fence corners and woodland pastures. It is most abundant in the Ohio Valley, but it occurs from Maine to Wisconsin, south along the Allegheny Mountains to Georgia, and westward to Missouri.

Description of plant.—Rising to a height of 3 to 8 feet, the showy, delicate-flowered spikes of the black cohosh tower above most of the other woodland flowers, making it a conspicuous plant in the woods and one that can be easily recognized.

Black cohosh is an indigenous perennial plant belonging to the same family as the goldenseal, namely, the crowfoot family (Ranunculaceæ). The tall stem, sometimes 8 feet in height, is rather slender and leafy, the leaves consisting of three leaflets, which are again divided into threes. The leaflets are about 2 inches long, ovate, sharp pointed at the apex, thin and smooth, variously lobed, and the margins sharply toothed. The graceful, spikelike terminal cluster of flowers, which is produced from June to August, is from 6 inches to 2 feet in length. (Fig. 12.) Attractive as these flower clusters are to the eye, they generally do not prove attractive very long to those who may gather them for their beauty, since the flowers emit an offensive odor, which accounts for some of the common names applied to this plant, namely, bugbane and bugwort, it having been thought that this odor was efficacious in driving away bugs. The flowers do not all open at one time, and thus there may be seen buds, blossoms, and seed pods on one spike. The buds are white and globular, and as they expand in flower there is practically nothing to the flower but very numerous white stamens and the pistil, but the stamens spread out around the pistil in such a manner as to give to the spike a somewhat feathery or fluffy appearance which is very attractive. The seed pods are dry, thick and leathery, ribbed, and about one-fourth of an inch long, with a small beak at the end. The smooth brown seeds are inclosed within the pods in two rows. Anyone going through the woods in winter may find the seed pods, full of seeds, still clinging to the dry, dead stalk, and the rattling of the seeds in the pods as the wind passes over them has given rise to the common names rattle-snakeroot (not “rattlesnake”-root), rattleweed, rattletop, and rattleroot.