Part 13

Habitat and range.—Bloodroot is found in rich, open woods from Canada south to Florida and west to Arkansas and Nebraska.

Description of plant.—This indigenous plant is among the earliest of our spring flowers, the waxy-white blossom, enfolded by the grayish green leaf, usually making its appearance early in April. The stem and root contain a blood-red juice. Bloodroot is a perennial, and belongs to the same family as the opium poppy, the Papaveraceæ. Each bud on the thick, horizontal rootstock produces but a single leaf and a flowering scape, reaching about 6 inches in height (fig. 15). The plant is smooth, and both stem and leaves, especially when young, present a grayish green appearance, being covered with a “bloom” such as is found on some fruits. The leaves are palmately 5 to 9 lobed, the lobes either cleft at the apex or having a wavy margin, and are borne on leaf stems about 6 to 14 inches long. After the plants have ceased flowering the leaves, at first only 3 inches long and 4 to 5 inches broad, continue to expand until they are about 4 to 7 inches long and 6 to 12 inches broad. The under side of the leaf is paler than the upper side and shows prominent veins. The flower measures about 1 inch across, is white, rather waxlike in appearance, with numerous golden-yellow stamens in the center. The petals soon fall off, and the oblong, narrow seed pod develops, attaining a length of about an inch.

Description of rootstock.—When dug out of the ground bloodroot is rather thick, round, and fleshy, slightly curved at the ends, and contains a quantity of blood-red juice. It is from 1 to 4 inches in length, from ½ to 1 inch in thickness, externally reddish brown, internally a bright-red blood color, and produces many thick, orange-colored rootlets. (Fig. 15.)

The rootstock shrinks considerably in drying, the outside turning dark brown and the inside orange-red or yellowish with numerous small red dots, and it breaks with a short, sharp fracture. It has but a slight odor, and the taste is bitter and acrid and very persistent. The powdered root causes sneezing.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The rootstock should be collected in autumn, after the leaves have died, and after curing it should be stored in a dry place, as it rapidly deteriorates if allowed to become moist. Age also impairs its activity. The price paid to collectors for this root ranges from about 5 to 10 cents a pound.

Bloodroot was well known to the American Indians, who used the red juice as a dye for skins and baskets and for painting their faces and bodies. It is official in the United States Pharmacopœia, and is used as a tonic, alterative, stimulant, and emetic.

HYDRANGEA.

Hydrangea arborescens L.

Other common names.—Wild hydrangea, seven-barks.

Habitat and range.—Hydrangea frequents rocky river banks and ravines from the southern part of New York to Florida, and westward to Iowa and Missouri, being especially abundant in the valley of the Delaware and southward.

Description of plant.—Hydrangea is an indigenous shrub, 5 to 6 feet or more in height, with weak twigs, slender leaf stems and thin leaves. It belongs to the hydrangea family (Hydrangeaceæ). The leaves are oval or sometimes heart shaped, 3 to 6 inches long, sharply toothed, green on both sides, the upper smooth and the lower sometimes hairy. The shrub is in flower from June to July, producing loose, branching, terminal heads of small, greenish white flowers, followed by membranous, usually 2-celled capsules, which contain numerous seeds. (Pl. IV, fig. 4.) Sometimes hydrangea will flower a second time, early in fall.

A peculiar characteristic of this shrub, and one that has given rise to the common name “seven-barks,” is the peeling off of the stem bark, which comes off in several successive layers of thin, different colored bark.

Description of root.—The root is roughly branched and when first taken from the ground is very juicy, but after drying it becomes hard. The smooth white and tough wood is covered with a thin, pale-yellow or light-brown bark, which readily scales off. The wood is tasteless, but the bark has a pleasant aromatic taste, becoming somewhat pungent.

Collection, prices, and uses.—Hydrangea root is collected in autumn, and as it becomes very tough after drying and difficult to bruise it is best to cut the root in short transverse pieces while it is fresh and still juicy and dry it in this way. The price ranges from 2 to 7 cents a pound.

Hydrangea has diuretic properties and is said to have been much used by the Cherokees and early settlers in calculous complaints.

INDIAN-PHYSIC.

Porteranthus trifoliatus (L.) Britton.

Synonym.—Gillenia trifoliata Moench.

Other common names.—Gillenia, bowman’s-root, false ipecac, western dropwort, Indian-hippo.

Habitat and range.—Indian-physic is native in rich woods from New York to Michigan, south to Georgia and Missouri.

Description of plant.—The reddish stems of this slender, graceful perennial of the rose family (Rosaceæ) are about 2 to 3 feet high, several erect and branched stems being produced from the same root. The leaves are almost stemless and trifoliate; that is, composed of three leaflets. They are ovate or lanceolate, 2 to 3 inches long, narrowed at the base, smooth, and toothed. The nodding, white or pinkish flowers are few, produced in loose terminal clusters from May to July. (Pl. V, fig. 1.) The five petals are long, narrowed or tapering toward the base, white or pinkish, and inserted in the tubular, somewhat bell-shaped, red-tinged calyx. The seed pods are slightly hairy.

At the base of the leaf stems are small leaflike parts, called stipules, which in this species are very small, linear, and entire. In the following species, which is very similar to trifoliatus and collected with it, the stipules, however, are so much larger that they form a prominent character, which has given rise to its specific name, stipulatus.

Porteranthus stipulatus (Muhl.) Britton (Syn. Gillenia stipulacea Nutt.) is found in similar situations as P. trifoliatus, but generally farther west, its range extending from western New York to Indiana and Kansas, south to Alabama, Louisiana, and Indian Territory. The general appearance of this plant is very similar to that of P. trifoliatus. It grows to about the same height, but is generally more hairy, the leaflets narrower and more deeply toothed, and the flowers perhaps a trifle smaller. The stipules, however, will generally serve to distinguish it. These are large, broad, ovate, acute at the apex, sharply and deeply notched, and so much like leaves that but for their position at the base of the leaf stems they might easily be mistaken for them.

With the exception of the name American ipecac applied to this plant, the common names of Porteranthus trifoliatus are also used for P. stipulatus. The roots of both species are collected and used for the same purposes.

Description of roots.—The root of Porteranthus trifoliatus is thick and knotty, with many smoothish, reddish brown rootlets (Pl. V, fig. 1), the latter in drying becoming wrinkled lengthwise and showing a few transverse fissures or breaks in the bark, and the interior white and woody. There is practically no odor, and the woody portion is tasteless, but the bark, which is readily separable, is bitter, increasing the flow of saliva.

Porteranthus stipulatus has a larger, more knotty root, with rootlets that are more wavy, constricted, or marked with numerous transverse rings, and the bark fissured or breaking from the white woody portion at frequent intervals.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The roots of both species are collected in autumn. The price ranges from 2 to 4 cents a pound.

Indian-physic or bowman’s root, as these names imply, was a popular remedy with the Indians, who used it as an emetic. From them the white settlers learned of its properties, and it is still used for its emetic action. This drug was at one time official in the United States Pharmacopœia, from 1820 to 1880. Its action is said to resemble that of ipecac.