Part 14

WILD INDIGO.

Baptisia tinctoria (L.) R. Br.

Other common names.—Baptisia, indigo-weed, yellow indigo, American indigo, yellow broom, indigo-broom, clover-broom, broom-clover, horsefly-weed, shoofly, rattlebush.

Habitat and range.—This native herb grows on dry, poor land, and is found from Maine to Minnesota, south to Florida and Louisiana.

Description of plant.—Many who have been brought up in the country will recognize in the wild indigo the plant so frequently used by farmers, especially in Virginia and Maryland, to keep flies away from horses, bunches of it being fastened to the harness for this purpose.

Wild indigo grows about 2 to 3 feet in height, and the cloverlike blossoms and leaves will show at once that it belongs to the same family as the common clover, namely, the pea family (Fabaceæ). It is an erect, much-branched, very leafy plant, of compact growth, the 3-leaved, bluish green foliage somewhat resembling clover leaves. The flowers, as already stated, are like common clover flowers—that is, not like clover heads, but the single flowers composing these; they are bright yellow, about one-half inch in length, and are produced in numerous clusters which appear from June to September. The seed pods, on stalks longer than the calyx, are nearly globular or ovoid and are tipped with an awl-shaped style. (Fig. 16.)

Another species, said to possess properties similar to those of Baptisia tinctoria, and substituted for it, is B. alba R. Br., called the white wild indigo. This plant has white flowers and is found in the Southern States and on the plains of the Western States.

Description of root.—Wild indigo has a thick, knotty crown or head, with several stem scars, and a round, fleshy root, sending out cylindrical branches and rootlets almost 2 feet in length. The white woody interior is covered with a thick, dark-brown bark, rather scaly or dotted with small, wartlike excrescences. The root breaks with a tough, fibrous fracture. There is a scarcely perceptible odor, and the taste, which resides chiefly in the bark, is nauseous, bitter, and acrid.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The root of wild indigo is collected in autumn, and brings from 4 to 8 cents a pound.

Large doses of wild indigo are emetic and cathartic and may prove dangerous. It also has stimulant, astringent, and antiseptic properties, and is used as a local application to sores, ulcers, etc.

The herb is sometimes employed like the root, and the entire plant was official from 1830 to 1840.

In some sections the young tender shoots are used for greens, like those of the pokeweed, but great care must be exercised to gather them before they are too far advanced in growth, as otherwise bad results will follow.

A blue coloring matter has been prepared from the plant and used as a substitute for indigo, to which, however, it is very much inferior.

CRANE’S-BILL.

Geranium maculatum L.

Pharmacopœial name.—Geranium.

Other common names.—Spotted crane’s-bill, wild crane’s-bill, stork’s-bill, spotted geranium, wild geranium, alumroot, alumbloom, chocolate-flower, crowfoot, dovefoot, old-maid’s-nightcap, shameface.

Habitat and range.—Crane’s-bill flourishes in low grounds and open woods from Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Georgia and Missouri.

Description of plant.—This pretty perennial plant belongs to the geranium family (Geraniaceæ), and will grow sometimes to a height of 2 feet, but more generally it is only about a foot in height. The entire plant is more or less covered with hairs, and is erect and usually unbranched. The leaves are nearly circular or somewhat heart shaped in outline, 3 to 6 inches wide, deeply parted into three or five parts, each division again cleft and toothed. The basal leaves are borne on long stems, while those above have shorter stems. The flowers, which appear from April to June, are borne in a loose cluster; they are rose purple, pale or violet purple in color, about 1 inch or 1½ inches wide, the petals delicately veined and woolly at the base, and the sepals or calyx lobes with a bristle-shaped point, soft-hairy, the margins having a fringe of more bristly hairs. The fruit consists of a beaked capsule, springing open elastically, and dividing into five cells, each cell containing one seed. (Fig. 17.)

Description of rootstock.—When removed from the earth, the rootstock of crane’s-bill (fig. 17) is about 2 to 4 inches long, thick, with numerous branches bearing the young buds for next season’s growth, and scars showing the remains of stems of previous years, brown outside, white and fleshy internally, and with several stout roots. When dry, the rootstock turns a darker brown, is finely wrinkled externally, and has a rough, spiny appearance, caused by the shrinking of the buds and branches and the numerous stem scars with which the root is studded. Internally it is of a somewhat purplish color. Crane’s-bill root is without odor and the taste is very astringent.

Collection, prices, and uses.—Crane’s-bill root depends for its medicinal value on its astringent properties, and as its astringency is due to the tannin content, the root should, of course, be collected at that season of the year when it is richest in that constituent. Experiments have proved that the yield of tannin in crane’s-bill is greatest just before flowering, which is in April or May, according to locality. It should, therefore, be collected just before the flowering period, and not, as is commonly the case, in autumn. The price of this root ranges from 4 to 8 cents a pound.

Crane’s-bill root, which is official in the United States Pharmacopœia, is used as a tonic and astringent.

SENECA SNAKEROOT.

Polygala senega L.

Pharmacopœial name.—Senega.

Other common names.—Senega snakeroot, Seneca-root, rattlesnake-root, mountain-flax.

Habitat and range.—Rocky woods and hillsides are the favorite haunts of this indigenous plant. It is found in such situations from New Brunswick and western New England to Minnesota and the Canadian Rocky Mountains, and south along the Allegheny Mountains to North Carolina and Missouri.

Description of plant.—The perennial root of this useful little plant sends up a number of smooth, slender, erect stems (as many as 15 to 20 or more), sometimes slightly tinged with red, from 6 inches to a foot in height, and generally unbranched. The leaves alternate on the stem, are lance shaped or oblong lance shaped, thin in texture, 1 to 2 inches long, and stemless. The flowering spikes are borne on the ends of the stems and consist of rather crowded, small, greenish white, insignificant flowers. The flowering period of Seneca snakeroot is from May to June. The spike blossoms gradually, and when the lowermost flowers have already fruited the upper part of the spike is still in flower. The seed capsules are small and contain two black, somewhat hairy seeds. (Fig. 18.) The short slender stalks supporting these seed capsules have a tendency to break off from the main axis before the seed is fully mature, leaving the spike in a rather ragged-looking condition, and the yield of seed, therefore, is not very large. Seneca snakeroot belongs to the milkwort family (Polygalaceæ).