Part 17

Habitat and range.—American angelica is a native herb, common in swamps and damp places from Labrador to Delaware and west to Minnesota.

Description of plant.—This strong-scented, tall, stout perennial reaches a height of from 4 to 6 feet, with a smooth, dark-purple, hollow stem 1 to 2 inches in diameter. The leaves are divided into three parts, each of which is again divided into threes; the rather thin segments are oval or ovate, somewhat acute, sharply toothed and sometimes deeply cut, and about 2 inches long. The lower leaves sometimes measure 2 feet in width, while the upper ones are smaller, but all have very broad expanded stalks. The greenish white flowers are produced from June to July in somewhat roundish, many-rayed umbels or heads, which sometimes are 8 to 10 inches in diameter. The fruits are smooth, compressed, and broadly oval. (Pl. VI, fig. 1.) American angelica belongs to the parsley family (Apiaceæ).

Description of root.—American angelica root is branched, from 3 to 6 inches long, and less than an inch in diameter. The outside is light brownish gray, with deep furrows, and the inside nearly white, the whole breaking with a short fracture and the thick bark showing fine resin dots. It has an aromatic odor, and the taste at first is sweetish and spicy, afterwards bitter. The fresh root is said to possess poisonous properties.

The root of the European or garden angelica (Angelica officinalis Moench) supplies much of the angelica root of commerce. This is native in northern Europe and is very widely cultivated, especially in Germany, for the root.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The root is dug in autumn and carefully dried. Care is also necessary in preserving the root, as it is very liable to the attacks of insects. American angelica root ranges from 6 to 10 cents a pound.

American angelica root, which was official in the United States Pharmacopœia from 1820 to 1860, is used as an aromatic, tonic, stimulant, carminative, diuretic, and diaphoretic. In large doses it acts as an emetic.

The seeds are also employed medicinally.

YELLOW JASMINE OR JESSAMINE.

Gelsemium sempervirens (L.) Ait. f.

Pharmacopœial name.—Gelsemium.

Other common names.—Carolina jasmine or jessamine, Carolina wild woodbine, evening trumpet-flower.

Habitat and range.—Yellow jasmine is a plant native to the South, found along banks of streams, in woods, lowlands, and thickets, generally near the coast, from the eastern part of Virginia to Florida and Texas, south to Mexico and Guatemala.

Description of plant.—This highly ornamental climbing or trailing plant is abundantly met with in the woods of the Southern States, its slender stems festooned over trees and fences and making its presence known by the delightful perfume exhaled by its flowers, filling the air with a fragrance that is almost overpowering wherever the yellow jasmine is very abundant.

The smooth shining stems of this beautiful vine sometimes reach a length of 20 feet. The leaves are evergreen, lance shaped, entire, 1½ to 3 inches long, rather narrow, borne on short stems, and generally remaining on the vine during the winter. The flowers, which appear from January to April, are bright yellow, about 1 to 1½ inches long, the corolla funnel shaped. (Fig. 20.) They are very fragrant, but poisonous, and it is stated that the eating of honey derived from jasmine flowers has brought about fatal results.

Yellow jasmine is a perennial, and belongs to a family that is noted for its poisonous properties, namely, the Logania family (Loganiaceæ), which numbers among its members such powerful poisonous agents as the strychnine-producing tree.

Description of rootstock.—The rootstock of the yellow jasmine is horizontal and runs near the surface of the ground, attaining great length, 15 feet or more; it is branched, and here and there produces fibrous rootlets. When freshly removed from the ground it is very yellow, with a peculiar odor and bitter taste. For the drug trade it is generally cut into pieces varying from 1 inch to 6 inches in length, and when dried consists of cylindrical sections about 1 inch in thickness, the roots, of course, thinner. The bark is thin, yellowish brown, with fine silky bast fibers, and the wood is tough and pale yellow, breaking with a splintery fracture and showing numerous fine rays radiating from a small central pith. Yellow jasmine has a bitter taste and a pronounced heavy odor.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The root of yellow jasmine is usually collected just after the plant has come into flower and is cut into pieces from 1 to 6 inches long. It is often adulterated with portions of the stems, but these can be distinguished by their thinness and dark purplish color. The prices range from 3 to 5 cents a pound.

Yellow jasmine, which is official in the United States Pharmacopœia, is used for its powerful effect on the nervous system.

PINKROOT.

Spigelia marilandica L.

Pharmacopœial name.—Spigelia.

Other common names.—Carolina pinkroot, Carolina pink, Maryland pink, Indian pink, starbloom, wormgrass, wormweed, American wormroot.

Habitat and range.—This pretty little plant is found in rich woods from New Jersey to Florida, west to Texas and Wisconsin, but occurring principally in the Southern States. It is fast disappearing, however, from its native haunts.

Description of plant.—Pinkroot belongs to the same family as the yellow jasmine, namely, the Logania family (Loganiaceæ), noted for its poisonous species. It is a native perennial herb, with simple, erect stem 6 inches to 1½ feet high, nearly smooth. The leaves are stemless, generally ovate, pointed at the apex and rounded or narrowed at the base; they are from 2 to 4 inches long, one-half to 2 inches wide, smooth on the upper surface, and only slightly hairy on the veins on the lower surface. The rather showy flowers are produced from May to July in a terminal one-sided spike; they are from 1 to 2 inches in length, somewhat tube shaped, narrowed below, slightly inflated toward the center, and again narrowed or contracted toward the top, and terminating in five lance-shaped lobes; the flowers are very showy, with their brilliant coloring—bright scarlet on the outside, and the inside of the tube and the lobes a bright yellow. The seed capsule is double, consisting of two globular portions more or less united, and containing numerous seeds. (Pl. VI, fig. 2.)

Description of rootstock.—The rootstock is rather small, from 1 to 2 inches in length and about one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. It is somewhat crooked or bent, dark brown, with a roughened appearance of the upper surface caused by cup-shaped scars, the remains of former annual stems. The lower surface and the sides have numerous long, finely branched, lighter colored roots, which are rather brittle. Pinkroot has a pleasant, aromatic odor, and the taste is described as sweetish, bitter, and pungent.

Collection, prices, and uses.—Pinkroot is collected after the flowering period. It is said to be scarce, and was reported as becoming scarce as long ago as 1830. The price paid to collectors ranges from 25 to 40 cents a pound.

The roots of other plants, notably those of the East Tennessee pinkroot (Ruellia ciliosa Pursh), are often found mixed with the true pinkroot, and the Ruellia ciliosa is even substituted for it. This adulteration or substitution probably accounts for the inertness which has sometimes been attributed to the true pinkroot and which has caused it to fall into more or less disuse. It has long been known that the true pinkroot was adulterated, but this adulteration was supposed to be caused by the admixture of Carolina phlox (Phlox carolina L., now known as Phlox ovata L.), but this is said now to be no part of the substitution.

The rootstock of Ruellia ciliosa is larger and not as dark as that of the Maryland pinkroot and has fewer and coarser roots, from which the bark readily separates, leaving the whitish wood exposed.