Part 21

Eupatorium purpureum L.

Other common names.—Gravelroot, Indian gravelroot, joe-pye-weed, purple boneset, tall boneset, kidneyroot, king-of-the-meadow, marsh-milkweed, motherwort, niggerweed, quillwort, slunkweed, trumpetweed.

Habitat and range.—This common native perennial herb occurs in low grounds and dry woods and meadows from Canada to Florida and Texas.

Description of plant.—The stout, erect, green or purple stem of this plant grows from 3 to 10 feet in height, and is usually smooth, simple or branched at the top. The thin, veiny leaves are 4 to 12 inches long, 1 to 3 inches wide, ovate or ovate lance shaped, sharp pointed, toothed, and placed around the stem in whorls of three to six. While the upper surface of the leaves is smooth, there is usually a slight hairiness along the veins on the lower surface, otherwise smooth. Toward the latter part of the summer and in early fall queen-of-the-meadow is in flower, producing 5 to 15 flowered pink or purplish heads, all aggregated in large compound clusters, which present a rather showy appearance. (Pl. VII, fig. 2.) This plant belongs to the aster family (Asteraceæ).

Another species which is collected with this and for similar purposes, and by some regarded as only a variety, is the spotted boneset or spotted joe-pye-weed (Eupatorium maculatum L.). This is very similar to E. purpureum, but it does not grow so tall, is rough-hairy, and has the stem spotted with purple. The thicker leaves are coarsely toothed and in whorls of three to five, and the flower clusters are flattened at the top rather than elongated as in E. purpureum.

It is found in moist soil from New York to Kentucky, westward to Kansas, New Mexico, Minnesota, and as far up as British Columbia.

Description of root.—Queen-of-the-meadow root, as it occurs in commerce, is blackish and woody, furnished with numerous long dark-brown fibers, which are furrowed or wrinkled lengthwise and whitish within. It has a bitter, aromatic, and astringent taste.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The root is collected in autumn and is used for its astringent and diuretic properties. It was official in the United States Pharmacopœia from 1820 to 1840. The price ranges from 2½ to 4 cents a pound.

ELECAMPANE.

Inula helenium L.

Other common names.—Inula, inul, horseheal, elf-dock, elfwort, horse-elder, scabwort, yellow starwort, velvet dock, wild sunflower.

Habitat and range.—This perennial herb has been naturalized from Europe, and is found along roadsides and in fields and damp pastures from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, westward to Missouri and Minnesota. It is native also in Asia.

Description of plant.—When in flower elecampane resembles the sunflower on a small scale. Like the sunflower, it is a member of the aster family (Asteraceæ). It is a rough plant, growing from 3 to 6 feet in height, but producing during the first year only root leaves, which attain considerable size. In the following season the stout densely hairy stem develops, attaining a height of from 3 to 6 feet.

The leaves are broadly oblong in form, toothed, the upper surface rough and the under side densely soft-hairy. The basal or root leaves are borne on long stems, and are from 10 to 20 inches long and 4 to 8 inches wide, while the upper leaves are smaller and stemless or clasping.

About July to September the terminal flower heads are produced, either singly or a few together. As already stated, these flower heads look very much like small sunflowers, 2 to 4 inches broad, and consist of long, narrow, yellow rays, 3 toothed at the apex, and the disk also is yellow. (Pl. VII, fig. 3.)

Description of root.—Elecampane has a large, long, branching root, pale yellow on the outside and whitish and fleshy within. (Pl. VII, fig. 3.) When dry the outside turns a grayish brown or dark brown, and is generally finely wrinkled lengthwise. As found in commerce, elecampane is usually in transverse or lengthwise slices, light yellow or grayish and fleshy internally, dotted with numerous shining resin cells, and with overlapping brown and wrinkled bark. These slices become flexible in damp weather, and tough, but when they are dry they break with a short fracture. The root has at first a strongly aromatic odor, which has been described by some as resembling a violet odor, but this diminishes in drying. The taste is aromatic, bitterish, and pungent.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The best time for collecting elecampane is in the fall of the second year. If collected later than that the roots are apt to be stringy and woody. Owing to the interlacing habit of the rootlets, much dirt adheres to the root, but it should be well cleaned, cut into transverse or lengthwise slices, and carefully dried in the shade. Collectors receive from 3 to 5 cents a pound for this root.

Elecampane, which was official in the United States Pharmacopœia of 1890, is much used in affections of the respiratory organs, in digestive and liver disorders, catarrhal discharges, and in skin diseases.

ECHINACEA.

Brauneria angustifolia (DC.) Heller.

Synonym.—Echinacea angustifolia DC.

Other common names.—Pale-purple coneflower, Sampson-root, niggerhead (in Kansas).

Habitat and range.—Echinacea is found in scattered patches in rich prairie soil or sandy soil from Alabama to Texas and northwestward, being most abundant in Kansas and Nebraska. Though not growing wild in the Eastern States, it has succeeded well under cultivation in the testing gardens of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C.

Description of plant.—This native herbaceous perennial, belonging to the aster family (Asteraceæ), grows to a height of from 2 to 3 feet. It sends up a rather stout bristly-hairy stem, bearing thick rough-hairy leaves, which are broadly lance shaped or linear lance shaped, entire, 3 to 8 inches long, narrowed at each end, and strongly three nerved. The lower leaves have slender stems, but as they approach the top of the plant the stems become shorter and some of the upper leaves are stemless.

The flower heads, appearing from July to October, are very pretty, and the plant would do well as an ornamental in gardens. The flowers remain on the plant for a long time, and the color varies from whitish rose to pale purple. The heads consist of ray flowers and disk flowers, the former constituting the “petals” surrounding the disk, and the disk itself being composed of small, tubular, greenish yellow flowers. When the flowers first appear the disk is flattened or really concave, but as the flowering progresses it becomes conical in shape. The brown fruiting heads are conical, chaffy, stiff, and wiry. (Pl. VII, fig. 4.)

Description of root.—Echinacea has a thick, blackish root (Pl. VII, fig. 4), which in commerce occurs in cylindrical pieces of varying length and thickness. The dried root is grayish brown on the outside, the bark wrinkled lengthwise and sometimes spirally twisted. It breaks with a short, weak fracture, showing yellow or greenish yellow wood wedges, which give the impression that the wood is decayed.

The odor is scarcely perceptible, and the taste is mildly aromatic, afterwards becoming acrid and inducing a flow of saliva.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The root of echinacea is collected in autumn and brings from 20 to 30 cents a pound. It is said that echinacea varies greatly in quality, due chiefly to the locality in which it grows. According to J. U. Lloyd, the best quality comes from the prairie lands of Nebraska, and that from marshy places is inferior.