Part 10

=Imports and prices.=—This plant is cultivated in Germany, from which country it is imported to a limited extent. The price per pound ranges from 8 to 10 cents.

YARROW. Achillea millefolium L.

=Other common names.=—Milfoil, thousand leaf, thousand-leaved clover, green arrow, gordoloba, nosebleed, bloodwort, carpenter’s grass, sanguinary, soldiers’ woundwort, old man’s pepper. (Fig. 24.)

=Range and habitat.=—This herb is a common weed from the New England States to Missouri and in scattered localities in other parts of the country, occurring along roadsides, in old fields, pastures, and meadows.

=Description.=—Yarrow is a perennial belonging to the aster family (Asteraceæ). It is about 10 to 20 inches in height, its numerous dark-green feathery leaves divided into very fine crowded parts. The flowers are produced in abundance from June to September. These are small, white (sometimes rose-colored), and are crowded in dense flat-topped heads.

The odor of yarrow is strong and aromatic, very similar to that of chamomile, and the taste is sharp and bitter. When this plant is eaten by cows its bitter taste and strong odor are imparted to dairy products.

=Parts used.=—The entire plant is collected when in flower, and is carefully dried. The coarser stems should be rejected. The plant loses nearly four-fifths of its weight in drying.

Yarrow is a stimulant tonic, acts upon the bladder, and checks excessive discharges.

=Imports and prices.=—This is an imported article, though not brought into the United States in large quantities. The price of achillea or yarrow ranges from 2 to 5 cents per pound.

CANADA FLEABANE. Leptilon canadense (L.) Britton. (Erigeron canadensis L.)

=Other common names.=—Horseweed, colt’s tail, scabious, prideweed, butter weed, fireweed, blood-stanch, cow’s tail, bitter weed. (Fig. 25.)

=Range and habitat.=—This weed is common in damp, sandy soils in fields and waste places and along roadsides in many parts of the United States, especially throughout the northern Mississippi Valley.

=Description.=—Canada fleabane is an annual weed belonging to the aster family (Asteraceæ). The stem, which is bristly-hairy, or sometimes smooth, varies greatly in height, according to the soil, being sometimes only 3 inches high, and in favorable soil often reaching a height of 10 feet. The larger plants are branched near the top. The leaves are usually somewhat hairy, those scattered along the stem being rather narrow, with unbroken margins, and the lower ones slightly toothed. From June to November numerous heads of small inconspicuous white flowers are produced, followed by an abundance of seed.

=Parts used.=—The entire herb is medicinal, and should be gathered during the flowering period and carefully dried. It has a faint, agreeable odor and a somewhat astringent and bitter taste. The fresh herb on distillation yields a volatile oil which is sold as oil of fleabane.

The common name “blood stanch” indicates the use of this plant for arresting hemorrhages from various sources and the bleeding of wounds. It is useful also in diarrhea and dropsy.

=Price.=—The price paid for erigeron or flea bane ranges from 6 to 8 cents per pound.

JIMSON WEED. Datura stramonium L.

=Other common names.=—Jamestown weed (from which “jimson” weed is derived), thorn-apple, stinkweed, stinkwort, devil’s apple, mad-apple, devil’s trumpet, fireweed, Jamestown lily, dewtry, apple of Peru. (Fig. 26).

=Range and habitat.=—Jimson weed is exceedingly common in fields and waste places throughout the entire country with the exception of the North and West. It is native in the Tropics and widely scattered in nearly all warm countries.

=Description.=—This well-known rank and ill-scented poisonous weed is an annual about 2 to 5 feet in height, and belongs to the potato family (Solanaceæ). Its yellowish-green stems are stout, leafy, and much forked. The leaves are large, 3 to 8 inches long, thin, smooth, pointed at the apex and usually narrowed at the base, irregularly waved and toothed, veiny, dark green on the upper surface and paler green beneath. The rather large, showy flowers are produced from May to September. They are white, funnel shaped, about 3 inches long, and have a heavy odor. The seed pod is a dry, oval, prickly capsule, which, when quite ripe, bursts open and discloses four valves, containing numerous black, kidney-shaped seeds. (Fig. 27.) The seeds are ill-smelling when fresh, as is the entire plant. They are dull black, about one-sixth of an inch long, flattened, wrinkled, and marked with small depressions.

=Parts used.=—Both the leaves and seeds are medicinal. The leaves are collected at the time of flowering, the entire plant being cut or pulled up and the leaves stripped and dried in the shade. The unpleasant narcotic odor diminishes upon drying. The leaves are poisonous, cause dilation of the pupil of the eye, and are used principally in asthma.

For the collection of the seeds the capsules should be taken from the plants when they are quite ripe, but still of a green color. The capsules should then be dried for a few days, when they will burst open and the seeds can be readily shaken out. These should now be carefully dried. The seeds like the leaves are poisonous and possess the same properties.

Occasional cases of poisoning of children occur from eating the seeds of jimson weed and taking the flowers in their mouths.

=Imports and prices.=—From 100,000 to 150,000 pounds of stramonium leaves (the name by which they are designated in the drug trade) are imported into this country annually, and about 10,000 pounds of seeds are imported.

The leaves will bring from 2½ to 8 cents per pound, and stramonium seeds from 3 to 7 cents per pound.

Purple thorn-apple.

The purple thorn-apple, technically known as Datura tatula, is very similar to the jimson weed, possesses the same properties, and is distinguished from it merely by its reddish stems and purplish flowers. The leaves and seeds may be gathered with those of the jimson weed.

POISON HEMLOCK. Conium maculatum L.