Part 7

=Description.=—The reddish purple stems, rich green foliage, and clusters of white flowers and dark-purple berries give to this plant a rather handsome appearance. Pokeweed attains a height of from 3 to 9 feet from a very large perennial root. It is erect, branched, the stems stout, smooth, green at first, then reddish. On examining a piece of the stem, the pith will be seen to be divided into disk-shaped pieces, with hollow spaces between them. The leaves are ovate or ovate-oblong, acute at the apex, smooth, about 5 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide, on short stems. The margins are without indentation. About July to September the long clusters of whitish flowers are produced, followed by the green berries, which upon ripening become a rich dark-purple color. The flower clusters are from 3 to 4 inches in length and on long stalks, the flowers numerous and borne on reddish stems. The berries are globular, flattened both at top and bottom, smooth and shining, and contain ten black seeds imbedded in a rich crimson juice. (Fig. 11.)

=Parts used.=—For medicinal purposes the berries and roots are employed. Both of these should be collected when the berries are fully mature, which usually occurs about two months after flowering. The clusters of berries should be carefully dried in the shade. They are poisonous, have no odor, a sweetish taste at first, then acrid.

Pokeweed has a very large, fleshy, and poisonous root, conical in shape and branched. (Fig. 12.) It should be gathered in the latter part of the fall, thoroughly cleaned, cut into transverse slices, and carefully dried. When dry it has a grayish, wrinkled appearance, breaks with a fibrous fracture, and the slices show many concentric rings. There is a slight odor and the taste is sweetish and acrid.

Both the berries and roots are alterative, act upon the bowels and cause vomiting, and preparations made from them are used in treating various diseases of the skin and blood, and in certain cases in relieving pain and allaying inflammation.

=Price.=—Phytolacca or pokeroot brings from 2 to 5 cents per pound, and the dry berries about 5 cents per pound.

FOXGLOVE. Digitalis purpurea L.

=Other common names.=—Purple foxglove, thimbles, fairy cap, fairy fingers, fairy thimbles, fairy bells, dog’s finger, finger flower, lady’s glove, ladyfingers, lady’s thimble, popdock, flapdock, flopdock, lion’s mouth, rabbit’s flower, cottagers, throatwort, Scotch mercury. (Fig. 13.)

=Range and habitat.=—Foxglove was originally introduced into this country from Europe as an ornamental garden plant, but has now escaped from cultivation in a few localities and is assuming the character of a weed. This is the case in parts of Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia, where the plant is found in great abundance in dry, sandy soil, along roads and fence rows, on the borders of timber land, and in small cleared places.

=Description.=—This is a very handsome plant of the figwort family (Scrophulariaceæ), biennial, and the first year forms only a rosette of dense leaves, but in the second year of its growth the simple erect flowering stalk is produced, attaining a height of from 3 to 4 feet. This is round, indistinctly angled toward the top, leafy and downy. The leaves are oblong-ovate, narrowed at the base into long winged stalks; the upper surface of the leaves is dull-green and wrinkled, while the under side is grayish, with short, soft hairs and a thick network of prominent veins. The root leaves are rather large and are borne on long stalks, but as the leaves approach the top of the plant they become smaller and the leafstalks shorter.

The plant is in flower about June, and the long clusters of numerous tubular bell-shaped flowers are very showy. The clusters are terminal, and about 14 inches in length. The flowers are large, about 2 inches long, the color ranging from white through lavender to purple, the inside of the lower lobe bearing long, soft, white hairs and crimson spots on a white ground.

=Part used.=—Leaves of the second year’s growth only are employed, and these should be collected when about two-thirds of the flowers have expanded. They should be very carefully dried in the shade and then kept in closed boxes or barrels so as to keep out all moisture. The greatest care is necessary in curing, as the leaves soon lose their medicinal properties if not properly dried.

Preparations made from foxglove are of great value in heart troubles, but they are poisonous and should never be used except on the advice of a physician.

=Imports and prices.=—From 40,000 to 60,000 pounds of digitalis or foxglove are annually imported into this country from Europe, where the plant is cultivated. The American-grown product has so far never been used, but leaves from the wild American plant have been assayed and found to be equally as good as the European article.

The price per pound ranges from about 6 to 8 cents.

MULLEIN. Verbascum thapsus L.

=Other common names.=—Great mullein, velvet or mullein dock, Aaron’s rod, Adam’s flannel, blanket leaf, bullock’s lungwort, cow’s or clown’s lungwort, candlewick, feltwort, flannel leaf, old-man’s flannel, hare’s beard, hedge taper, ice leaf, Jacob’s staff, Jupiter’s staff, lady’s foxglove, Peter’s staff, shepherd’s club, torches, torchwort, velvet plant. (Fig. 14.)

=Range and habitat.=—Mullein is a native of Europe, and occurs in this country as a troublesome weed in fields and pastures, waste places, and along roadsides from Maine to Minnesota and southward, and it is also spreading in the far Western States. It produces great quantities of seed, and, if allowed to persist, will soon stock the ground with seeds which may retain their vitality and germinate at intervals for a number of years.

=Description.=—Mullein can be easily recognized by its tall, erect habit of growth, the white-woolly or felty appearance of the entire plant, and its spike of golden-yellow flowers. It is a biennial belonging to the figwort family (Scrophulariaceæ).

This plant has a stout, straight stem, which sometimes grows as tall as 7 feet. The stem and also the leaves are densely hairy, the latter alternate, sessile (stemless), their margins extending in wings along down the stem. The rather thick, rough leaves are from 4 to 12 inches in length, oblong, acute, and densely hairy above and below.

In the first year of its growth only a rosette of downy leaves is produced, but during the second year the flower stalk with its densely flowered spike appears. The golden-yellow flowers are produced from June to August.

=Parts used.=—As the leaves and flowers are to be collected at the time when the plant is in bloom, the propagation of the plant by the dissemination of its seed is prevented. The leaves are cured in the usual manner. They are practically inodorous, and have a somewhat bitter, mucilaginous taste.

It is very desirable to have the flowers retain their bright yellow color: they must therefore be thoroughly dried, and then kept free from moisture in well-stoppered bottles. They readily absorb moisture and if allowed to become damp will turn black. The corolla (petals), with the adhering stamens only, is dried, the calyx being rejected. Mullein flowers have a sweetish, pleasant odor.

Mullein is used in coughs and catarrh, to quiet nervous irritation, and to relieve pain and inflammation. According to some authors the dried leaves are often smoked like tobacco to relieve nasal catarrh and throat affections.

=Imports and prices.=—About 5,000 pounds of verbascum or mullein flowers are annually imported, chiefly from Germany, in which country this plant is cultivated. The leaves are also imported to a small extent.

The price paid for the leaves ranges from 2½ to 5 cents per pound, and that for the flowers may range from 25 to 75 cents per pound.

LOBELIA. Lobelia inflata L.

=Other common names.=—Indian tobacco, wild tobacco, bladder pod, asthma weed, gagroot, pukeweed, vomitwort, low belia, eyebright. (Fig. 15.)

=Range and habitat.=—This poisonous weed occurs nearly everywhere throughout the United States, being most plentiful east of the Mississippi River, and thriving in dry, clayey, or siliceous soil in sunny situations along roadsides, and in old fields and pastures.