Part 8

=Description.=—The erect leafy stem of this annual herbaceous plant is from 1 to 3 feet high, from a fibrous root. It is simple and rough-hairy below, smooth above, and bears a few short branches. The entire plant contains an acrid milky juice. It belongs to the bellflower family (Campanulaceæ).

The pale-green leaves are alternate, from 1 to 2½ inches long, gradually diminishing in size as they reach the summit of the plant, the lower leaves being borne on stalks, while the upper ones are stemless. They are thin, oblong or oval, blunt, irregularly toothed, and almost wavy, with short hairs on both surfaces.

From July until frost the rather inconspicuous, very small pale-blue flowers appear. These are very numerous, each one borne in the axils of the upper leaves on very short stems, all together forming a long, spike-like head. The lower lip of the flower has three lobes, the upper one two segments, and from the center of the latter the tube of the flower is cleft to the base. The seed pods are in the form of inflated capsules, nearly globular, striated (grooved or marked with parallel lines), and contain very numerous minute dark-brown seeds.

=Parts used.=—The leaves and flowering tops are used in medicine, and there is also a good demand for the seed. The leaves and tops should be gathered after some of the pods have become inflated, should be dried in the shade, and when dry kept in covered vessels. The dried leaves and tops have a rather disagreeable, somewhat sickening odor, and the taste, though mild at first, soon becomes strongly acrid and nauseous. The seeds are extremely minute, and each capsule is said to contain from 450 to 500 seeds.

Lobelia is an expectorant, acts upon the nervous system and bowels, causes vomiting, and is poisonous.

=Price.=—The price paid for the dried leaves and tops ranges from 3 to 8 cents per pound, and that for the seed from 15 to 20 cents per pound.

TANSY. Tanacetum vulgare L.

=Other common names.=—Bitter buttons, ginger plant, parsley fern, scented fern. (Fig. 16.)

=Range and habitat.=—Tansy was originally introduced into this country as a garden plant from Europe, where it is native. It has now escaped from cultivation and is found as a weed along waysides and fences in many places from New England to Minnesota and southward to North Carolina and Missouri.

=Description.=—This strong-scented perennial herb belongs to the aster family (Asteraceæ). The stout, erect stem is from 1½ to 3 feet high, branching near the top, somewhat reddish, and usually smooth. The general outline of the leaf is oval, and it is divided nearly to the midrib into about seven pairs of segments, which, like the terminal one, are again divided for about two-thirds of the distance to the midvein into smaller lobes having saw-toothed margins. The entire leaf is about 6 inches in length.

Tansy is in flower from July to September, and the roundish but flat-topped yellow flower heads are produced in dense terminal clusters.

=Parts used.=—At the time of flowering the leaves and tops are collected for medicinal purposes and are dried in the usual manner. The odor of tansy is strongly aromatic and the taste bitter. In drying, tansy loses about four-fifths of its weight.

Tansy is employed in derangements of women, and has stimulant and tonic properties. It is also used for expelling worms. This drug is poisonous and has been known to produce fatal results.

=Imports and prices.=—About 30,000 pounds of tanacetum or tansy are imported annually. The price paid per pound ranges from 3 to 6 cents.

GUM PLANT. Grindelia robusta Nutt.

=Range.=—The gum plant (fig. 17) occurs in the States west of the Rocky Mountains.

=Description.=—The entire plant is covered with a resinous substance, which gives it a gummy, varnished appearance, whence its common name, gum plant, is derived.

This perennial of the aster family of plants has an erect habit of growth, and sends up a round, smooth stem about a foot and a half high, narrowly grooved and freely branching near the top, each branch terminating in a large yellow flower. The branches near the flower heads have a slightly reddish appearance.

The pale-green leaves are about an inch long, of a leathery texture, rather rigid, coated with resin, and show numerous translucent dots. The leaves are oblong-spatulate (having a gradually narrowed base below the broader rounded summit) and are more or less clasping at the base, the lower ones somewhat saw-toothed.

The yellow flowers are borne singly at the ends of the branches and measure about three-quarters of an inch across. The involucre (set of small leaves immediately beneath the flower) is very resinous and consists of numerous thick, overlapping scales, the tips of which are rolled forward.

=Parts used and prices.=—The flowering tops and leaves of this and of the scaly grindelia are collected indiscriminately, and bring from 5 to 12 cents per pound.

They are used in asthma and similar affections, and externally in cases of poisoning by poison ivy.

SCALY GRINDELIA. Grindelia squarrosa (Pursh) Dunal.

=Range.=—Scaly grindelia (fig. 18) has a wider distribution than the gum plant, being quite common on the plains and prairies from the Saskatchewan to Minnesota, south to Texas and Mexico, and westward to California.

=Description.=—This species is very similar to the gum plant, with the exception that it is smaller and does not have the gummy appearance of the former. The slender, erect stems are from 1 to 2 feet high and somewhat sparingly branched near the top. The branches near the flower heads appear to be somewhat more reddish than in the species previously mentioned. In this species, also, the leaves are not borne on stalks, but are somewhat clasping at the base, and they are longer (about 2 inches long), not rigid, thinner, and more prominently toothed. The flowers are also very similar to those of the gum plant, but are smaller, the scales narrower, and the recurved tips longer and more slender.

=Parts used.=—The leaves and flowering tops are collected with those of the gum plant, Grindelia robusta.

BONESET. Eupatorium perfoliatum L.

=Other common names.=—Thoroughwort, crosswort, wood boneset, teasel, ague-weed, feverwort, thorough-stem or thorough-wax, vegetable antimony, sweating plant, Indian sage, wild sage, tearal, wild Isaac. (Fig. 19.)