Pipsissewa and Spotted Wintergreen

odor, but a bitter, astringent taste. They bring about 4 cents a pound. Pipsissewa has slightly tonic, astringent, and diuretic properties and is sometimes employed in rheumatic and kidney affections. Externally it has been applied to ulcers. Another species.—The leaves of the spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata Pursh) were official in the Pharmacopoeia of the United American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 15 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com States from 1830 to 1840. These may be distinguished from the leaves of C. umbedlata (pipsissewa) by their olive-green color marked with white along the midrib and veins. They are lance shaped in outline and are broadest at the base instead of at the top asin C. umbdlata. MOUNTAIN LAUREL. Kalmia latifolia L. Other common names.—Broad-leaved laurel, broad-leaved kalmia, American laurel, sheep laurel, rose laurel, spurge laurel, small laurel, wood laurel, kalmia, calico bush, spoonwood, spoon-hunt, ivy bush, big- leaved ivy, wicky, calmoun. Habitat and range—The mountain laurel is found in sandy or rocky soil in woods from New Brunswick south to Ohio, Florida, and Louisiana. Description—This is an evergreen shrub from about 4 to 20 feet in height, with leathery leaves, and when in + flower it is one of the most beautiful and showy of our native plants. It has very stiff branches and leathery oval or elliptical leaves borne on stems, mostly alternate, pointed at both ends, with margins entire, smooth and bright green on both sides, and having terminal, clammy-hairy clusters of flowers, which appear from about May to June. The buds are rather oddly shaped and fluted, at first of a deep rose color, expanding into saucer- shaped, more __ delicately tinted, whitish-pink flowers. Each saucer-shaped flower iS Fim ¢—Mowntwim ul | taste teaqrarons.t American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 16 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com provided with 10 pockets holding the anthers of the stamens, but from which these free themselves elastically when the flower is fully expanded. (Fig. 9.) The seed capsule is somewhat globular, the calyx and threadlike style remaining attached until the capsules open. Mountain laurel, which belongs to the heath family (Ericaceae), is poisonous to sheep and calves. Collection, prices, and uses.—The leaves, which bring about 3 to 4 cents a pound, are collected in the fall. They are used for their astringent properties. GRAVEL PLANT. Epigaea repens L. Other common names.—Trailing arbutus, Mayflower, shad-flower, ground laurel, mountain pink, winter pink. =a 7 Habitat and range—This shrubby little plant spreads out on the ground in sandy soil, being found especially under evergreen trees from Florida to Michigan and northward. Description.—The gravel plant is one of our early spring flowers, and under its more popular name "trailing arbutus" it is greatly prized on account of its delicate shell- pink, waxy blossoms with their faint yet spicy fragrance. Gravel plant is the name that is generally applied to it in the drug trade. It spreads on the ground with stems 6 inches or more in length and has rust- colored hairy twigs bearing evergreen leaves. The leaves Fra, 10. —tlewved paist ¢ Bypipaee reper), Wunven ated Merion, American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 17 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com are green above and below, thick and leathery, oval or roundish, sometimes with. the top pointed, blunt, or having a short stiff point and a rounded or heart-shaped base. The margins are unbroken and the upper surface is smooth, while the lower surface is somewhat hairy. The leaves measure from 1 to 3 inches in length and are about half as wide, the hairy stalks supporting them ranging from one-fourth of an inch to 2 inches in length. Early in the year, from about March to May, the flower clusters appear. These are borne in the axils of the leaves and at the ends of the branches and consist of several waxy, pinkish-white, fragrant flowers with saucer-shaped, 5-lobed corolla, the throat of the corolla tube being very densely hairy within. (Fig. 10.) The seed capsule is somewhat roundish, flattened, five celled, and contains numerous seeds. The gravel plant, belongs to the heath family (Ericaceae) andisa perennial. Collection, prices, and uses.—The leaves are collected at flowering time and are worth about 3 or 4 cents a pound. They have a bitter, astringent taste and are said to possess astringent and diuretic properties. WINTERGREEN. Gaultheria procumbens L. Other common names.—Gaultheria, spring wintergreen, creeping wintergreen, aromatic wintergreen, spicy wintergreen, checkerberry, teaberry, partridge berry, grouseberry, spiceberry, chickenberry, deerberry, groundberry, hillberry, ivyberry, boxberry,redberrytea, Canadian tea, mountain tea, ivory plum, chinks, drunkards, red pollom, rapper dandies, wax cluster. Habitat and range—This small native perennial frequents sandy soils in cool damp woods, occurring especially under evergreen trees in Canada and the northeastern United States. Description.—Wintergreen is an aromatic, evergreen plant with an underground or creeping stem producing erect branches not more than 6 inches in height, the lower part of which is smooth and naked, while near the ends are bome the crowded clusters of evergreen leaves. These are alternate, shining dark green above, lighter colored underneath, spicy, thick and leathery, oval and narrowing toward the base, 1 to 11/2 American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 18 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com inches in length, and _ of varying width. From about June to September the solitary, somewhat urn-shaped and five-toothed white and waxy flowers appear, borne on recurved stems in the axils of the leaves. (Fig. 11.) These are followed by globular, somewhat flattened berries, which ripen in autumn and remain on the plant, sometimes until spring. They are bright red, five celled, mealy, and spicy. All parts of the plant, which belongs to the heath family (Ericaceae), are aromatic. Collection, prices, and uses.—The leaves of Pio, 11—Wintorgreen (Gauliheria procumbens), flowering and iat. Wintergreen, or gaultheria, ing plants. were at one time official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, but now only the oil of wintergreen, distilled from the leaves, is so regarded. The leaves should be collected in autumn. Sometimes the entire plant is pulled up and, after drying, the leaves readily shake off. The price paid to collectors ranges from about 3 to 4 cents a pound. Wintergreen has stimulant, antiseptic, and diuretic properties. Its chief use, however, seems to be as a flavoring agent. BEARBERRY. Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng. Pharmacopoeial name—Uva ursi. Other common names.—Red bearberry, bear's-grape, bear's bilberry, bear's whortleberry, foxberry, upland cranberry, mountain cranberry, crowberry, mealberry, rock-berry, mountain box, kinnikinnic, killikinic, American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 19 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com universe vine, brawlins, burren myrtle, creashak, sagachomi, rapper dandies (fruit). Habitat and range— Bearberry is a native of this country, growing in dry sandy or rocky soil from the Middle Atlantic States north to Labrador and westward to California and Alaska. Description.—The bearberry is a low, much-branched shrub trailing over the ground and having leathery, evergreen leaves. It is a member of the heath family (Ericaceae) and produces its pretty waxy flowers about May. The numerous crowded leaves are thick and_ leathery, evergreen, about one-half to 1 inch in length, blunt and widest at the top and narrowing at the base, with a network of fine veins, smooth, and with margins entire. The flowers are few, borne in short drooping clusters at the ends of the branches, and are ovoid or somewhat bell shaped in form, four or five lobed, white with a pinkish tinge. They are followed by smooth, red, globular fruits, with an insipid, rather dry pulp, containing five nutlets. (Fig. 12.) Pia. 22. —Hearberry ¢Avetetapaylor wro-wral), eaves ntsc frutta. Collection, prices, and uses.—Bearberry or uva ursi leaves, official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, are collected in autumn. Collectors receive from about 2 to 4 cents a pound for them. Bearberry leaves have a bitter, astringent taste and a faint odor. They act on the kidneys and bladder and have astringent and tonic properties. American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 20 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com Another species—The leaves of manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca Lindl.), a shrub-like tree, 9 to 25 feet high, have properties similar to uva ursi and are also used in medicine for similar purposes. They are of a leathery texture, pale green, ovate oblong in shape, with unbroken margins, and about 2 inches in length. Manzanita grows in California, in dry rocky districts on the western slopes of the Sierras. BUCK BEAN. Menyanthes trifoliata L. Other common names.—Bog bean, bog myrtle, bog hop, bog nut, brook bean, bean trefoil, marsh trefoil, water trefoil, bitter trefoil, water shamrock, marsh clover, moonflower, bitterworm. Habitat and range—The buck bean is a marsh herb occurring in North America as far south as Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and California. It is also native in Europe. Description—This perennial herb arises from a long, black, creeping, scaly rootstock, the leaves being produced from the end of the same on _ erect sheathing stems measuring about 2 to 10 inches in height. The leaves consist of three oblong-oval or broadly oval leaflets 11/2 to 3 inches long, somewhat fleshy and smooth, blunt at the top, with margins entire and narrowed toward . the base; the upper surface is pale green and the lower surface somewhat glossy, with the thick midrib light in color. The flower cluster is produced American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 21 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com Fi, 13,—Buck bean (Menyanthes trifoliata), flowering plant. from May to July on a long, thick, naked stalk arising from the rootstock It bears from 10 to 20 flowers, each with a funnel-shaped tube terminating in five segments which are pinkish purple or whitish on the outside and whitish and thickly bearded with white hairs within. (Fig. 13.) The capsules which follow are ovate, blunt at the top, smooth and light brown, and contain numerous smooth and shining seeds. Buck bean is a_ perennial belonging to the buck-bean family (Menyanthaceae). Collection, prices, and uses.—The leaves are generally collected in spring. They lose more than three-fourths of their weight in drying. The price paid per pound is about 6 to 8 cents. Buck-bean leaves have a very bitter taste, but no odor. Large doses are said to have cathartic and sometimes emetic action, but the principal use of buck-bean leaves is as a bitter tonic. They have been employed in dyspepsia, fevers, rheumatic and skin affections, and also as a remedy against worms. The rootstock is also sometimes employed medicinally and was recognized in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1830 to 1840. SKULLCAP. Scutdlaria lateriflora L. Pharmacopoeial name—Scutellaria. Other common names.—American skullcap, blue skullcap, mad-dog skullcap, side-flowering skullcap, madweed, hoodwort, blue pimpernel, hooded willow-herb. Habitat and range—tThis species is native in damp places along banks of streams from Canada southward to Florida, New Mexico, and Washington. Description.—The lip-shaped flowers and squarish stems of the skullcap indicate that it is a member of the mint family (Menthaceae). It is a perennial of slender, erect habit, its square, leafy, branching stem ranging from 8 inches to 2 feet in height, smooth, or sometimes hairy at the top. The leaves are placed opposite to each other on the stem on American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 22 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com slender stalks and are about 1 to 3 inches in length and about one-third as wide, thin in texture, oblong or lance shaped, with margins coarsely toothed. They gradually become smaller toward the top, and sometimes those at the very top have the margins unbroken. The flowers are borne in narrow, spikelike, one- sided clusters, generally in the axils of the leaves, but frequently also at the top, and are interspersed with leafy bracts. They appear from about July to September and are blue, shading off to whitish. The tubular, 2-lipped flowers are about a quarter of an inch in length, and the calyx, or outer green covering of the flower, is also two lipped, the upper lip shaped like a helmet og, és aasnaia wi and closing in fruit. (Fig. 14.) ile geod , Nowering ternchy, sttowine ims Collection, prices, and uses.—The dried plant is at present official in the United States Pharmacopoeia. The entire plant is collected when in flower and should be carefully dried in the shade. The price ranges from about 3 to 4 cents a pound. Very frequently collectors will gather some other species in place of the official plant, most of those thus wrongly finding their way into the market being generally of stouter growth, with broader leaves and much larger flowers. This plant was once considered valuable for the prevention of hydrophobia, whence the names "mad-dog skullcap " and "madweed," but it is now known to be useless for that purpose. It is used principally as a tonic and to a limited extent for allaying nervous irritation of various kinds. American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 23 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com HOREHOUND. Marrubium vulgareL, Pharmacopoial name—Marrubium. Other common names.—H oundsbene, marvel, marrube. Habitat and range—Horehound grows in dry sandy or stony soil in waste places, along roadsides and near dwellings, in fields, and pastures. It is found from Maine to South Carolina, Texas, and westward to California and Oregon. It is very abundant in pastures in RS co jl 4 € * i} t Fed. 1 — Hurvbeand ( Marrvluim evfowre) Howery, wod seed ciaxtors Oregon and California, and especially in southern California, where it is a very trouble-some weed, covering vast areas and in such dense masses as to crowd out all other vegetation. It has been naturalized from Europe. Description—The entire plant is thickly covered with hairs, which give it a whitish, woolly appearance. It isa bushy, branching herb, having a pleasant aromatic odor, and is about 1 to 3 feet high, with many woolly stems rounded below and four angled above, with opposite, oval or roundish, wrinkled, strongly veined, and very hoary leaves. The leaves are about 1 to 2 inches in length, placed opposite each other on the stem, oval or nearly round, somewhat blunt at the apex, and narrowed or somewhat heart shaped at the base, the margins round toothed; the upper surface is wrinkled and somewhat hairy, while the lower surface is very hoary and prominently veined. The lip-shaped flowers, which appear from June to September, show that it is a member of the mint family (Menthaceae). These are borne in dense woolly clusters in the axils of the leaves and American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 24 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com are whitish, two lipped, the upper lip two lobed, the lower three lobed. The hooked calyx teeth of the mature flower heads cling to the wool of sheep, resulting in the scattering of the seeds. (Fig. 15.) Collection, prices, and uses.—The leaves and tops are the parts used in medicine and are official in the United States Pharmacopoeia. These are gathered just before the plant is in flower, the coarse stalks being rejected. They should be carefully dried in the shade. The odor is pleasant, rather aromatic, but diminishes in drying. The taste is bitter and persistent. Horehound at present brings about 1/2 to 2 cents a pound. It is well known as a domestic remedy for colds and is also used in dyspepsia and_ for expelling worms. CATNIP. Nepeta catariaL. Other common names.—Cataria, catmint, catwort, catrup, field mint. Habitat and range.—Catnip, a common weed naturalized from Europe, occurs in rather dry soil in waste places and cultivated land from Canada to Minnesota and south to Virginia and Arkansas. Description.—The fine white hairs on the stems of this plant give it a somewhat whitish appearance. Catnip reaches about 2 to 3 feet in height, with erect, square, and branched stems. It is a perennial belonging to the mint family (M enthaceae). FU Mi —Cuteip (Nite datardi), betes wed Mowers American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 25 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com The opposite leaves are heart shaped or oblong, with a pointed apex, the upper surface green, the lower grayish green with fine white hairs, the margins finely scalloped and 1 to 21/2 inches in length. About June to September the many-flowered, rather thick spikes are produced at the ends of the stem and branches. The whitish flowers, dotted with purple, are two lipped, the upper lip notched or two cleft, the lower one with three lobea, the middle lobe broadest and sometimes two cleft. (Fig. 16). Collection, prices, and uses.—The leaves and flowering tops, which have a strong odor and a bitter taste, are collected when the plant is in flower and are carefully dried. The coarser stems and branches should be rejected. Catnip was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1840 to 1880. The price ranges from 3 to 5 cents a pound. Catnip is used as a mild stimulant and tonic and as an emmenagogue. It also has a quieting effect on the nervous system. MOTHERWORT. Leonurus cardiaca L. Synonym.—Cardiaca vulgaris Moench. Other common names.—Throwwort, cowthwort, lion's-tail, lion's-ear. Habitat and range—Motherwort, naturalized from Europe and a native also of Asia, is found about dwellings and in waste places, its range in this country extending from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Description. —The rather stout, erect, 4-angled stem of this perennial herb attains a height of from 2 to 5 feet, is sparingly hairy, and has upright branches. The rough, dark-green leaves are borne on long stems, the lower ones rounded, about 2 to 4 inches wide and three to five lobed, the lobes pointed, toothed, or variously cut, the upper narrower ones three cleft with lance-shaped lobes. Motherwort flowers in summer, the pale-purple or pinkish lip-shaped blossoms produced in the axils of the leaves being arranged in dense circles around the stem; American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs - Page 26 The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://www.swsbm.com the upper lip is densely covered with white, woolly hairs on the outside and the lower lip is three lobed and mottled. (Fig. 17.) Motherwort belongs to the mint family (Menthaceae). Collection, prices, and uses.— The leaves and flowering tops are collected during the flowering season. They have an aromatic odor and a very bitter taste. At present they bring about 3 to 5 cents a pound. Motherwort has stimulant, slightly tonic properties and is used also to promote perspiration. PENNYROYAL. Hedeoma. pulegioides (L.)Pers. Fie, 17, —Motheewort, (Leonuyuas orrdiaca), leaves, flower, and sed chinstent, Pharmacopoeial name—Hedeoma. Other common names.—American pennyroyal, mock pennyroyal, squaw mint, tick-weed, stinking balm, mosquito plant. Habitat and range—Pennyroyal is found in dry soil from Nova Scotia and Quebec to Dakota and southward. Description.—This very strongly aromatic annual of the mint family (Menthaceae) is of rather insignificant appearance, being a low-growing plant, 'about 6 inches to a foot or so in height, with a slender, erect, much-branched and somewhat hairy stem. The opposite leaves are small, scarcely exceeding three-fourths of an inch in length and becoming smaller