. Bulletin. Agriculture. PLANTS FURNISHING ROOT DRUGS. 33 its quality impaired. The cup-liice depressions or stem scars on the upper surface of the rootstock resemble the imprint of a seal, whence the most pojuilar name of the plant, goldenseal, is derived. The rootstock as found in connuerci' is almost bare, the fibrous rootlets, which in drying become very wiry and brittle, breaking off readily JUid leaving only small protuberances. The odor of the dried rootstock. while not so iironounced as in tlie fresh material, is peculiar, narcotic, and disagreeable. The taste is exceedingly bitter, an
. Bulletin. Agriculture. PLANTS FURNISHING ROOT DRUGS. 33 its quality impaired. The cup-liice depressions or stem scars on the upper surface of the rootstock resemble the imprint of a seal, whence the most pojuilar name of the plant, goldenseal, is derived. The rootstock as found in connuerci' is almost bare, the fibrous rootlets, which in drying become very wiry and brittle, breaking off readily JUid leaving only small protuberances. The odor of the dried rootstock. while not so iironounced as in tlie fresh material, is peculiar, narcotic, and disagreeable. The taste is exceedingly bitter, and when the rootstock is chewed there is a persistent acridity, which causes an abundant flow of saliva. Collection, prices, and uses.—The root should be collected in autumn after the seeds have ripened, fi'eed from soil, and carefully dried. After a dry season goldenseal dies down soon after the fruit is mature, so that it often hap- pens that by the end of September not a trace of the plant remains above ground; but if the season has been moist, the plant sometimes persists to the beginning of winter. The price of goldenseal ranges from $1 to $ a pound. Goldenseal, which is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, is a useful drug in digestive disor- ders and in certain catarrhal affections of the mu- cous membranes, in the latter instance being admin- istered both internally and locally. Cultivation.—Once so abundant in certain parts of the country, especially in the Ohio Valley, golden- seal is now becoming scarce throughout its range, and in of the increased demand for the root, both at home and abroad, its cultivation must sooner or later be more generally undertaken in order to satisfy the needs of medicine. In some parts of the country the cultivation of goldenseal is already under way. The first thing to be considered in growing this plant is to furnish it, as nearly as possible, the con- ditions to which it has been accustomed in its na- tive f
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