Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/138

 130 SNAKEROOT Or i the left Washington) from the north. bank it receives among others the Blackfoot Port Neuf, Hannack, Raft, Goose Salmon and Bruneau, in I.luho; the Owyhee Malheur, Burnt, and Powder, in Oregon ; and the Grande Ronde, just within Washington territory. SNAKEEOOT, a common name, usually witn a prefix, for several plants which are botanical- [y very distinct, applied to them because they were supposed, especially by the Indians, to be efficacious against the poisonous bites of ser- pents 1. Seneca snakeroot (officinal as sene- ga) is polygala senega. The genus polygala (Greek ffoAk, much, and ydAa, milk, as some , species were formerly supposed to increase the secretion of milk) has about 200 species, widely distributed, about 25 of which belong to this country, and a few showy exotics are grown as greenhouse plants. The flowers have the general appearance of those of the leguminosa, but their structure is quite different and is dif- f Seneca Snakeroot (Polygala Senega). Part of Boot of natural size. ficult to describe; two of the five sepals are colored and petal-like, while the three proper petals are united, the middle one keeled- shaped and often bearing a crest ; the six or eight sta- mens are united by their filaments in two sets, the anthers one-celled and opening by a hole at the top ; pod small and two-seeded. Poly- gala polygama and P. pauciftora, both pretty native species, produce, besides ordinary flow- ers, numerous fertile flowers on short under- ground runners. P. senega, the thick, hard, and knotted rootstocks of which are the seneca snakeroot of the shops, is found from New England southward and westward ; the stems are about a foot high ; leaves lanceolate, and the white flowers in close terminal spikes. The dried root has a peculiar odor and an acrid taste when chewed; it contains a principle called senegine, probably the same that has been called polygalic acid, and closely allied to aponine. The drug was first introduced into Virginia Snakeroot (Aristolochia serpentaria). Europe as the Seneca rattlesnake root about 1734 and in 1749 Linnseus wrote a dissertation upon the drug. It is a stimulant expectorant, and in large doses emetic and diaphoretic; it is chiefly nsed in the compound sirup of squills, or hive syrup. 2. Virginia snake- root, as found in the shops, is the root of ariatolo- chia serpentaria and its varieties. The genus aris- tolochia is apet- alous, and com- prises low herbs and climbing vines; the tubu- lar calyx is often curiously bent and inflated, and in some of the hot- house exotic spe- cies presents some of the strangest forms to be found among flowers. The best known species is A. sipho, which, under the name of Dutchman's pipe (from the shape of the flowers), is often cultivated as a vine for verandas. The medicinal species has a weak stem about a foot high, usually heart- shaped leaves, and a few inconspicuous flowers close to the root, the calyx tube being curved like the letter S. It is most abundant in the middle states and southward, but like most medicinal plants has become rare in the older states. The dried root, when bruised, has a marked odor and taste, which have been com- pared to camphor, valerian, and turpentine combined; it contains an essential oil and a resin. Virginia snakeroot had a high reputa- tion with the Indians as a cure for snake bites, and was early introduced into England as a remedy for the bite of reptiles and rabid dogs, and was officinal in the London Pharmacopoeia of 1650. It is now used only as a stimulant tonic and diaphoretic, and has been employed in the treatment of intermittent fevers. 3. Canada snakeroot, also called wild and Indian ginger, is asarum Canadense. The genus asa- rum, with the preceding one, belongs tc the family of aristolochiacea, and consists of low stemless herbs, from the creeping rootstocks of which rise usually one or two heart-shaped leaves on long petioles, and a short-peduncled flower, which appears in early spring; the regular calyx has three equal lobes, brownish purple, enclosing 12 stamens and the large pis- tils. A. Canadense has broadly heart-kidney- shaped deciduous leaves, in pairs, with the flower between them. The dried rootstock is in contorted pieces about the size of a quill, with an odor and a taste somewhat between