American medicinal barks

Other common names.—Northern pine, Weymouth pine, American white pine, American deal-pine, soft deal-pine, spruce-pine.

Habitat and range.—The white pine, indigenous to this country, occurs in woods from Canada south to Georgia and Iowa.

Description of tree.—This large, handsome evergreen tree—sometimes 200 feet in height and with a straight trunk measuring 3 to 4 feet in diameter—has horizontal branches, both trunk and branches covered with a smooth, grayish green bark when young, becoming dark and rough with age, and longitudinally fissured. The wood is soft and white, and much used for flooring, etc.

The slender, pale green leaves, or needles, are usually five in a sheath, about 3 to 5 inches long, the flowers rather inconspicuous, and the cones cylindrical, drooping, sometimes slightly curved, resinous, about 5 to 10 inches long and about an inch in thickness, but much wider after the scales spread apart, which generally occurs in September, allowing the seeds to fall out. (Fig. 1.) It requires two seasons for the cones to mature. The white pine belongs to the pine family (Pinaceæ).

Description of bark.—The inner bark of the white pine is the part employed medicinally. It occurs in flat pieces of irregular size, about an eighth of an inch in thickness, brownish on the outside, the inner surface sometimes lighter colored and sometimes darker than the outside, smoothish, and marked with fine grooves. It breaks with a tough, fibrous fracture, and has a slight turpentine odor. The taste is described as “mucilaginous, sweetish, bitterish, and astringent.”

Prices and uses.—At present collectors are paid from about ½ to 3 cents a pound.

White pine bark is used as an expectorant, forming one of the ingredients in the sirup which bears its name, which is much used for coughs and colds to facilitate expectoration.

Synonym.—Larix americana Michx.

Other common names.—American larch, black larch, red larch, hackmatack.

Habitat and range.—This tree frequents swamps and moist places from Canada south to New Jersey, Indiana, and Minnesota. It is native in this country.

Description of tree.—In spring the light green, feathery appearance of the young leaves of the tamarack make it a rather conspicuous and attractive tree. It is a slender tree belonging to the pine family (Pinaceæ), but unlike other members of this family, except bald cypress, it loses its leaves upon the approach of winter. The bark is thin and close, finally becoming scaly. The wood, which is light brown in color, hard and resinous, is strong and durable.

The tamarack has horizontally spreading branches, and reaches a maximum height of 100 feet. The pale green leaves, which appear early in spring, are short, very slender, and needle shaped, from 20 to 40 together in a fascicle, or bundle, similar to the manner in which pine needles grow, except that they are without sheaths (fig. 2).

The aments, or flower clusters, are inconspicuous, and are of two kinds, staminate or male, and pistillate or female. The female clusters have a reddish and greenish tinge, and develop later into small erect cones, resembling in miniature cones of some of the pines and spruces (fig. 2).

Description of bark.—The tamarack bark, as found in the stores, is in rather large, coarse pieces or slabs, having the outer layer removed. The outer surface has a rather fibrous appearance, cinnamon brown in color, occasionally showing patches of brownish red or almost purplish where the outside layer has been imperfectly shaved off; the inner surface is smooth and light brown. The whole breaks with a somewhat woody fracture, showing ragged, splintery edges. The odor is rather strong and disagreeable.

Prices and uses.—Tamarack bark at present is paid for at the rate of from 1½ to 3 cents a pound.

The bark, in decoction, is said to be useful as a tonic and alterative, and also as a laxative and diuretic.

Other common names.—White poplar, American poplar, trembling poplar, American aspen, mountain-asp, quaking asp, quiverleaf, auld-wives’-tongues.

Habitat and range.—The aspen is found in dry or moist soil from northern Canada and Alaska south to the mountains of Pennsylvania, to southern Illinois, northwestern Missouri, and in the Rocky Mountains to Lower California.

Description of tree.—The greatest height attained by the aspen is 100 feet, with a trunk measuring about 3 feet in diameter. It is a native of this country and belongs to the willow family (Salicaceæ). The branches and trunks of the younger trees are covered with a smooth, light grayish green bark, but on older trees the bark becomes dark and deeply fissured (fig. 3). The young unfolding leaves are whitish and woolly, but become smooth as they expand. The leaves are broadly oval or rounded, with a somewhat heart-shaped base, a short-pointed apex, and finely round-toothed or frequently saw-toothed margin (fig. 4). They are about 1½ to 2 inches in length, and are borne on long, slender stalks which are flattened on the sides, causing the leaves to be set in motion by the slightest breeze and to quiver and tremble almost continually, which has given rise to some of the tree’s common names, such as quaking asp, trembling poplar, and quiverleaf. Early in spring, before the leaves are out, the drooping catkins appear, the staminate (male) from 1½ to 2½ inches long, the pistillate (female) crowded and longer. The capsules which follow are conical in shape, pointed, and two-valved (fig. 4).

Description of bark.—This bark generally occurs in straight pieces from about 2 to 5 inches long and about one-fourth to one-half inch wide. The outside is grayish and smoothish except here and there where marked with lenticels. The inner surface is somewhat rough to the touch, light colored to brownish. The fracture is even, somewhat corky, and the odor faintly aromatic.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The bark of the aspen, or white or American poplar, as it is often known in the drug trade, is collected in spring, and collectors are paid from about 1 to 4 cents a pound.

It is used for its tonic properties, and has also been employed in the treatment of intermittent fever.

As in the case of the willows, to which family (Salicaceæ) the poplars belong, the glucoside salicin is also obtained from the barks of the various species of Populus.

Other common names.—Salix, common European willow, duck-willow, Huntington willow.

Habitat and range.—The white willow has been introduced into this country from Europe, and has sparingly escaped from cultivation. It occurs in wet soil along streams from Pennsylvania northward to New Brunswick and Ontario.

Description of tree.—This is a tree of very rapid growth, and attains quite a size, sometimes 90 feet in height, with a trunk perhaps 6 feet in diameter. There is a group of willows known as “crack willows,” on account of the brittleness of the twigs where they are attached to the branches, and the white willow belongs to this group, as does the “crack willow,” or “brittle willow,” (S. fragilis), mentioned farther on. All of the species described are members of the willow family (Salicaceæ).

The gray and rough-barked white willow has lance-shaped leaves, pointed at the apex and narrowed at the base, and with saw-toothed margins. When young, both sides of the leaves are covered with silky hairs, but as they mature they become less hairy and are pale green on the lower surface, or covered with a “bloom.”

The long, loose, green, cylindrical aments, or catkins, are staminate and pistillate and are borne on different trees, appearing with the leaves in spring.

A variety of this species, with yellowish green twigs and with leaves smooth on the upper surface, is known as golden osier (S. alba var. vitellina (L.) Koch), and is the most common form found in North America.

Description of bark.—The white willow bark of commerce is generally in tough, flexible strips, the outer surface smooth or slightly wrinkled, and of a yellowish brown or grayish brown color. The inner surface varies from a light brown to darker brown, and is marked with long, fine lines. White willow bark has a bitter, astringent taste, but practically no odor.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The best time to collect white willow bark is in the spring when the sap begins to flow, at which time it is easy to remove.

White willow bark should not be kept very long, as the salicin content diminishes with age. This bark itself is not official in the United States Pharmacopœia, but the glucoside salicin obtained from it is so recognized. The medicinal properties of willow bark depend upon its two most important constituents, salicin and tannin.

Salicin has tonic, antiperiodic, and febrifuge properties, and is occasionally employed in rheumatic affections.

The wood of white willow furnishes a very pure charcoal which is used in the manufacture of gunpowder. The young branches, known as osiers, are much used in the manufacture of baskets, etc.

The prices paid to collectors range from 2 to 5 cents a pound.

Other species.—Roughly speaking, the willows, or Salix species, may be said to be divided into two classes, those with yellowish twigs and those with reddish or purplish twigs. Most of the yellow-barked species belong to the “crack willows,” which have their twigs attached in such a manner that they break off very easily. It is claimed that the red or purple barked twigs contain the most salicin, while those with yellow twigs are richest in tannin.[1]

Of those containing the most salicin may be mentioned the crack willow, or brittle willow (Salix fragilis L.). This, a native of Europe, has escaped from cultivation in this country, and occurs from Massachusetts to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It is a tall and slender tree, the trunk covered with a rough gray bark, and the twigs with reddish green bark. At the point of attachment the twigs are very fragile and break off readily. The twigs when planted grow very rapidly. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches in length, long pointed and narrowing toward the base, smooth, dark green on the upper surface, and of a lighter color underneath, and with margins slightly toothed. The flowers appear in April or May; the fruiting catkin is rather loose and about 3 to 5 inches in length, while the staminate or male catkin is only about 1 or 2 inches long.

Another species employed in medicine is the black willow, pussy-willow, or swamp-willow (Salix nigra Marsh). This is a native willow and occurs along the banks of rivers from Canada to Florida; it is not found west of the Great Plains, except in southern New Mexico and Arizona and isolated in California. It is tall and has a rough dark brown or black bark, and brittle yellowish branches. The leaves are narrowly lance shaped, and the catkins (pussy-willows) appear about the same time as the leaves, the male catkins about 1 to 2 inches long, and the female catkins as long as 3 inches, spreading apart in fruit. The bark of this species is used in medicine and the fresh aments, or catkins, are also employed.

Other common names.—Wax-myrtle, candleberry, candleberry-myrtle, wax-berry, tallow-bayberry, tallow-shrub, bayberry wax-tree, American vegetable tallow-tree, vegetable-tallow, American vegetable-wax.

Habitat and range.—The bayberry, which is indigenous, is found in sandy swamps or wet woods from Texas and Florida northward to Arkansas and along the coast of Maryland. In its southern home it is a small evergreen tree, but as it goes farther north it becomes, successively, a tall semideciduous shrub or a dwarfed and deciduous shrub.

Description of tree.—The greatest height attained by the bayberry is about 40 feet, but it is usually only 3 to 12 feet high. It is slender, with a gray, smoothish bark. The leaves, when crushed, have a fragrant odor, and are 1 to 4 inches long, narrow, dark green and shining above, lighter colored and dotted with resin cells beneath, and generally with margins entire (fig. 5).

The flowers appear from about March to May, according to locality, and generally before the leaves are fully expanded. They are borne in aments, or spikelike clusters, the male and female flowers being produced on separate trees. The yellowish aments bearing the staminate or male flowers are cylindrical, while the pistillate or female aments are oblong, shorter than the staminate, and greenish. The fruit, which remains on the tree for several years, consists of clusters of round, bluish white berries having a granulated appearance and covered with a greenish white wax (fig. 5). Each berry contains one seed. The bayberry belongs to the bayberry family (Myricaceæ).

Description of bark.—As found in commerce, bayberry bark occurs in curved or quilled pieces, sometimes only about an inch in length and sometimes 6 inches or more. The outside is covered with a thin corky layer, which is whitish and somewhat fissured. Underneath this layer the dark reddish brown, smooth bark may be seen. The inner surface of the bark is also reddish brown, but marked with faint lines. The fracture is light red and granular. The bark, when powdered, has a pungent, aromatic odor, causing sneezing and coughing, and the taste is bitter, pungent, and acrid.

Collection, prices, and uses.—Late autumn is the best time to collect this root, and after it has been thoroughly cleaned and while still fresh the bark is loosened and removed by beating the root with a mallet or similar instrument.

Bayberry bark brings from 2 to 5 cents a pound. It is used for its tonic and astringent properties.

The wax obtained from the berries is used for making candles.

Other common names.—Juglans, white walnut, lemon-walnut, oilnut.

Habitat and range.—The butternut tree, which is indigenous to this country, is of common occurrence in rich woods from New Brunswick to North Dakota and south to Georgia, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

Description of tree.—This much-branched tree, belonging to the walnut family (Juglandaceæ), is generally from 30 to 50 feet in height, rarely exceeding 100 feet, and when old has a thick, rough, brownish gray, furrowed bark (fig. 6), and the twigs, leaf stems, and leaflets, especially in the early stages of growth, are furnished with sticky hairs.

The yellowish green leaves are composed of from 11 to 19 leaflets, all stemless except the terminal one; the leaflets are 2 to 3 inches long, oblong lance shaped and long pointed at the apex, rounded or blunt at the base, and toothed. The flowers are produced in May, or about the same time as the leaves, the yellowish green male catkins 3 to 5 inches in length, and the female flowers in clusters of 6 to 8 flowers each. In October the sweet and oily oblong nut matures, enveloped in a strong-smelling, sticky husk. The edible nut itself has a thick, hard shell, which is marked with deep furrows or lines.

Description of bark.—Butternut bark, from the root collected in autumn, was official in the United States Pharmacopœia for 1890. It occurs in quilled pieces varying in length, and about an eighth of an inch or a trifle more in thickness, deep brown and smoothish or somewhat scaly on the outside, the inner surface likewise brown and with parts of the thin, stringy inner layer of the bark attached. It breaks with a short, fibrous fracture, finely checkered with white and brown. The odor is faint, and the taste bitter and acrid.

Collection, prices, and uses.—Butternut bark, which will bring the collector from 1 to 4 cents a pound, is taken from the root collected in autumn. Its use in medicine is that of a mild cathartic and tonic.

Synonym.—Carpinus virginiana Mill.

Other common names.—Hop-hornbeam, deerwood, leverwood, black hazel, Indian cedar.

Habitat and range.—The ironwood is indigenous to this country, and is common in rich woods in Canada and the eastern United States, and westward to Minnesota and Texas. It is occasionally cultivated.

Description of tree.—This usually slender tree attains its greatest height, sometimes 50 feet, in the western part of its range, while farther eastward it grows only about 15 to 20 feet high. The brownish trunk is finely furrowed in short, lengthwise lines. The wood is very hard and heavy, and is employed in making farm implements.

The leaves somewhat resemble those of the sweet birch, to which family (Betulaceæ) this tree belongs, but they are rough to the touch, instead of smooth and shining like the birch leaf. They are from 2½ to 4 inches in length and about an inch or more in width, oval or oblong-oval in shape, long pointed at the apex, and rounded at the base, and with margins very sharply double toothed. The upper surface of the leaves is usually smooth, except sometimes slightly hairy on the veins, while the lower surface is hairy or even woolly. (Fig. 7.) The green, inconspicuous flowers are borne in catkins, male and female, and are produced from April to May. The male catkins are cylindrical, and about 1½ to 3 inches long, while the female catkins are short, maturing in July or August into large fruiting cones from 1½ to about 2½ inches in length, and very much resembling hops (fig. 7).

Description of wood and bark.—The inner wood and the bark, which are bitter, are the parts employed in medicine. The wood is white, very hard and strong, and occurs in pieces a few inches in length and of varying thickness. The bark as found in the stores is in flat pieces about 2 inches in length; the outside grayish green with thin, short scales; the inside brown, marked with long fine lines or ridges, and generally with considerable of the woody portion adhering. There is practically no odor.

Prices and uses.—At present the price paid to collectors runs from about 5 to 6 cents a pound.

Ironwood is used for its tonic, alterative, and antiperiodic properties.

Slippery Elm.

Ulmus pubescens Walt.

Pharmacopœial name.—Ulmus.

Synonym.—Ulmus fulva Michx.[2]

Other common names.—Moose-elm, red elm, Indian elm, rock-elm, sweet elm.

Habitat and range.—This tree is native in woods, along streams, and on hills from Quebec to North Dakota, south to Florida and Texas. It is more common in the western part of its range.

Description of tree.—The slippery elm is usually about 40 to 50 feet in height, although it will sometimes grow as tall as 70 feet, with a trunk about 2½ feet in thickness. In dense woods it grows tall and straight, branching some distance from the ground, but in open woods and fields, where it often occurs singly, it is more spreading and irregular in growth. It has a dark, reddish wood, hard and durable, and is covered with a rough, reddish brown bark (fig 13). Even the small branches are rough and the twigs are furnished with rough hairs. The leaf buds, a few weeks before expanding, are soft and downy with rust-colored hairs. Short downy stalks support the rather large leaves, the upper surface of which is very rough and the lower hairy. The leaves are about 4 to 8 inches long and about 2 to 2½ inches wide, pointed at the apex, usually lance-shaped oval in outline, sharply toothed, and with an obtuse, unevenly shaped and generally heart-shaped base. The flowers appear very early in the spring (in March or April), before the leaves. They occur in dense, lateral clusters and consist of a bell-shaped, downy calyx, usually 7 lobed, no corolla, and 5 or 7 reddish stamens. The winged fruit which follows, known botanically as a “samara,” is flattened and circular; the seed is borne in the center, surrounded by the winged, membranous margin, which aids its dispersion by the wind (fig. 14). Slippery elm belongs to the elm family (Ulmaceæ).

Description of bark.—The commercial article consists of pale brown or whitish brown flat pieces tied in bundles, and it also occurs on the market in smaller pieces of uneven size, suitable for grinding purposes, but which bring a lower price. The flat pieces are of varying length and width, about an eighth of an inch in thickness, the outer bark having been removed in accordance with the requirements of the Pharmacopœia, but sometimes patches of it are still found adhering. They are tough, and break with a fibrous fracture. The inner surface is yellowish brown and marked with fine furrows. Slippery elm has a faint, peculiar odor, and a mucilaginous but insipid taste.

Collection, prices, and uses.—The outer bark is rossed or shaved off before removing the inner bark from the tree, which alone is recognized as official in the United States Pharmacopœia. It is taken from the tree in long strips, and generally dried under pressure so that it will remain flat.

The price paid for slippery elm bark is from 3 to 10 cents a pound, depending upon quality, the small, irregular pieces having less value than the large, flat pieces.

The mucilaginous character of slippery elm bark renders it useful in relieving coughs, and it is also employed in treating diarrheal complaints. It is soothing and allays inflammation, and is also somewhat nutritious. In certain sections of the country poultices are made from the bark and applied to abscesses.