Culver's Root (Veronica Virginica), Flowering Top and Rootstock.
The flowers, as stated, are usually white, tho the color may vary from a pink to a bluish or purple and on account of its graceful spikes of pretty flowers it is often cultivated in gardens as an ornamental plant. The fruits are small, oblong, compressed, many-seeded capsules.
Description of Rootstock — After they are dried the rootstocks have a grayish brown appearance on the outside, and the inside is hard and yellowish, either with a hollow center or a brownish or purplish pith. When broken the fracture is tough and woody. The rootstock measures from 4 to 6 inches in length, is rather thick and bent, with branches resembling the main rootstock. The upper surface has a few stem scars, and from the sides and underneath numerous coarse, brittle roots are produced which have the appearance of having been artificially inserted into the rootstock. Culver's-root has a bitter and acrid taste, but no odor.
Collection, Price and Uses — The rootstock and roots should be collected in the fall of the second year. When fresh these have a faint odor resembling somewhat that of almonds, which is lost in the drying. The bitter, acrid taste of Culver's-root also becomes less the longer it is kept, and it is said that it should be kept at least a year before being used. The price paid to collectors ranges from 6 to 10 cents a pound.
Culver's-root, which is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, is used as an alterative, cathartic and in disorders of the liver.
Stone-Root.
Collinsonia Canadensis L.
Other Common Names — Collinsonia, knob-root, knobgrass, knobweed, knotroot, horse-balm, horseweed, richweed, richleaf, ox-balm, citronella.
Habitat and Range — Stoneroot is found in moist, shady woods from Maine to Wisconsin, south to Florida and Kansas.
Description of Plant — Like most of the other members of the mint family (Menthaceae), Stoneroot is aromatic also, the fresh flowering plant possessing a very pleasant, lemon-like odor. It is a tall perennial herb, growing as high as 5 feet. The stem is stout, erect, branched, smooth, or the upper part hairy.