The prices paid for Male-fern root range from 5 to 10 cents a pound.
Male-fern, official in the United States Pharmacopoeia, has been used since the remotest times as a remedy for worms.
Grave results are sometimes caused by overdoses.
Goldthread.
Coptis Trifolia (L.) Salisb.
Other Common Names — Coptis, cankerroot, mouthroot, yellowroot.
Habitat and Range — This pretty little perennial is native in damp, mossy woods and bogs from Canada and Alaska south of Maryland and Minnesota. It is most common in the New England States, northern New York and Michigan, and in Canada, where it frequents the dark sphagnum swamps, cold bogs and in the shade of dense forests of cedars, pines and other evergreens.
Goldthread (Coptis Trifolia).
Description of Plant — Any one familiar with this attractive little plant will agree that it is well named. The roots of Goldthread, running not far beneath the surface of the ground, are indeed like so many tangled threads of gold. The plant in the general appearance of its leaves and flowers very closely resembles the strawberry plant. It is of low growth, only 3 to 6 inches in height, and belongs to the crowfoot family (Ranunculaceae). The leaves are all basal, and are borne on long, slender stems; they are evergreen, dark green and shining on the upper surface and lighter green beneath, divided into three parts, which are prominently veined and toothed. A single small, white, star-shaped flower is borne at the ends of the flowering stalks, appearing from May to August. The 5 to 7 sepals or lobes of the calyx are white and like petals, and the petals of the corolla, 5 to 7 in number, are smaller, club shaped, and yellow at the base. The seed pods are stalked, oblong, compressed, spreading, tipped with persistent style and containing small black seeds.