Bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis) Flowering Plant with Rootstock.
Description of Rootstock — When dug out of the ground Bloodroot is rather thick, round and fleshy, slightly curved at the ends, and contains a quantity of blood-red juice. It is from 1 to 4 inches in length, from one-half to 1 inch in thickness, externally reddish brown, internally a bright red blood color, and produces many thick, orange colored rootlets.
The rootstock shrinks considerably in drying, the outside turning dark brown and the inside orange-red or yellowish with numerous small red dots, and it breaks with a short, sharp fracture. It has but a slight odor and the taste is bitter and acrid and very persistent. The powdered root causes sneezing.
Collection, Prices and Use — The rootstock should be collected in autumn, after the leaves have died, and after curing, it should be stored in a dry place, as it rapidly deteriorates if allowed to become moist. Age also impairs its acridity. The price paid to collectors for this root ranges from about 5 to 10 cents per pound.
Bloodroot was well known to the American Indians, who used the red juice as a dye for skins and baskets and for painting their faces and bodies. It is official in the United States Pharmacopoeia and is used as a tonic, alterative, stimulant and emetic.
Pinkroot.
Spigelia Marilandica L.
Pharmacopoeial Name — Spigelia.
Other Common Names — Carolina pinkroot, pinkroot, Carolina pink, Maryland pink, Indian pink, starbloom, wormgrass, wormweed, American wormroot.
Habitat and Range — This pretty little plant is found in rich woods from New Jersey to Florida, west to Texas and Wisconsin, but occurring principally in the Southern States. It is fast disappearing, however from its native haunts.