MEDICINAL PART. The root.
    Description. -- This is an indigenous, perennial, coarse, purplish-green weed, with a stem from three to ten feet high. The leaves are from four to eight inches long, one or two broad, lanceolate, tapering to each end. Corolla showy, and dark purple.
    History. -- This is a very common plant to the Western States, growing in woods and prairies, and along rivers and streams, flowering from July to September. The root is bitter, and imparts its virtues to water and alcohol.
    Properties and Uses. -- It is a bitter tonic, deobstruent and alterative. In powder or decoction the root is beneficial in amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, leucorrhoea, and menorrhagia. It is useful in scrofula and some cutaneous diseases.
    Dose. -- Of the decoction, one or two fluid ounces; of the tincture, one or two fluid drachms. The leaves or powdered root make an excellent discutient application to tumors.