Golden Seal
Where To Found It: The plant is a native
of Canada and the eastern United States, the chief States producing
it being Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, New York and in Canada,
Ontario. Most of the commercial supplies are obtained from the Ohio
Valley, the chief market being Cincinnati. It is scarce east of the
Alleghany Mountains, having become quite rare in New York State, where
it has been almost exterminated by collectors. It is found in the
rich soil of shady woods and moist places at the edge of wooded lands.
The North American plant Golden Seal produces a drug which is
considered of great value in modern medicine. The generic name of
the plant, Hydrastis, is derived from two Greek words, signifying
water and to accomplish, probably given it from its effect on the
mucous membrane.
Golden Seal belongs to the Buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, though
its leaves and fruit somewhat resemble those of the Raspberry and
the Rubus genus generally.
It is a small perennial herb, with a horizontal, irregularly knotted,
bright yellow root-stock, from 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch thick, giving
off slender roots below and marked with scars of the flower-stems
of previous years. The flowering stem, which is pushed up early
in the spring, is from 6 to 12 inches high, erect, cylindrical,
hairy, with downward-pointing hairs, especially above, surrounded
at the base with a few short, brown scales. It bears two prominently-veined
and wrinkled, dark green, hairy leaves, placed high up, the lower
one stalked, the upper stalkless, roundish in outline, but palmately
cut into 5 to 7 lobes, the margins irregularly and finely toothed.
There is one solitary radical leaf on a long foot-stalk, similar
in form to the stem leaves, but larger, when full-grown being about
9 inches across.
The flower, which is produced in April, is solitary, terminal,
erect, small, with three small greenish-white sepals, falling away
immediately after expansion, no petals and numerous stamens. The
fruit is a head of small, fleshy, oblong, crimson berries, tipped
with the persistent styles and containing one or two hard black,
shining seeds. It is ripe in July and has much the appearance of
a Raspberry (whence the name 'Ground Raspberry'), but is not edible.
Hydrastis Canadensis was first introduced into England
by Miller in 1760, under the name of Warnera, after Richard
Warner of Woodford, and later was grown at Kew, Edinburgh and Dublin.
Having no claims to horticultural attractiveness, its cultivation
has not been attempted in this country except in botanical gardens
- and on a slight experimental scale - nor has it been cultivated
on any scale in any other country until quite recently, when owing
to its growing scarcity in the woods of Ohio, where it used to be
abundant, plantations were started in a few parts of America, but
the amount under cultivation there is still very small.
In 1905 the United States Department of Agriculture called attention
to the increasing demand for Golden Seal for medicinal purposes
in a Bulletin (No. 51). There it is stated that the early settlers
learnt of the virtues of Golden Seal from the American Indians,
who used the root as a medicine and its yellow juice as a stain
for their faces and a dye for their clothing. It was not until about
1850 that the root became an article of commerce, and in 1905 the
annual supply of it was estimated at from 200,000 lb. to 300,000
lb., about one-tenth of which was exported, with an ever-increasing
demand. Thirty years ago it was plentiful in its wild haunts and
sold for 8 cents per lb., but as its supply diminished, not only
from overcollection, but from the forests in the central States
being cut away, the price rose in proportion and is now almost prohibitive.
Experimental growing of the drug here has not been attended with
much success, as it is of somewhat difficult culture.
The best conditions for the cultivation of Golden Seal are said
to be a well-drained soil, rich in humus, in a partially shaded
situation. Lath blinds (placed overhead on wires and light runners)
are used by American cultivators - as with Ginseng - and these are
considered to be preferable to the shade of trees, the roots of
which interfere with operations. The plant requires from 60 to 75
per cent shade. The root-stocks are divided into small pieces and
then planted about 8 inches apart in rows. Seeds are not considered
reliable. Fresh plantations are made in autumn, after the plants
have died down, or earlier, if they are lifted for a supply of marketable
rhizomes. The strong fibrous roots sometimes develop buds which
can be used as stock. Plantations thus formed take two or three
years to grow to marketable size, the rhizomes deteriorating in
their fourth year. According to an American grower, 32 sturdy plants
set to each square yard, in three years' growth will produce 2 lb.
of dry root. Experiments conducted by the United States Department
of Agriculture recommend growing it only two years and marketing.
It is stated that the plant may be transplanted at any time of the
year with safety.
It has proved difficult to obtain a supply of living roots with
which to start plantations in this country. The market is in the
hands of American growers, collectors and dealers, and it may be
that they are unwilling to spoil their monopoly by aiding other
countries to grow their own Golden Seal, but the drug is growing
in favour with medical practitioners, therefore its production on
a commercial scale in this country would appear to be desirable,
if it could be carried out with success.
The fresh rhizome is juicy and loses much of its weight in drying.
When fresh, it has a well-marked, narcotic odour, which is lost
in a great measure by age, when it acquires a peculiar sweetish
smell, somewhat resembling liquorice root. It has a very bitter,
feebly opiate taste, more especially when freshly dried.
The rhizome is irregular and tortuous, much knotted, with a yellowish-brown,
thin bark and bright yellow interior, 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inch long,
and from 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. The upper surface bears short ascending
branches, which are usually terminated by cup-like scars, left by
the aerial stems of previous years. From the lower surface and sides,
numerous thin, wiry, brittle roots are given off, many of them breaking
off, leaving small protuberances on the root.
The colour of the rhizome, though yellow in the fresh root, becomes
a dark, yellowishbrown by age; that of the rootlets and the interior
of the root is yellow and that of the powder still more so.
When dry, the rhizome is hard and breaks with a clean, resinous
fracture, the smooth, fractured surface is of a brownish-yellow,
or greenish-yellow colour, and exhibits a ring of bright yellow,
somewhat distant narrow wood bundles surrounding a large pith.
The chief constituents of Hydrastis rhizome are the alkaloids
Berberine (3.5 to 4 per cent.), which constitutes the yellow colouring
matter of the drug, Hydrastine (2 to 4 per cent.), a peculiar crystallizable
substance and a third alkaloid, Canadine; resin, albumin, starch,
fatty matter, sugar, lignin and a small quantity of volatile oil,
to which its odour is due, are also present. The rhizome is stated
to be much richer in alkaloid than the roots.
Hydrastis owes its virtues almost entirely to Hydrastine, the
alkaloid Berberine, apart from some effect as a bitter being practically
inert. The United States Pharmacopoeia requires Hydrastis to yield
not less than 2.5 per cent of Hydrastine.
For many years the alkaloids and the powdered root were the chief
forms administered, but now the fluid extract is the form most used.
The tincture is also official in both the British and the United
States Pharmacopoeias.
Modern Uses: The American aborigines
valued the root highly as a tonic, stomachic and application for
sore eyes and general ulceration, as well as a yellow dye for their
clothing and weapons.
It is official in most Pharmacopoeias, several of which refer
to its yellowing the saliva when masticated.
The action is tonic, laxative, alterative and detergent. It is
a valuable remedy in the disordered conditions of the digestion
and has a special action on the mucous membrane, making it of value
as a local remedyin various forms of catarrh. In chronic inflammation
of the colon and rectum, injections of Hydrastine are often of great
service, and it has been used in haemorrhoids with excellent results,
the alkaloid Hydrastine having an astringent action. The powder
has proved useful as a snuff for nasal catarrh.
It is employed in dyspepsia, gastric catarrh, loss of appetite
and liver troubles. As a tonic, it is of extreme value in cases
of habitual constipation, given as a powder, combined with any aromatic.
It is an efficient remedy for sickness and vomiting.
Other Names: Yellow Root. Orange Root.
Yellow Puccoon. Ground Raspberry. Wild Curcuma. Turmeric Root. Indian
Dye. Eye Root. Eye Balm. Indian Paint. Jaundice Root. Warnera.
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