Holly-Leaf Cherry. Used for the same purposes as _Prunus serotina_.
SPIRAEA SALICIFOLIA (_Ind. Ha-ba-ba-neek_)
American Queen of the Meadows. Its habitat is the low coastal ranges. The root of the plant was used for common coughs and chest colds.
EUPATORIUM PURPUREUM (_Ind. Sa-ca-pe-yote_)
American Joe-Pye Weed. It was used for the same purpose as _Spiraea salicifolia_ in localities where that plant couldn't be obtained, although the latter was greatly preferred for the extra medicinal qualities it possessed as a mild laxative. The root, when made into an infusion, is extremely pungent and rich in flavor, but agreeable in taste to most people.
American Horehound. Its habitat is the woodland. Although the infusion made from the leaves and flowers is rather bitter, it is very good for ordinary coughs and sore throats.
American Black Sage. This plant is one of the most valuable of all for the cure of deep dry coughs of long standing, which have settled in the bronchial tubes. This does not mean coughs of two or three weeks' duration, but those which have existed for a period of from four to six months and which have, therefore, reached a chronic, dangerous stage.
The infusion was made full strength and given to the patient in small doses, hot--never cold--in the daytime, and one extra big dose before retiring.
DENNSTAEDTIA PUNCTILOBULA (_Ind. Ma-ciel_)
American Hay-Scented Wild Fern. Its habitat lies in the high California mountain ranges. We are now coming to the tuberculosis line. Hemorrhages of the lungs, and common diseases which prevail to a great extent among people who, through neglect and irregular habits, intensify coughs and colds.
It was nothing to an Indian to overcome these maladies of the lungs, which in his case were usually due to accidental injury. This wild fern bears oil nodules on the crown of the root system and they are available only at a certain period, from May to June.
ERIODICTYON GLUTINOSUM CALIFORNICUM (_Ind. Tan-que-bel_)
Commonly known as _Yerba Santa_, this plant proved to be possessed of great medicinal merits, and was very soon adopted by the mission friars for its outstanding qualities in the cure of coughs, asthma, rheumatism and pneumonia, being rightly considered as far superior in this respect to any of the other medicines brought by them from Europe. In fact, so great was the medicinal usefulness of these plants and hundreds of others known to the Indians, that they soon became the objects of study and investigation, which, however, met with failure, due to the severe punishment meted out to any and all Indians for divulging any secrets pertaining to the medical history of plants used by the tribes. A penalty which was sufficient to deter them from any further misdeeds in that direction, and which they always remembered. Quite a contrast to the modern, elastic laws of our present civilization.