This is a weed common to all parts of the Union. It grows to the height of from three to five feet, with pods like green corn beans. The stalk is of a dark color, and round. The root is the medicinal part, and should be dug in the months of August and September. There are many stalks growing from the same root. The root is from ten to twenty feet in length and about the thickness of a telegraph wire, and when broken exudes or throws out thick waxy milk of an extreme bitter taste.

Medical properties and uses. -- In large doses it will cause vomiting, and at the same time act as a cathartiac, but properly given will cure dyspepsia and liver complaint, or torpid liver with constipation. Take two ounces of the root, put it in a quart of whisky, and after standing fourteen days take from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful three times a day.