Ulmus fulva, Michaux.  The dried inner bark.
    Habitat.  N. America, New England, S. Carolina, west to Louisiana, Nebraska.
    Syn.  Elm Bark, Slippery Elm, Moose-, Red-, Indian-, Sweet-, Rock or American Elm,  British Tea (the leaves), Cortex Ulmi Interior; Fr. Ecorce d'Orme (fauve); Ger.  Ulmenrinde, Rusterrinde.
    Ul'mus.  L. See etymology, page 163, of Ulmaceae.
    Ful'va.  L. fulvus, deep yellow, tawny -- i.e., the color of the liber bark.
    PLANT. -- Large tree, 15-18 M (50-60 degrees) high, .3-.6 degrees) (1-2 degrees) thick; bark and wood reddish-brown, branches rough, whitish; leaves large 10-20 Cm. (4-8') long, 5-7.5 Cm. (2-3') broad, oblong, acuminate, unequal at subcordate base, unequally serrate, pubescent; rough on both sides, petiolate, buds covered with dense russet down; flowers April, small appearing before leaves, sessile, in clusters, calyx downy, corolla wanting; fruit samara, 12-18 Mm. (1/2-3/4') long, flat, broadly oblong, entire, notched, 1-celled, wing yellow, silky with short fulvous hairs.  BARK, usually broad, flat, oblong pieces, 1-4 Mm. (1/25-1/6') thick; outer surface pale brown, roughened by longitudinal striae and partially detached bundles of bast-fibers, occasionally patches of thin dark brown cork; inner surface light yellowish-brown, finely striate; fracture fibrous, projections of fine bast bundles; odor distinctive; taste mucilaginous.  POWDER, light brown (fawn)--numerous bast-fibers, calcium oxalate prisms, starch grains, .003-.015 Mm. (1/8325-1/1665') broad, numerous mucilage fragments, cork cells few or absent.  Test: 1. Macerate for 1 hour 1 Gm. in water 40 cc.--light brown mixture of thick mucilaginous consistence.  Dose, 3ij-4 (8-15 Gm.).
    ADULTERATIONS. -- BARK: Barks that are more brittle, less fibrous and mucilaginous; POWDER: Corn meal, flour, starches.
    Commercial: -- Tree flourishes in open high places, firm dry soil, being distinguished from U. americana by character of branches (rougher), leaves, buds, flowers, seed.  Bark should be collected in spring, deprived of epidermis, and dried, for which trees are felled in Michigan and other Western States, peeled and wood burnt or allowed to decay.
    CONSTITUENTS: -- Mucilage, starch and tannin (slight), ash 8-10 p.c.; European bark also contains tannin (considerable) and bitter principle, but no starch.
    Mucilage. -- Resembles that of flaxseed -- precipitated by lead acetate, but alcohol separates from its solution a gelatinous liquid.
    PREPARATIONS. -- 1. Trochisci Ulmi, N.F., gr, .3 (.18 Gm.).  Mucilage, 6 p.c. (if to be free from starch must use cold water); dose, ad libitum.  Poultice.  Uterine tents.
    PROPERTIES. -- Demulcent, emollient, nutritive.
    USES. -- Dysentery, diarrhea, diseases of urinary passages, bronchitis.  Externally -- finely ground or powdered bark mixed with hot water into pasty mass and used as a poultice for inflammations, boils, etc.; in shape of tents to dilate fistulae, strictures, os uteri, also in form of vaginal and rectal suppositories.
    Allied Plants:
    1.  Ulmus campes'tris. -- Europe.  Bark thinner than official, cinnamon color, mucilaginous, bitterish, astringent.  U. effu'sa, Black Elm, bark very similar; U. america'na, White Elm, New England, chiefly shade tree; U. ala'ta, Wahoo, S. United States.  Bark used in making ropes.
 

Umbellularia

    Umbellula'ria califor'nica, California Bay Laurel or Spice Tree.--Wood brownish, close-grained, esteemed for cabinet-work; leaves yield volatile oil 4 p.c., with nutmeg and cardamom odor; seed contain a fat; stimulant, anodyne in diarrhea, neuralgia, headache.
 

Urtica

    Urti'ca dioi'ca, Nettle (Stinging Nettle). -- Urticaceae; N. America, Europe.  Plant .6-1 M. (2-3 degrees) high, very bristly, stinging, leaves ovate, heart-shaped, pointed, serrate, downy beneath, upper stem downy, spike much branched.  Tonic, astringent, uterine hemorrhage.  Dose, gr. 15-30 (1-2 Gm.).
 

Ustilago

    Ustila'go May'dis, Corn Smut. -- The fungous growth upon Zea Mays, U.S.P. 1880, United States, etc.  The fungus is abundant upon stem, grains, and tassel; in irregular, globose masses 10-15 Cm. (4-6') broad, consisting of a blackish, gelatinous membrane enclosing many blackish, globular, nodular spores; odor and taste disagreeable.  Should be kept dry and not longer than one year; contains fixed oil 2.5 p.c., scleroic acid, crystalline principle (ustilagine) and alkaloid (secaline), volatile base, sugar, mucilage, ash 5 p.c.  Emmenagogue, parturient, increases uterine pains during labor, like ergot.  Dose, gr. 15-30 (1-2 Gm.).