This plant is common to the central and southern parts of Europe, especially the Pyrenees, Alps, etc., being found from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. Its root affords the medicinal portion, and is brought to this market from Havre, Marseilles, etc. The U. S. P. describes it as follows:
“In nearly cylindrical pieces or longitudinal slices, about 25 Mm. (1 inch) thick, the upper portion closely annulate, the lower portion longitudinally wrinkled; externally deep yellowish-brown; internally lighter; somewhat flexible and tough when damp; rather brittle when dry; fracture uneven; the bark rather thick; separated from the somewhat spongy meditullium by a black cambium line; odor peculiar, faint, more prominent when moistened; taste sweetish and persistently bitter”—(U. S. P.).
The root imparts its virtues readily to cold or hot water, alcohol, or sulphuric ether. A liquor prepared from it in some parts of Switzerland is much prized as a stomachic; it is made by macerating the root in cold water, adding some sugar, yeast, and distilling after vinous fermentation has occurred. Flückiger (Pharmacognosie, 1891), states that as a consequence of this use, the plant has almost disappeared from some parts of Switzerland.