16-2 
and the Carolinas. It blossoms from April to May, before the full development 
of the leaves. The berries are mawkish, insipid, and without special flavor. The 
seeds are said to resemble coffee when roasted. 
The aborigines found in Caulophyllum their most valuable parturient; an 
infusion of the root, drank as tea, for a week or two preceding confinement, ren- 
dering delivery rapid and comparatively painless. They also used the root as a 
remedy for rheumatism, dropsy, uterine inflammation, and colic (Raf.). These 
uses have been proven reliable by all methods of practice since. 
The root is officinal in the U. S. Ph. The preparations in the Eclectic Ma- 
teria Medica are: Extractum Caulophylli Alcoholicum, Resina Caulophylli, and 
Tinctura Caulophylli Composita.* 
PART USED AND PREPARATION.—The fresh root, gathered in early spring, 
should be chopped and pounded to a pulp and weighed. Then two parts by weight 
of alcohol are taken, the pulp mixed thoroughly with one-sixth part of it, and the 
rest of the alcohol added. After stirring the whole well, and pouring it into a 
well-stoppered bottle, allow it to stand at least eight days in a dark, cool place. 
The tincture, obtained from the above mass by filtration, should have a deep 
orange-red color, by transmitted light, a taste at first sharp and penetrating, then 
sweetish, an acid reaction, and should foam largely on succussion. 
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS.—Safonin. This body was discovered in the 
roots of Caulophyllum by Prof. Mayer. A. E. Ebert+ corroborates the discovery, 
and adds the presence of two resins, one soluble in alcohol and ether, the other 
not soluble in ether. 
Caulophyllin.—The mass sold under this name is a mixture of the resins, 
extracted by simply pouring the partly-evaporated alcoholic tincture into water. 
Ebert determined also gum, starch, and a greenish-yellow coloring-matter, 
beside the general plant constituents. 
PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION.—The dust of the powdered root is extremely 
irritating to the mucous membranes with which it comes in contact, so much so 
that the Lloyds say,t “workmen dislike to handle it, some even preferring capsi- 
cum.” This irritation follows the administration of the drug throughout the body, 
but especially upon the female generative organs. It also exhibits the power of 
causing contractions of both voluntary and involuntary muscular fibres, the latter 
showing in the gravid uterus especially ; here it does not cause the long-lasting 
contractions of ergot, but intermittent and more successful ones. Its spasmodic 
action on general muscles is somewhat chorea-like, Caulophyllum also causes 
many forms of constant pains in the small joints, as well as fleeting rheumatic 
pains in the extremities. There is hardly an American remedy in our Materia 
* Caulophyllum, Secale, Polygonum, and Oil of Sabina. 
t Am. Four. Phar., 1864, p. 203. 
} “ Berberidaceea,” C. G. and Ff. U. Lioyd, 1878, 
