74 NAT. ORDER. APOCYNE^. 



Propagation and Culture. These plants are capable of being 

 easily propagated by dividing their creeping roots early in spring, 

 before the stems shoot forth ; they require a light, dry, sandy soil, 

 which answers well for all the species. Some of the rarer kinds 

 may be grown in a peat border with great success. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Some writers have mentioned this 

 plant to be poisonous and blistering like Rhus vermix ; but on the 

 contrary we know it to be quite harmless. The root when chewed 

 has an intensely bitter taste, wiiich is perceptible in the whole plant 

 in a lesser degree, except the flowers; this bitterness arises from the 

 milk it contains. The decoction is of a red color and very bitter. 

 The spirituous solution is colorless but bitter. It contains, therefore, 

 a bitter principle soluable in water and alcohol, and a coloring prin- 

 ciple not soluable in alcohol ; besides a volatile oil and caoutchouc. 



The whole plant is very active and highly valued by the Southern 

 Indians. It is tonic, emetic, alterative and syphiletec, the root is the 

 most powerful part, but it should be used fresh, as time diminishes 

 or destroys its power. The dose of thirty grains of the fresh pow- 

 dered root will act as an emetic, similar, and equal to Ipecacuanna ; 

 in smaller doses it is a tonic, useful in dyspepsia and fevers. The 

 Chickasaw and Choctaw nations employ it in syphilis, and consider 

 it a specific, they use the fresh root chewed, swallowing only the 

 juice. For this latter use it has been introduced into Tennessee and 

 Kentucky as a great secret. It must act as a tonic in all those cases, 

 tonics being often emetic and antivenereal. The principal objection 

 to this plant is its nauseous and intensely bitter taste, and many sub- 

 stances may be found of a much less disagreeable nature. It is 

 mostly used for its laxative properties. A wash made of the root is 

 said to be good for ulcers, scalled head, &c. It enters into many of 

 our most valuable compounds, and we doubt whether any practi- 

 tioner acquainted with its medicinal properties can get his own con- 

 «ent to abandon its use. 



