PRUNUS VIRGINIANA 257 



PRUNUM (Prune) 



Until 1910, from which it is dropped, Prunum is named in 

 every issue of the U. S. P., excepting the New York edition of 

 1830. 



The cultivated varieties of the prune tree, Prunus 

 domestica, or prune, are believed to descend from a wild 

 prune, native to Greece, the shores of the Black Sea, 

 and the Caucasus, reaching even into Persia. Pliny 

 (514) records the fact that one of the numerous vari- 

 eties of the plum tree known in his day afforded a 

 laxative fruit. The pulp of the prune has been used in 

 domestic medicine as well as by the medical profession, 

 paralleling (or following), the efforts of those con- 

 cerned in early medication. The pulp of the French 

 prune was an ingredient of the once celebrated confec- 

 tion Lenitive Electuary. History does not record the 

 beginning of the use of this fruit in the confection 

 formerly so popular in domestic medicine. 



PRUNUS VIRGINIANA (Wild Cherry) 



Named in every edition of the U. S. P. In the first, 1820, 

 (2d ed., 1828), it appears in the Secondary List. From 1830 it 

 became fully official. U. S. P., 1910, directs stem-bark of Prunus 

 serotina (Prunus virginiana), the Wild Black Cherry Bark. 



The Prunus virginiana, wild black cherry, found 

 throughout the eastern parts of the United States, has 

 been widely used in domestic medicine since the days 

 of the Indian, being perhaps more highly valued in this 

 direction than by members of the profession, although 

 it has been recognized in the Pharmacopeia since the 

 first edition of that work, 1820. No more popular bark 

 of a native tree, excepting sassafras, is known to home 

 medication, which gave it a place in all works on early 

 American domestic medication. Its description and 



