242 EUPHORBIACEJE. 



Part Used. The root of. both species. Formerly official, but dismissed 

 from the Pharmacopoeia in 1880. 



Constituents. A perfectly satisfactory analysis of these plants is yet to- 

 be made. That they contain an emetic principle is very evident, but it 

 has not yet been isolated. 



Preparations. Commonly administered in powder. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Both species possess similar if not quite 

 identical properties, being actively emeto-cathartic ; in small doses, diapho- 

 retic. More pleasant to the taste than ipecacuanha ; either of them may 

 be substituted for it in cases where emesis is desired, and cathartic action 

 is not objectionable. 



STILLINGIA. 



Stillingia sylvatica Linne. Stillingia, Queen's Root. 



Description. Flowers monoecious, collected in a terminal spike. Calyx 

 2- to 3-cleft or parted. Corolla absent. Stamens, 2 to 3 ; anthers adnate, 

 extrorse. Style single ; stigmas 3, diverging. Pod 3-lobed, 3-celled, 3- 

 seeded. Seed carunculate. 



An herbaceous perennial. Stems 1 to 3 feet high, erect, smooth, from 

 a very large tapering root. Leaves alternate, oblong-lanceolate, serrulate, 

 nearly sessile, commonly with two glands at the base. Fertile flowers few, 

 at the base of a dense sterile spike. The flowers are produced in summer. 



Habitat. In sandy soil from Virginia southward. 



Part Used. The root United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Constituents. Stillingia has a strong disagreeable odor, which is les- 

 sened by drying, and a bitter, acid, and pungent taste, which persists even 

 when the dried root has been exposed to the air for a long time. It has 

 yielded to analysis a volatile oil possessing the odor and taste of the crude 

 drug, and a resinous body which also appears to possess medicinal activity. 

 The so-called oil of Stillingia, occurring as a commercial article, is said to- 

 be an ethereal extract, not without medicinal properties, but in no way 

 resembling the true volatile oil. 



Preparations. Extractum stillingise fluidum fluid extract of stillin- 

 gia. United States Pharmacopoeia. It is also administered in decoction 

 and syrup. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Stillingia, in large doses, is an active 

 emeto-cathartic ; in small doses, alterative. By that class of practitioners 

 who reject mercury in the treatment of syphilis, stillingia is very largely 

 employed as a substitute. In scrofula, chronic cutaneous and hepatic dis- 

 orders, it is also said to act beneficially. In general terms, it may be said 

 to have earned its present reputation and standing as a remedy in those 

 cases which, in former times, were considered most amenable to sarsapa- 

 rilla. Whether its reputation rests upon a more secure foundation than 

 did that of sarsaparilla, is a question not easy to decide. One thing, how- 



