310 CACTE.E 



VIOLARIE^E. Violet Family 



Herbs with alternate or radical leaves; corolla of 5 unequal petals, one being 

 spurred; stamens 5, connivent, alternate with the petals; fruit a 3-valved cap- 

 sule. 



359. VIOLA TRICOLOR. PANSY. HEART'S-EASE. The herb of Viola tricolor 



Linne'. Habitat: Europe, North America, and Northern Asia; cultivated. 

 The drug consists of the herbaceous upper portion of the plant, including green 

 leaves, straw-colored, broken stems, and the variegated flowers. Odor slight, 

 pleasant; taste somewhat bitter. It contains salicylic acid I per cent., 

 sugar, mucilage, a bitter principle, resin, and violin (in small quantity). 

 Mucilaginous, emollient ; much used in Europe as an alterative in skin diseases, 

 especially eczema. Dose: ^ to 2 dr. (2 to 8 Gm.). 



TURNERACE^E 



360. TURNERA. DAMIANA, N.F. The leaves of a Mexican plant, Turnera 

 aphrodisiaca (T. diffu'sa Willdenow). About 8 to 16 mm. (^ to % in.) long, 

 obovate or lanceolate, with a few-toothed margin; surface smooth or with 

 a few hairs on the under side along the ribs. They generally have mixed 

 with them pieces of the slender, woody stem, which is reddish-brown and 

 hairy, the branches being terminated by hairs; odor somewhat aromatic, 

 due to the presence of about 0.5 per cent, of volatile oil. Damiana leaves 

 form the basis of a number of the quack aphrodisiacs. It is not known as a 

 drug in Mexico, but as a general tea-like beverage. Dose: about I dr. (4 

 Gm.), in infusion. 



PASSEFLORE^;. Passion-flower Family 



361. CARICA PAPAYA. MELON-TREE. TRUE PAP AW (wholly different from 

 the common papaw, Asim'ina trilo'ba, of our Southern States). Habitat: 

 Tropics; cultivated. Although the inspissated juice (papain) of the unripe 

 fruit has been for a long time known as a medicinal agent, having a repu- 

 tation in its native country as a remedy for haemoptysis, bleeding piles, and 

 ulcers of urinary passages, and for ringworm, etc., it has only comparatively 

 recently attracted attention as a digestive agent. Dymock, in his treatise 

 on the drugs of British India, says: "Its digestive action on meat was prob- 

 ably known in the West Indies at a very early date. * * * It has long 

 been the practice to render meat tender by rubbing it with the juice of the 

 unripe fruit or by rubbing it with the leaves. Its therapeutic value, in the 

 form of papain, is specially commended in aggravated symptoms of dyspepsia." 

 Its constituents are mainly globulin, albumin, and albumoses. Dose: I to 3 

 gr. (0.065 to 0-2 Gm.). 



362. PASSIFLORA, N.F. PASSION FLOWER. The herb of Passiflo'ra incar- 

 na'ta Linne'; indigenous. Said by eclectic and homoeopathic practitioners to 

 be a somnifacient, useful in neuralgia, sleeplessness, dysmenorrhcea, etc. 

 Dose of a saturated tincture: 15 to 30 nj> (i to 2 mils). 



CACTE^E. Cactus Family 



363. CACTUS GRANDIFLORUS, N.F. Linne. NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS. Hab- 

 itat: Tropical America; cultivated as an ornamental herb. The fleshy, 

 hexagonal flowering branches are used in the fresh state. Sedative and 

 diuretic; useful in diseases of the heart when there is an irregularity of action. 

 The tincture and fluidextract have of recent years been growing in popularity, 

 but the supply of the drug seems difficult to obtain, and for this reason, 

 partly, the drug is not official. Dose: 5 gr. (0.3 Gm.). 



364. ANHALONIUM LEWINI, Henning. A Mexican cactus, acting powerfully 

 as a cardiac and respiratory stimulant; it has been used to a slight extent in 

 medicine in angina pectoris and asthmatic dyspnea. A source of mescal 

 buttons. A powerful habit-forming narcotic and intoxicant. 



