234 PIIYTOLACCACE^. 



and manner of administration. It was formerly employed in fevers of a 

 typhoid character, but is now little used, except in bronchial and pulmo- 

 nary affections of an adynamic character. 



PHYTOLACCACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Herbs or undershrubs much resembling the 

 following order — Chenopodiaceae — but having a many-celled, many-ovuled 

 ovary, which in fruit forms a berry. Represented in North America by 

 the genus 



PHYTOLACCA. —PoKEWEED. 



Phytolacca decandra Linne. — Pokeweed, Scokeweed, Garget, Pigeon- 

 berry. 



Description. — Calyx : sepals 5, rounded, white, petaloid. Corolla ab- 

 sent. Stamens 10, rather shorter than the sepals. Ovary of 10 carpels 

 united in a ring ; styles 10, short, recui-ved. Fruit a depressed-globose 

 berry, dark purple, 10-seeded. 



A smooth, stout perennial herb with hollow stems and large fleshy 

 roots. Stem much branched, 3 to 8 feet high, at first green but becoming 

 purplish with age. Leaves scattered, ovate-oblong, entire, acute, smooth 

 both sides, petiolate. Flowei's in long racemes opposite the leaves, ap- 

 pearing in summer. The berries ripen in autumn, and are filled with 

 crimson juice. 



Habitat. — Common everywhere. 



Parts Used. — Phytolaccae bucca — phytolacca berry ; phytolaccae radix — 

 Phytolacca root — United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Constituents. — The active princii^le of poke has not yet been isolated. 



Preparations. — None are official. Both the berries and root have been 

 employed in decoction and in tinctm-e, and the root has been used also in 

 the form of an ointment. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — All parts of the plant jDossess acrid and 

 somewhat narcotic properties. The juice of the fresh plant, or a strong 

 decoction of the root, applied locally, may strongly irritate the skin, espec- 

 ially if tender or abraded. Taken internally it produces nausea, vomiting, 

 and purging, and, in overdoses, acro-narcotic poisoning. It has been em- 

 XDloyed with more or less satisfactory results in a great variety of cutaneous 

 affections, and in rheumatism, especially when chronic or of a syphilitic 

 origin. There is little doubt that, in view of the uncertainty which at pres- 

 ent exists regarding it, this plant would well repay further careful exj)eri- 

 mentation. 



