241 STILLINGIA SYLVATICA 



Female flowers ; calyx 3-lobed ; style slender, articulated below, 

 with 3 spreading branches, Capsule roundish, slightly rough, 

 greenish brown, 3-celled, with a single seed in each cell, separating 

 into 3 cocci, which open down their dorsal suture. Seeds nearly 

 globular, silvery white, roughish, with a well-marked caruncle. 



Habitat, Common in dry sandy soil in - the Southern United 

 States of America from Virginia to Florida and westward to 

 Texas. It is an insignificant weed-like plant, and is not in 

 cultivation in English gardens. 



Miill. Arg., 1. c., p. 1158; A. Gray, Man. Bot. U. S., p. 391; 

 Chapman, Fl. S. States, p. 404. 



Official Part and Name. STILLINGIA. Queen's Root. The root 

 of Stillingia sylvatica (U. S. P.) Not official in either the British 

 Pharmacopoeia or the Pharmacopoeia of India. 



General Characters and Composition. Stillingia has been fully 

 described by Dr. Wood in the United States Dispensatory. It 

 occurs in long cylindrical pieces, from a third of an inch to more 

 than an inch thick, wrinkled from drying, of a dirty yellowish- 

 brown colour externally, and, when cut across, exhibiting an 

 interior soft, yellowish, ligneous portion, surrounded by a pinkish- 

 coloured bark. The odour is slight, peculiar, and somewhat 

 oleaginous, but in the recent root is said by Dr. Frost to be 

 strong and acrimonious. The taste is bitterish and pungent, 

 leaving an impression of disagreeable acrimony in the mouth and 

 fauces. Nothing certain is known of its composition, but the 

 active principle is said to be volatile, and the root consequently 

 loses much of its activity when kept. Its virtues are imparted to 

 both water and alcohol. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Stillingia is emetic, cathartic, 

 and alterative. It is regarded by Dr. T. Young Symons, of the 

 United States, who first introduced it to the notice of the profes- 

 sion, as a valuable alterative in syphilis and other affections where 

 mercury is commonly employed. Other physicians have also 

 spoken highly in favour of its use, and from their testimony its 

 value is regarded in the United States of America, as established 



