164 CAPRIFOLIACE^E. 



Viburnum prunifolium Linne.— Black Haw. 



Description. — Flowers all alike, fertile. Fruit oblong-ovoid, compressed, 

 bluish-black, glaucous, sweet. 



A shrub or small tree, 8 to 20 feet high. Leaves roundish-oval, ovate 

 or obovate, obtuse or abruptly pointed, finely and sharply, se.rrate, bright 

 green, glabrous. Cymes numerous, sessile, appealing in May. 



Habitat. — In dry woods and thickets from Connecticut to Illinois and 

 southward. 



Viburnum Opulus JAmi'j.— Cranberry Tre^Higii Cranberry, Cramp- 

 Bark. 



Description. — Marginal flowers of the cymes without stamens or pistils, 

 but with corollas much larger than those of the fertile flowers. Fruit 

 nearly spherical, half an inch long, bright red, of a pleasant acid taste, re- 

 sembling that of cranberries, for which it is sometimes substituted. 



A shrub, 3 to 10 feet high, with spreading branches. Leaves 3-lobed, 

 3-ribbed, the lobes acuminate, toothed. Cymes 3 to 4 inche^.jn diameter. 

 The flowers appear in May and June. A cultivated variety 0f. this species, 

 the common garden snow-ball bush, has all its flowers sterile. ; 



Habitat. — In swamps and along streams from Pennsylvania northward ; 

 less common than the preceding. • . 



Part Used. — The bark of V. prunifolium — United States Pharmacopoeia. 

 The bark of V. Opulus has also been employed, and is said to, act like that 

 of the official species. ,. 



Constituents. — Analysis. of V. prunifolium has shown the presence of a 

 brown resinous body of a very bitter taste, a greenish-yellow resin, or neutral 

 principle, also bitter, termed viburnin, valerianic acid, tannin, and other 

 unimportant vegetable constituents. V. Opulus probably possesses similar 

 constituents. 



Preparations. — Extractum viburni fluidum — fluid extract of viburnum. — 

 United States Pharmacopoeia. There are commercial fluid extracts of V. 

 Opulus. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Both these species of viburnum are said 

 to be antispasmodic, nervine, astringent, and tonic, and to act specifically 

 upon the uterus. Y. prunifolium is especially praised as a uterine sedative, 

 and is considered by many very efficient in threatened abortion and in 

 dysmenorrhea. The author has experimented with it to a considerable 

 extent, but with very unsatisfactory results. He has employed it in many 

 cases of threatened abortion, enjoining at the same time absolute rest in 

 the recumbent position, but never with any good effect which could be 

 fairly attributed to the drug. He has never been able to discover that it 

 restrains hemorrhage or abates any of the ordinary symptoms of threat- 

 ened abortion. He has observed, however, that to many patients it is in- 

 tensely disagreeable, not unfrequently exciting nausea and vomiting, and 

 thus directly contributing to bring about the result which it was intended 



