234 PHYTOLACCACE.E. 



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 — Chenopodiacea^ — but having a many-celled, many-ovuled 

 ovary, which in fruit forms a berry. Kepresented 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, recurved. 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. Flowers 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. — Phytolacca^ bucca — phytolacca berry ; phytolaccse radix — 

 Phytolacca root — United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Constituents. — The active principle of poke has not yet been isolated. 



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

 employed in decoction and in tincture, and the root has been used also in 

 the form of an ointment. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — All parts of the plant possess 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- 

 ployed 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 experi- 

 mentation. 



