74 
NAT. ORDER. APOCYNE^. 
Propagation and Culture. These plants are capable of being 
easily propagated by dividing their creeping roots early in spring, 
before the stems shoot forth ; they require a light, dry, sandy soil, 
which answers well for all the species. Some of the rarer kinds 
may be grown in a peat border with great success. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Some writers have mentioned this 
plant to be poisonous and blistering like Phus vermix ; but on the 
contrary we know it to be quite harmless. The root when chewed 
has an intensely bitter taste, which is perceptible in the whole plant 
in a lesser degree, except the flowers ; this bitterness arises from the 
milk it contains. The decoction is of a red color and very bitter. 
The spirituous solution is colorless but bitter. It contains, therefore, 
a bitter principle soluable in water and alcohol, and a coloring prin- 
ciple not soluable in alcohol ; besides a volatile oil and caoutchouc. 
The whole plant is very active and highly valued by the Southern 
Indians. It is tonic, emetic, alterative and syphiletec, the root is the 
most powerful part, but it should be used fresh, as time diminishes 
or destroys its power. The dose of thirty grains of the fresh pow- 
dered root will act as an emetic, similar, and equal to Ipecacuanna ; 
in smaller doses it is a tonic, useful in dyspepsia and fevers. The 
Chickasaw and Choctaw nations employ it in syphilis, and consider 
it a specific, they use the fresh root chewed, swallowing only the 
juice. For this latter use it has been introduced into Tennessee and 
Kentucky as a great secret. It must act as a tonic in all those cases, 
tonics being often emetic and antivenereal. The principal objection 
to this plant is its nauseous and intensely bitter taste, and many sub- 
stances may be found of a much less disagreeable nature. It is 
mostly used for its laxative properties. A wash made of the root is 
said to be good for ulcers, scalled head, &c. It enters into many of 
our most valuable compounds, and we doubt whether any practi- 
tioner acquainted with its medicinal properties can get his own con- 
sent to abandon its use. 
