Uses—The same as those of nux vomica. When procurable at a moderate price, the seeds are valued for the manufacture of strychnine.
RADIX SPIGELIÆ.
Radix Spigeliæ Marilandicæ; Indian Pink Root, Carolina Pink Root, Spigelia.[1613]
Botanical Origin—Spigelia marilandica L., an herbaceous plant about a foot high, indigenous in the woods of North America, from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and southward. According to Wood and Bache, it is collected chiefly in the Western and South-western States.
History—The anthelminthic properties of the root, discovered by the Indians, were brought to notice in Europe about the year 1754 by Linning, Garden, and Chalmers, physicians of Charleston, South Carolina. The drug was admitted to the London Pharmacopœia in 1788.
Description—Pink root has a near resemblance to serpentary, consisting of a short, knotty, dark brown rhizome emitting slender wiry roots. It is quite wanting in the peculiar odour of the latter drug, or indeed in any aroma; in taste it is slightly bitter and acrid. Sometimes the entire plant with its quadrangular stems a foot high is imported. It has opposite leaves about 3 inches long, sessile, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, smooth or pubescent.
Microscopic Structure—The transverse section of the rhizome, about ²/₁₀ of an inch in diameter, shows a small woody zone enclosing a large pith of elliptic outline, consisting of thin-walled cells. Usually the central tissue is decayed. In the roots, the middle cortical layer predominates; it swells in water, after which its large cells display fine spiral markings. The nucleus-sheath observable in serpentary is wanting in spigelia.
Chemical Composition—Not satisfactorily known: the vessels of the wood contain resin, the parenchyme starch; in the cortical part of the rhizome some tannic matters occur, but not in the roots. Feneulle (1823) asserts that the drug yields a little essential oil. The experiments of Bureau[1614] show that spigelia acts on rabbits and other animals as a narcotico-acrid poison.
Uses—Spigelia has long been reputed a most efficient medicine for the expulsion of Ascaris lumbricoides, but according to Stillé,[1615] its real value for this purpose has probably been over-estimated. This author speaks of it as possessing alterative and tonic properties. In England, it is rarely prescribed by the regular practitioner, but is used as a household medicine in some districts. It is much employed in the United States.