PLEURISY ROOT Asclepias tuberosa, L.( U. S. Agricultural Department, Appalachia, 1971)
Dose: Children may be given 1 – 5 drops in hot water, depending on age and condition, every 1 – 2 hr. If restless, add some Skull cap( Scutellaria) but reduce this after perspiration is established. Be sure to keep the patient warm. Infusion of 1 teaspoonful of cut or powdered herb to 1 cupful of boiling water, steeped for ½ hr. Give every 3 – 4 hr. for adults, in proportion for children. Of the tincture, 4 – 40 drops every 3 hr. or less, depending on age and condition. Homoeopathic Clinical: Tincture of fresh root— Alopecia, Asthma, Bilious fever, Bronchitis, Catarrh, Chancre, Colic, Cough, Diarrhoea, Dysentery, Headache, Heart( affections of), lnfluenza, Ophthalmia, Pericarditis, Pleurisy, Pleurodynia, Rheumatism, Scrofula, Syphilis.
POKE
ROOT Phytolacca decandra, L.( N. O.: Phytolaccaceae)
Common Names: Pigeon Berry, Garget, Scoke, Coakum, Inkberry, Pocan. Features: Poke, a strong-smelling pereninal herb of the family phytolaccaceae. Poke is native to the United States, from Maine to Florida and westward to Minnesota and Texas. Found in dry fields, hillsides and roadsides. The root matures to a very large size; it is easily cut or broken and the fleshly fibrous tissue is covered with a thin brownish bark. The stems are annual, about 1 in. in diameter, round, smooth, green when young and grow 3 – 12 ft. in height. The small greenish-white flowers appear in July and August, surrounded by dense foliage, followed by dark purple berries which ripen in late summer and autumn and are nearly globular, each containing ten carpels. The berries are only collected when fully matured. The young shoots and seedlings are often eaten; the former like asparagus, the latter like spinach. Make sure the root is scrupulously removed before using as a table vegetable. Phytolaccin is its active principle. Poke has had a long history of usefulness in medicine; it is toxic in too large amounts and persons using it should understand both its value and its limitations. Medicinal Parts: Root and berries. Solvents: Dilute alcohol, boiling water. Bodily Influence: Emetic, Cathartic, Alterative, Deobstruent. Uses: Preparation and dosage vary considerably with the condition of the root. Thurston, Hammer and other physio-medical practitioners recommended that only the green root should be used, owing to its rapid deterioration. Poke helps greatly in detoxicating the system from poisonous congestions. It stimulates metabolism and is useful for medication of the undernourished. Poke has creditable influence when the lymphatic glands, spleen and particularly the thyroid glands, are enlarged