Meridian Institute

The Cayce Herbal A Comprehensive Guide to the Botanical Medicine of Edgar Cayce

A Manual of Materia Medica and Pharmacology by David M. R. Culbreth, Ph.G., M.D. (1927) Jateorhiza CALUMBA. CALUMBA, U.S.P.

    Jateorhiza palmata, (Lamarck) Miers. The dried root yielding not more than 2.5 p.c. of acid-insoluble ash.
    Habitat. E. Africa, Madagascar (Mozambique and Quilimane forets, along the lower Zambesi River); cultivated in Africa and E. India islands.
    Syn. Calumb., Columba, Columbo, (Foreign) Colombo, Kalumb.; Br. Calumbae Radix; Fr. Colombo, Racine de Colombo (Calumbe); Ger. Radix Colombo, Kolombowurzel.
    Jat-e-o-rhi'sa. L. fr. Gr...., healing, + ..., a root -- i.e., its medicinal virtues.
    Pal-ma'ta. L. Palmatus, like the palm of the open hand with radiating fingers (segments) -- i.e., the leaves palmately-lobed or divided.
    Ca-lum'ba. L. fr. native African name, kalumb, hence Colombo in Ceylon, supposed to be the plant's original habitat.
    PLANT. -- Perennial climber; stems several, green, 6-12 Mm. (1/4-1/2') thick, hairy, from short, thick, irregular rhizome; leaves petiolate, large, 25 Cm. (10') long, 35 Cm. (14') broad, orbicular, cordate, 3-5-7-palmately-lobed, lobes entire, wavy, hairy; flowers dioecious, 6's, 12 Mm. (1/2') broad; fruit 3 ovoid fleshy drupes, size of hazelnut, 1-seeded. ROOTS, from rhizome, many fleshy, fasciculated, fusiform; commercially in circular, oval disks up to 10 Cm. (4') and seldom exceeding 2 Cm. (4/5') thick, or longitudinal, oblique slices up to 30 Cm. (12') long; edge brown, roughly wrinkled, cut surfaces yellowish-brown, grayish-yellow, transverse slices radiate in outer portion with dark cambium, center often depressed (thinnest); fracture short, mealy; odor slight; taste slightly aromatic, very bitter. POWDER, greenish-brown, grayish-yellow--many starch grains, .003-.085 Mm. (1/8325/1/300') broad, few stone cells with one or more calcium oxalate prisms or sphenoidal microcrystals; few fragments with tracheae associated with wood-fibers. Solvents: alcohol (75 p.c.); boiling water largely (calumbin, berberine). Dose, gr. 5-30 (.3-2 Gm.).
    ADULTERATIONS. -- Roots of Bryonia alba and Frasera carolinensis (Walteri) -- American Columbo. These sometimes are dyed yellow with turmeric or safflower, and made bitter with infusion of calumba or quassia, thus giving a near resemblance, but recognized by the lighter or slightly false color, absence of dark cambium zone, radiating lines, etc.; the latter also precipitates with iron salts, is not mucilaginous nor affected by infusion of galls, reddens litmus, evolves ammonia with fixed alkalies, and contains no starch. Occasionally with slices of the stem of Coscin'ium fenestra'tum, Ceylon, which are harder, smoother, and not contracted centrally; false calumba -- center elevated, not depressed.
    Commercial. -- Plant, also named Menispermum palmatum, Boc'culus palma'tus, and natively called Kalumb, resembles very closely our Menispermum canadense, reaching the top of lofty forest trees from the seacoast to many miles inland. Roots of wild plants are dug in hot dry season (March), tubercles separated, washed, cut into transverse and longitudinal slices, and dried slowly in the shade; often more or less worm-eaten. Portuguese always have controlled (1508) its trade, exporting it for 3 centuries via Colombo, Ceylon, also their possession to veil its origin; now enters market from Zanzibar, or via Bombay.
    CONSTITUENTS. -- Calumbin .8 p.e., Berberine 1 p.c., Calumbic acid, calumbine (?), starch 35 p.c., pectin 17 p.c., gum 4.7 p.c., resin 5 p.c., wax, calcium oxalate, ash 6-8 p.c.
    Calumbin, C₂₁H₂₄O₇. -- Gives most of the bitterness -- obtained by exhausting root or alcoholic extract with alcohol or ether, evaporating and letting stand several days for crystals to form, which are white, bitter, odorless, soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, alkalies, acetic acid, almost insoluble in water. Dose, gr. 1/2-1 (.03-.06 Gm.).
    Berberine, C₂₀H₁₇O₄N. -- This is left in mother-liquor from calumbin, which is evaporated to dryness, exhausted with boiling alcohol, evaporated, allowed to crystallize upon standing. Recently this content has been resolved into three alkaloids -- palmatine, calumbamine, jateorhizine -- which with calumbin constitute the drug's activity. Dose, gr. 1/2-1 (.03-.06 Gm.).
    Calumbic Acid, C₂₂₁H₂₂O₆.H₂O. -- Obtained from 3 p.c. oxalic acid infusion by adding barium hydroxide and treating precipitate with alcohol; it is less bitter than calumbin, amorphous, straw-yellow, soluble in alcohol, alkalies, almost insoluble in water or ether, and is in combination with berberine -- the two believed to be derived from calumbin, this latter being the anhydride of calumbic acid.
    Calumba contains no tannin, hence can well be used with iron salts and alkalies as a substitute for gentian, etc.; its infusion or tincture, however, precipitates with infusion of galls or solution of lead acetate.
    PREPARATIONS. -- 1. Tinctura Calumbae. Tincture of Calumba (Syn., Tr. Calumb., Tinctura Colombo; Fr. Teinture de Colombo; Ger. Kolombotinktur.)
    Manufacture: 20 p.c. Similar to Tinctura Veratri Viridis, page 104 -- packing moderately; menstruum: 60 p.c. alcohol. Dose 3ss-2 (2-8 cc.). 2. Fluidextractum Calumbae, N.F. (67 p.c. alcohol). Dose, mv-30 (.3-2 cc.). Extract, gr. 1-5 (.06-.3 Gm.). Infusion, 5 p.c., 3ss-1 (15-30 cc.).
    PROPERTIES. -- Tonic, stomachic, stimulant, increases appetite and digestion by stimulating the gustatory nerves, thereby dilating the gastric vessels and augmenting secretion, does not constipate; externally--antiseptic, disinfectant, anthelmintic.
    USES. -- Dyspepsia, debility, remittent fevers, dysentery, diarrhea, cholera morbus, cholera infantum, hectic fever of phthisis, vomiting of pregnancy, bowel flatus, purging; large doses emeto-cathartic.

Jateorhiza calumba

Jateorhiza Calumba. -- About the same as the official, possibly having a variety difference in that the basal lobes of leaves are rounded but do not overlap, and male inflorescence is hispid. In the official variety, basal lobes mostly overlap, and male infloresence is smooth. Our commercial root is collected indiscriminately from both species.

Juglans

Ju'glans cine'rea, Juglans, Butternut Bark, N.F. -- Juglandaceae. -- The dried inner bark of the root, with not more than 2 p.c. of adhering wood or other foreign organic matter; United States, Canada. Handsome spreading tree, 9-15 M. (30-50 degrees) high, light gray bark, durable brown wood; leaves imparipinnate; flowers -- staminate and pistillate; fruit large, oblong drupe, 6 Cm. (2 2/5') long, hairy, viscid, green then brown; seed thick, oily, edible. Root-bark (liber) in quills, curved strips, chips, 3-10 Mm. (1/8-2/5') thick, deep brown throughout, outer surface smooth, warty, inner surface smooth, striate; fracture short, weak; odor faintly aromatic; taste bitter, astringent, acrid. Powder, dark brown -- calcium oxalate rosette crystals, starch grains, stone cells, sometimes with reddish content, crystal-fibers, tannin, oily drops; contains juglandic acid (juglone, nucin -- oxynaphtoquinone), fixed oil 14 p.c., volatile oil, resin, tannin, ash 8 p.c. Cathartic (resembling rhubarb), mild hepatic stimulant; malaria, chronic constipation, dysentery. Dose, 3j-2 (4-8 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Juglandis (lst menstruum: glycerin 10, alcohol 50, water 40; 2d diluted alcohol): Prep.: 1. Elixir Cascarae Sagradae Compositum, 6.5 p.c. Juglandin ("Eclectic" resinoid), gr. 3-10 (.2-.6 Gm.).
J. re'gia, English Walnut. -- Persia, Himalayas, China, cultivated, Europe. Decoction of leaves used in leucorrhea, meningitis; decoction of leaves, rind, or bark in checking mammary secretion, ulcers, diarrhea, sore mouth, tonsils, uterine hemorrhages, carbuncles. J. ni'gra, Black Walnut.--Bark styptic, acrid; used mostly in dyeing. The rind of green fruit removes ringworms, tetter, diphtheria. Decoction used as a vermifuge; spirit made by distilling fresh walnuts with alcohol; used in hysteric, cerebral and pregnant vomiting. All of these fruits contain much fixed oil, which turns red with nitric acid, but brown with nitric and sulphuric acids.

Juniperus communis JUNIPERUS. JUNIPER BERRY, N.F.
    Oleum Juniperi. Oil of Juniper, U.S.P.
    Juniperus communis, Linne'. A volatile oil distilled from the dried ripe fruit.
    Habitat. N. America (Canada, N. United States), Asia, Europe, N. Africa; dry woods, hills.
    Syn. Juniper Bush, Juniper Berries, Fructus (Bassae) Juniperi; Fr. Genievre, Baies de Genievre; Ger. (Gemeiner) Wachholderbeeren; Ol, Junip., Juniper Oil, Oil of Juniper Berries, Oleum Fructus (Baccae) Juniperi, Fr. Essence de Genievre; Ger. Wachholder (beer) ol.
    Ju-nip'e-rus. L. fr. Celtic juniperus, rough -- i.e., its foliage; or fr L. Juvenis, young, + parere, to produce -- i.e., young fruit, leaves, etc., are continually replacing the old.
    Com-mu'nis. L. common, general -- i.e., the usual or ordinary kind.
    PLANT. -- Evergreen shrub 2-5 M. (6-15 degrees) high, with many close branches, some often prostrate; leaves narrow, longer than fruit, 12 Mm. (1/2') long, in whorls of 3's, sharp-pointed, channeled, deep green; flowers dioecious -- staminate catkins, pistillate cones. Fruit (galbulus) -- Juniperus, Juniper Berry, N.F. The carefully dried ripe fruit with not more than 10 p.c. of immature or discolored berries and 3 p.c. of foreign organic matter. It is nearly globular, 8 Mm. (1/3') thick, blackish-purple, blue-gray bloom, apex 3-furrowed -- cohesion of 3 fleshy bracts; internally loosely fleshy, many schizogenous cavities, 3 ovate seed, oil-glands on surface, ripens second year; odor aromatic; taste sweet, pleasant, terebinthinate, bitter. Powder, dark brown -- stone cells, calcium oxalate prisms, polygonal cells, aleurone grains, oil globules, resin masses.
    CONSTITUENTS. -- Volatile oil .5-2.5 p.c., sugar 15-30 p.c., resin 10 p.c., juniperin, proteins 4 p.c., fat, wax, malates, formic and acetic acids.
Oleum Juniperi. Oil of Juniper. -- Obtained from the dried ripe fruit by distillation with salt and water, or steam; it is a colorless, faintly green or yellow liquid, characteristic odor and taste of juniper berries, soluble in 4 vols. of alcohol with not more than slight cloudiness, neutral, slightly acid, sp. gr. 0.870, levorotatory; contains chiefly pinene, C₁₀H₁₆, with some cadinene, C₁₅H₂₄, juniper camphor, and an ester to which odor and taste are due. Should be kept cool, dark, in well-stoppered, amber-colored bottles. Dose, mv-15 (.3-1 cc.).
    PREPARATIONS. -- BERRY: 1. Fluidextractum Juniperi, N.F. (80 p.c. alcohol), dose, 3j-2 (4-8 cc.): Prep.: 1. Elixir Buchu, Juniperi et Potassi Acetatis, N.F., 7.5 p.c. 2. Fluidextractum Buchu Compositum, N.F., 12.5 p.c.: Prep.: 1. Elixir Buchu Compositum, N.F. 25 p.c. Extract: Infusion; Succus Juniperi Inspissatus (Ger.), 20 p.c. OIL: 1. Acetum Aromaticum, N.F., 1/20 p.c. Spirit, 5 p.c. + alcohol, 3j-4 (4-15 cc.). Compound Spirit, 2/5 p.c. -- oil of juniper 2/5 p.c., oil of caraway 1/20, oil of fennel 1/2, 70 p.c. alcohol q.s. 100 cc., 3j-4 (4-15 cc. -- substitute for gin.).
    PROPERTIES. -- Similar to turpentine; stimulant, diuretic, anodyne, emmenagogue, carminative, stomachic, antiseptic.
    USES. -- Renal dropsy, vesical catarrh, rheumatic pains, swellings.
Juniperus oxycedrus JUNIPERUS OXYCEDRUS. PRICKLY CEDAR.
    Oleum Cadinum. Oil. of Cade, U..S.P.
    Juniperus oxycedrus, Linne'. An empyreumatic volatile oil obtained from the wood.
    Habitat. S. Europe, Spain.
    Syn. Prickly (Spanish, Berry-bearing) Cedar, Large Brown-fruited Juniper; Ol. Cadin., Cade Oil, Oil of Juniper Tar, Oleum Juniperi Empyreumaticum (Nigrum); Fr. Huile de Cade; Ger. Kadeol, Takinol, Spanisch-Cederol.
    Ox-y-ce'drus. L. fr. Gr...., sharp, pointed, + ..., cedar -- i.e., cedar with pointed leaves.
    Ca-di'num. L. fr. Fr. Cade, juniper; Bohem. Kadik, juniper -- i.e., European cedar.
    PLANT. -- Shrub 2.4-3.7 M. (8-12 degrees) high, resembling J. commu'nis, branches spreading, drooping; leaves medium size, awl-shaped, pointed, 2 furrows on upper edge; fruit 12 Mm. (1/2') thick, reddish, shining, 2 white lines on apex.
    CONSTITUENTS. -- Volatile oil, resin, tannin, extractive (acetic acid, pyroligneous acid, acetone, methyl alcohol, etc.)
Oleum Cadinum. Oil of Cade. -- Should be dry (downward) distilled from the heartwood, similar to obtaining tar, pieces of wood being laid carefully upon one another and covered with earth except an opening at the top, thus permitting slow combustion; inverted iron pots also are filled with billets, surrounded with worthless wood and set on fire, producing sufficient heat for distillation; product is caught in receptacles, set aside 15-20 days for separation of tarry and aqueous layers, the upper oily one constituting the commercial product. It is a dark brown, clear, thick liquid, tarry odor, warm, faintly aromatic, bitter taste, slightly soluble in water, imparting to it acid reaction, partially soluble in alcohol, petroleum benzin, completely soluble in ether (3), amyl alcohol, chloroform, glacial acetic acid, oil of turpentine, sp. gr. 0.980-1.055; contains phenols and sesquiterpene -- cadinene, C₁₅H₂₄. Test. 1. Shake 1 part with warm distilled water (20); filtrate, + 3 drops of ferric chloride solution (1 in 1000) -- red; or + silver ammonium nitrate T.S. -- blackens (cold); or + alkaline cupric tartrate T.S. (hot) -- red precipitate. Impurities: Rosin, rosin oil. The oil from wood of J. Communis often substituted. Dose, miij-5 (.2-.3 cc.)
    PREPARATIONS. -- 1. Petroxolinum Cadinum, N.F., 25 cc. In 100 cc. of product. 2. Linimentum Saponis Mollis Compositum, N.F., 2 p.c. 3. Petroxolinum Sulphuratum Compositum, N.F., 10 cc. In 100 cc. of product. 4. Unguentum Sulphuris Compositum, N.F., 15 p.c.
    PROPERTIES. -- Anthelmintic, externally parasiticide.
    USES. -- Psoriasis, pityriasis rubra, chronic eczema, prurigo, psora, favus. This oil may replace the U.S.P. Oleum Picis Rectificatum, both having the same effect.

Juniperus sabina

Juniperus Sabi'na, Savin, Shrubby Red Cedar. -- The tops, U.S.P. 1820-1900; Europe, Siberia, N. America, rocky banks, mountains. Evergreen shrub, procumbent or erect, 1-4.5 M. (3-15 degrees) high, branched, bark greenish (young), brownish (old); flowers dioecious; fruit galbulus, bluish, size of a pea, 1-3-seeded. Tops yellowish-green, sub-quadrangular branchlets; leaves 4 rows, dark green, scale-like, ovate-lanceolate, acute, imbricated, shallow groove on back, roundish gland in middle; odor peculiar terebinthinate; taste disagreeable, resinout, bitter; solvents: boiling water, alcohol; contains volatile oil 2-5-10 p.c., resin, tannin, salts (K, Ca). Diuretic, emmenagogue, ecbolic, irritant, hemagogue; amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, rheumatism, gout; warts, ulcers, dental caries, tinea capitis, polypi. Poisoning: Abdominal pain, vomiting, strangury, convulsions, coma -- magnesium sulphate (full dose), demulcents, anodynes, stimulants. Dose, gr. 5-15 (.3-1 Gm.), in syrup, honey; fluidextract (alcohol), mv-15 (.3-1 cc.); cerate 25 p.c.), to prolong secretion from blisters, etc.; Infusion, Tincture.