COMMON NAME. Snow Berry.
    MEDICINAL PART. The bark of the root.
    Description. -- This is a climbing shrub, with a round branched root, and a stem from eight to twelve feet high. The leaves are ovate and smooth; flowers white and odorless, and become yellow and redolent; calyx, five-cleft; corolla, funnel-shaped; stamens, five. The fruit is a small white berry.
    History. -- This plant is a native of the West Indies, Florida, and South America. The root has a coffee-like taste, of a reddish-brown color, and a disagreeable odor. It affords the Cahincic Acid, its most important medicinal agent.
    Properties and Uses. -- In medium doses it aids the urinary discharge, increases the action of the heart, and promotes perspiration. It has been found efficient in amenorrhoea, rheumatism, syphilis, etc., and is used in Brazil as an antidote to snake-bites.
    Dose. -- Of the powder, from twenty to sixty grains.