Xanthoxylum americanum, Miller, Clava-Herculis, Linne.

The dried bark.

Habitat. North America: 1. Canada to Virginia, N. Carolina; rocky woods, river banks. 2. Virginia to Florida, westward to Texas; sandy coast, dry soil.

Syn. Xanthox., Prickly Ash Bark: 1. Northern Prickly Ash Bark, Angelica Tree, Pepper (Yellow) Wood, Pellitory (Toothache) Bark or Tree. 2. Southern Prickly Ash Bark, West Indian (Yellow) Prickly Ash, Sea Ash, Pepper Wood, Hercules' Club, Yellow Hercules, Prickly Yellow Wood; Fr. Chavalier, Frene epineux; Ger. Zahnweh(holz)rinde.

Xan-thox'y-lum (zan-thox'y-lum, erroneous). L. fr. Gr.

yellow, +

wood - i. e,, roots are yellow. A-mer-i-ca'num. L. belonging to America, American. Cla'va-Her'cu-lis. L. clava, club, + Hercules - i. e., resemblance of cone-like warts.

Plants. - Xanthoxylum americanum, shrub 2-4 M. (6-12°) high, covered with sharp, scattered prickles: leaves imparipinnate, leaflets 4-5 pairs, ovate, downy; flowers April-May, before the leaves, yellowish green, sessile, umbels, polygamous, sepaloid (corolla absent); fruit capsule, oval, punctate, greenish-red, 2-valved, 1 black seed; Xanthoxylum Clava-Herculis, small tree 6-12 M. (20-40°) high, .3-.6 M. (1-2°) thick, bark with prickles protruding through large corky cones, larger prickles on branches and petioles; leaflets 3-8 pairs, crenate, unequal-sided, shining; flowers June, after leaves appear, cymes (corolla present). Bark (X. americanum): Northern, in transversely curved fragments, quills, 2-15 Cm. (4/5-6') long; bark .5-2 Mm. (1/50-1/12') thick, brownish-gray with grayish patches of foliaceous lichens bearing numerous small black apothecia; longitudinally wrinkled, numerous whitish lenticels, and some brown, glossy, straight, 2-edged spines linear at base, 5 Mm. (1/5') high, cork occasionally abraded, showing the yellowish, orange inner bark; inner surface yellowish-white, finely longitudinally striate, usually with numerous, bright, shining crystals; fracture short, uneven; odor slight; taste bitter, 22 acrid, pungent; (X. Clava-Herculis): Southern, in transversely curved, irregular, oblong, flattened pieces, quills, 2-40 Cm. (4/5 - 16') long; bark 1-4 Mm. (1/25-1/6') thick, light gray, brownish-gray, marked by numerous large barnacle-shaped projections of cork, .5-3.5 Cm. (1/5-1 2/5') thick, often 2 Cm. (4/5') high, otherwise with numerous grayish patches of foliaceous lichens, bearing blackish apothecia, and many elliptical lenticels; inner surface light yellowish-brown, olive-brown, obscurely longitudinally striate and free from crystals; odor and taste as in preceding. Powder, light grayish-brown; microscopically - mostly irregular fragmental cork cells, lignified fragments of parenchyma containing either small starch grains, oily globules, or monoclinic prisms of calcium oxalate; stone cells often with reddish-brown substance; few non-lignified bast-fibres; the Northern usually without stone cells, while the calcium oxalate crystals and fragments of cork are relatively few. Solvents: alcohol, boiling water. Dose, gr. 10-30 (.6-2 Gm.).

Fig. 216. - Xanthoxylum bark: A, Southern; B, Northern (3 Nat.).

Adulterations. - Rare: Chiefly bark of Ara'lia spino'sa, Hercules' Club, by accident or ignorance - easily recognized by serpentine transverse ridges bearing numerous slender, upward-curved, sharp, predacious spines, thinness, brownish color, less bitter and biting properties.

Constituents. - Similar in both barks but not identical: Resins (2), Bitter principle (xanthoxylin-e), volatile oil (acrid, green), tannin, sugar, ash 12 p. c.

Resins. - One crystalline, white, tasteless, bitter in alcoholic solution; the other soft, acrid, constituting the brownish powder, xanthoxylin, resinoid of the "Eclectics." Dose, gr. 1-2 (.06-13 Gm.).

Bitter Principle (xanthoxylin-e). - Probably an alkaloid identical with berberine; with sulphuric acid brown and dark red.

Preparations. - 1. Fluidextractum Xanthoxyli. Fluidextract of Xan-thoxylum. (Syn., Fldext. Xanthox., Fluid Extract of Xanthoxylum, Fluidextract of Prickly Ash; Fr. Extrait fluide de Frene epineux; Ger. Zahnwehrindenfluidextrakt.)

Manufacture: Similar to Fluidextractum Sabal, page 95; menstruum: 75 p. c. alcohol. Dose, ex-30 (.3-2 Ml. (Cc.)).

Unoff. Preps.: Decoction, 5 p. c, dose ℥ss-2 (15-60 Ml. (Cc.)). Extract, dose, gr. 3-10 (.2-.6 Gm.).

Properties. - Alterative, stimulant, sialagogue, emmenagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic, causes salivation, tingling in tongue, increases cardiac action and arterial tension, also secretion from stomach, intestines, liver, and pancreas; resembles mezereum, guaiac, sanguinaria, and stillingia in action.

Uses. - Chronic rheumatism, myalgia, lumbago, dropsies, atonic dyspepsia, syphilis, pharyngitis, as a masticatory for toothache, tongue paralysis. Externally as a counter-irritant in female pelvic diseases.

Allied Plants: