Polygonum Hydropiperoides

Water-pepper

Water-pepper. This indigenous plant is not recognized by the United States Pharmacopoeia. A fluid extract prepared according to the general directions of the United States Pharmacopoeia may be prescribed in the dose of τη x to 3 j. A solid extract is also to be found in the shops—dose, gr. j—gr. v.

Actions and Uses

The taste of hydropiper is hot, pungent, and acrid. The juice excites inflammation and vesication when applied to the external integument. In medicinal doses it causes a sensation of warmth in the stomach, and a "peculiar tingling sensation throughout the whole system" (Eberle). Unless given in an overdose it does not excite vomiting or produce purging. It stimulates the heart and arteries, increases the warmth of the surface, and promotes the cutaneous, bronchial, and renal secretions. It stimulates the menstrual flow, and is aphrodisiac.

This indigenous but little known remedy is a very efficient stimulating diuretic and emmenagogue. The author can confirm the statement of Eberle, who reports that "with no other remedy or mode of treatment has he been so successful as with this," in amenorrhoea. It is adapted to cases of amenorrhoea due to functional inactivity or torpor of the uterine system, and is contraindicated when a condition of plethora or congestion exists. The administration of this remedy should be begun about a week before the menses ought to appear. Thirty minims of the fluid extract should be administered four times a day. If anaemia exist, iron should be given; if constipation, aloes.

Hydropiper is a remedy of considerable power in functional impotence. When the erections are feeble, the seminal fluid watery, and the testes soft, good results will be obtained from the use of this remedy, provided no structural alterations hinder or prevent improvement.

When hydropiper is administered in these disorders of the sexual system, it causes a feeling of weight and tension, and dragging of the pelvic viscera. As it tends to increase the blood-supply to these organs, it is inadmissible when a state of congestion or inflammation exists.

Authorities referred to:

Eberle, Dr. John. A Treatise of the Materia Medica and Therapeutics, fourth edi-tion, vol. i, p. 441.

Porcher, Dr. F. Peyre. Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, p. 409.