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MEZEREON SPURGE DAPHNE MEZEREUM The whole plant has an exceeding acrid, biting taste and is very corrosive. A hardy deciduous shrub growing to about four feet (1.2 M) with purplish-red flowers almost the whole length of the branches. A red berry appears in midsummer. Where to find it: A garden shrub, but also found wild in scrubland and woodland. Flowering time: Late winter, early spring. Astrology: It is saturnine. Medicinal virtues. An ointment prepared from the bark or the berries is applied to foul ill-conditioned ulcers. A decoction is made of one dram (1. 7 g) of the powdered bark of the root to three pints (1.6 1) of water, boiled down to two pints (1.1 1). This taken during the course of a day for a considerable time has been found efficacious in resolving and dispersing venereal swellings and excrescences. Caution is required in administration and the medicine must only be given to people of robust constitutions and very sparingly even to those. If given in too large a dose, or to a weakly person, it will cause bloody stools and vomiting. A light infusion is the best mode of giving it. It is good in dropsy and other stubborn disorders. Modern uses: It is mainly used in homoeopathic form for mental depression. Specially prepared tablets are available only from homoeopathic chemists. It has been used domestically for rheumatism, syphilis and obstinate skin diseases, but severe poisoning has been caused. Only very small doses should be taken, no more than 10 grains (65o mg) of the powdered bark or two or three drops of the fluid extract. A small amount is sometimes incorporated in compound decoction of Sarsaparilla, which is used as a blood purifier. |