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Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects Mrs. Grieve's 'A Modern Herbal ' (1931) a great source of all sorts of detail -describes the medicinal use of the bark and berries of Rhamnus species. The barks had to be dried and stored for at least one year before being prepared for medicinal use, to reduce their potency. Fresh bark acts as an emetic. Common buckthorn - distinguished by toothed leaves, a 4 part calyx, thorns and 4 seeded berries - was losing favour by the end of the 19th century and was used mostly in veterinary practice. The berries were the part used medicinally.She claims that goats, sheep and horses will browse it but not cows, and that the flesh of birds eating the berries is stated to be purgative. On the other hand the juice of the berries of Alder buckthorn - entire leaves, 5 part calyx , no thorns , and berries with 2 or sometimes 3 seeds -is aperient without being irritating. A fluid extract of the aged bark is ' tonic, laxative, cathartic ' - all a matter of dosage. My OLD pharmacy textbooks list glycoside content as emodin, aloe-emodin, frangulin, rhamnicoside etc . These break down into anthraquinones on absorption from the gut. Senna is another anthraquinone laxative. The British Pharmaceutical Codex (B.P.C.)1934 - even before my time -had a formula for Buckthorn syrup - " an active cathartic prone to cause severe griping ". Syrupus Rhamni : Evaporate 50ml of expressed juice of buckthorn to 30ml and set aside for 12hrs; dissolve in it sucrose 65g with the aid of heat, then strain and cool; add strong ginger tincture 0.52ml and pimento oil 0.01ml mixed with alcohol(90%) 3.12ml and adjust to 100g with water. Dose: 2 to 4 ml. Cheers Anne.
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Index of Subjects