The herbal and health information provided in this Web Site is intended as historical information only. The historical uses are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Nothing listed within this Web Site should be considered as medical advice for dealing with a given problem. You should consult your health care professional for individual guidance for specific health problems. Persons with serious medical conditions should always seek professional care.
Bitter Root (Apocynum androsaemifolium), also known as Milkweed, Dogsbane, or Fly-Trap, is a perennial herb 5 or 6 feet in height, which yields a milky juice when cut. The leaves are dark green above, paler and downy beneath, ovate, and from 2 to 3 inches long. The flowers are white, tinged with red, having five scales in the throat of the corolla which secrete a sweet liquid, attractive to flies. These scales are very sensitive, and when touched bend inward, imprisoning the insects.
A glucoside, apocynamarin has been identified as an active constituent of Bitter Root, but the activity is thought to be due not to the glucoside, but to an intensely bitter principle, Cymarin. One of the digitalis group of cardiac tonics, apocynum, is the most powerful in slowing the pulse, and its action on the vaso-motor system is also very strong. Being rather irritating to mucous membranes, it may cause nausea and catharsis, so that some cannot tolerate it. It is a powerful hydragogue, helpful in dropsy's due to heart-failure, and in the ascites of hepatic cirrhosis has been called the 'vegetable trocar.'
Bitter Root is also used as an alterative in rheumatism, syphilis and scrofula. The absorption in the gastro-intestinal tract being very irregular, the dosage and patient must be carefully watched and guarded.
Bitter Root is also a common name of Gentiana lutea, or Yellow Gentian, the well known bitter, and of Lewisia rediviva or Spathulum, with a starchy, edible root.
