_Radix Actæa racemosæ_; _Black Snake-root_, _Black Cohosh_, _Bugbane_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Cimicifuga racemosa_ Elliott (_Actæa racemosa_ L.),
a perennial herb 3 to 8 feet high, abundant in rich woods in Canada
and the United States, extending southward to Florida.[71] It much
resembles _Actæa spicata_ L., a plant widely spread over the northern
parts of Europe, Asia, and America, occurring also in Britain; but
it differs in having an elongated raceme of 3 to 8 inches in length
and dry dehiscent capsules. _A. spicata_ has a short raceme and juicy
berries, usually red.
[71] For figure, see Bentley and Trimen, _Med. Plants_, Part 23 (1877).
=History=—The plant was first made known by Plukenet in 1696 as
_Christophoriana Canadensis racemosa_. It was recommended in 1743 by
Colden[72] and named in 1749 by Linnæus in his _Materia Medica_ as
_Actæa racemis longissimis_. In 1823 it was introduced into medical
practice in America by Garden; it began to be used in England about the
year 1860.[73]
=Description=—The drug consists of a very short, knotty, branching
rhizome, ½ an inch or more thick, having, in one direction, the remains
of several stout aerial stems, and in the other, numerous brittle,
wiry roots, ¹/₂₀ to ⅒ of an inch in diameter, emitting rootlets still
smaller. The rhizome is of somewhat flattened cylindrical form,
distinctly marked at intervals with the scars of fallen leaves. A
transverse section exhibits in the centre a horny whitish pith, round
which are a number of rather coarse, irregular woody rays, and outside
them a hard, thickish bark. The larger roots when broken display a
thick cortical layer, the space within which contains converging wedges
of open woody tissue 3 to 5 in number forming a star or cross,—a
beautiful and characteristic structure easily observed with a lens. The
drug is of a dark blackish brown; it has a bitter, rather acrid and
astringent taste, and a heavy narcotic smell.
=Microscopic Structure=—The most striking character is afforded by the
rootlets, which on a transverse section display a central woody column,
traversed usually by 4 wide medullary rays and often enclosing a pith.
The woody column is surrounded by a parenchymatous layer separated
from the cortical portion by one row of densely packed small cells
constituting a boundary analogous to the nucleus-sheath (_Kernscheide_)
met with in many roots of monocotyledons, as for instance in
sarsaparilla. The parenchyme of cimicifuga root contains small starch
granules. The structure of the drug is, on the whole, the same as that
of the closely allied European _Actæa spicata_ L.
=Chemical Composition=—Tilghmann[74] in 1834 analysed the drug,
obtaining from it gum, sugar, resin, starch and tannic acid, but no
peculiar principal.
Conard[75] extracted from it a neutral crystalline substance of
intensely acrid taste, soluble in dilute alcohol, chloroform, or ether,
but not in benzol, oil of turpentine, or bisulphide of carbon. The
composition of this body has not been ascertained. The same chemist
showed the drug not to afford a volatile principle, even in its fresh
state.
The American practitioners called _Eclectics_ prepare with _Black
Snake-root_ in the same manner as they prepare podophyllin, an impure
resin which they term _Cimicifugin_ or _Macrotin_. The drug yields,
according to Parrish, 3¾ per cent. of this substance, which is sold in
the form of scales or as a dark brown powder.
=Uses=—Cimicifuga usually prescribed in the form of tincture (called
_Tinctura Actæa racemosæ_) has been employed chiefly in rheumatic
affections. It is also used in dropsy, the early stages of phthisis,
and in chronic bronchial disease. A strong tincture has been lately
recommended in America as an external application for reducing
inflammation.[76]
[72] _Acta Soc. Reg. Scient. Upsal._ 1743. 131.
[73] Bentley, _Pharm. Journ._ ii. (1861) 460.
[74] Quoted by Bentley.
[75] _Am. Journ. of Pharm._ xliii. (1871) 151; _Pharm. Journ._ April
29, 1871. 866.
[76] _Yearbook of Pharmacy_, 1872. 385.