Contractions. - Spig. Spi.

Spigelia Anthelmia. Nat. ord., Loganiaceae.

Synonym. - Anthelminthia quadriphylla.

Fig. - Flora Horn., pl. 59.

Pinkroot, Wormgrass. For. names: German, Wurm-treibende Spigelia; French, Brinvilliers.

Habitat. - South America, Brazil, Southern and Southwestern United States.

Flowering time. - July.

Part employed. - The dried herb.

Characters. - An annual. Boot hairy, blackish outside, white within. Stem herbaceous, 1 1/2 foot high, channelled and branched. Leaves opposite in pairs, those which terminate the branches 4 together in the form of a cross, ovate, pointed. Flowers in short clustered spikes. When fresh the plant has a poisonous, fetid odour; taste nauseous, remaining long on the tongue. The dried plant is of a greyish-green colour, has a faint odour and a bitter taste. The so-called root consists of numerous slender, branching dark-brown rootlets attached to a short brownish or yellowish-brown rhizome. It has a faint, peculiar odour, and slightly disagreeable sweetish bitter taste.

Time for collecting. - When there are flowers and seeds.

Preparations. - Tincture, using rectified spirit. Trituration.

Reference to Horn. Proving. - R. A. M. L., v.

Proper forms for dispensing. - φ and upwards, Tincture, Pilules, or Globules. lx to 3, Trituration.