Xanthium

    Xan'thium Struma'rium, Broad Cocklebur; N. America.  Achenes 2.5 Cm. (1') long, flat, oblong, without pappus, enclosed in the involucre, which is densely beset with hooked prickles.  X. spino'sum, Spiny or Thorny Clotbur; N. America, S. Europe; leaves with spines at base 2.5 Cm. (1') long; fertile axillary burs (achenes) crowned with 1 inconspicuous beak.  X canaden'se, and its var. echina'tum; achenes, with 2 stout beaks, hooked, 2.5 Cm. (1') long, densely prickly, hispid; river banks, waste places; var. echinatum, smaller plant -- possibly unworthy of variety distinction.
 

Xanthorrhiza

    Xanthorrhi'za apiifo'lia, Shrub Yellow-Root. -- The rhizome and roots, U.S.P. 1820-1870; S. and C. United States.  Shrub .6-1 M. (2-3 degrees) high, stem clustered, 6 Mm. (1/4') thick, wood yellow, leaves compound, flowers April, purple, racemes, rhizome .6-1 M. (2-3 degrees) long, 12 Mm. (1/2') thick, yellowish internally and externally, bitter; contains berberine, resin, starch, gum, etc.  Used as a tonic like calumba or quassia; in infusion, decoction, tincture.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 Gm.).
 

Xanthoxylum

    Zanthox'ylum america'num and Z. Cla'va-Her'culis.  1.  Xanthoxylum, Prickly Ash Bark, N.F. -- The dried bark with not more than 2 p.c. of foreign organic matter; 2. Xanthoxyli Fructus, Prickly Ash Berry, N.F.  The dried fully grown fruit with not more than 2 p.c. of foreign organic matter; N. America; Z. americanum, Canada to Virginia -- Northern; Z. Clava-Herculis, Virginia to Florida -- Southern. Z. americanum, shrub 2-4 M. (6-12 degrees) high, covered with sharp, scattered prickles; leaves imparipinnate, leaflets 4-5 pairs; flowers before the leaves, yellowish-green, corolla absent.  Bark, transversely curved fragments, quills, 2-15 Cm. (4/5-6') long, bark .5-2 Mm. (1/60-1/12') thick, light gray, with foliaceous lichens, wrinkled, whitish lenticels, fewe straight, 2-edged spines linear at base, 5 Mm. (1/5') high, numerous shining crystals, fracture short, uneven, odor slight; taste bitter, acrid, pungent.  Powder, light grayish-brown -- parenchyma with starch grains, oily globules, calcium oxalate prisms; Northern -- only a few non-lignified bast-fibers, stone cells and cork cell fragments; Z. Clava-Herculis, small tree, 6-12 M. (20-40 degrees) high, .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) thick, with prickles protruding through large corky cones, larger prickles on branches and petioles; leaflets 3-8 pairs, crenate; flowers after leaves appear, corolla present.  Bark, transversely curved, irregular, oblong, flattened pieces, quills 2-40 Cm. (4/5-16') long, bark 1-4 Mm. (1/25-1/6;) thick, light gray, with numerous large barnacle-shaped projections of cork, .5-3.5 Cm. (1/5-1/2/5') thick, often 2 Cm. (4/5') high, lenticels, foliaceous lichens, obscurely striate, without crystals; odor and taste as in preceding.  Fruit, capsules with short stalks (Z. americanum) or without stalks (Z. Clava-Herculis), ellipsoidal, fleshy, gray-brown, dehiscent; seeds 1-2 oblong, black; odor faintly aromatic, citral-like; taste of two species quite different, but both pungent, warm aromatic, tingling sensation on chewing.  Powder, dark brown -- pericarp tissue with oil cavities, parenchyma cells with spherocrystals of hesperidin, numerous globules of volatile oil; solvents: alcohol, boiling water; contain (root and fruit) resins (2), alkaloid (bitter--berberine (?)), xanthoxylin (tasteless, inert, crystalline), volatile oil (acrid, green), tannin, sugar, fat, gum, ash 12 p.c.  Alterative, stimulant, sialagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic--causes salivation, tingling in tongue, increased cardiac action and arterial tension, also secretion from stomach intestines, liver, and pancreas; resembles mezereum, guaiac, sanguinaria and stillingia in action; chronic rheumatism, myalgia, lumbago, dropsies, atonic dyspepsia, diarrhea, syphilis, pharyngitis--masticatory for toothache, paralysis of tongue; externally: counter-irritant in female pelvic diseases.  Dose, gr. 15-30 (1-2 Gm.); Root:  1. Fluidextractum Xanthoxyli (75 p.c. alcohol), dose, mxv-30 (1-2 cc.): Preps.: 1. Elixir Corydalis Compositum, 3 p.c.; 2. Elixir Hydrastis Compositum, 1.75 p.c.  Decoction, 5 p.c., 3ss-2 (15-60 cc.), Extract, gr. 3-10 (.2-.6 Gm.); Fruit (berry): 1. Fluidextractum Stillingiae Compositum, 6.2 p.c.: Prep.: 1. Syrupus Stillingiae Compositus.  Z. florid'anum, Satin Wood, identical with Z. carib'aenum; Z. ptero'ta, Florida, Texas, Brazil -- wood yellow, hard, bark and leaves pungent.