Testosterone Support Capsules

The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, Edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others. - Damiana

Damiana. N. F. IV. Turnera.—"The leaves of Turnera diffusa Willdenow or of Turnera aphrodisiaca Ward (Fam. Turneraceae), without the presence of more than 10 per cent. of stems and other parts of the same plants or other foreign matter." N. F. There are 57 species of Turnera which are mostly indigenous to tropical America. The 2 species which yield damiana are small shrubs indigenous to Southern California, Mexico and the Antilles. These leaves are "obovate to lanceolate, from 10 to 25 mm. in length and from 4 to 10 mm. in width, shortly petiolate, obtuse or acute at the apex, and with a short, cuneate base; sharply two- to ten-toothed on each side; the veins ascending, generally strong, straight and simple, and running to the sinuses of the teeth, but sometimes branched and sending the branches into the teeth; the upper surface smooth and pale green, the lower glabrous or with a few hairs on the ribs (Turnera aphrodisiaca) or densely tomentose over the entire surface (Turnera diffusa). Intermixed with the leaves are frequently found some reddish twigs, the young tips and buds of which are grayish with appressed pubescence (Turnera aphrodisiaca) or white floccose (Turnera diffusa), also flower buds, yellowish flowers, and globose pods. Odor aromatic; taste characteristic, aromatic and resinous. The powdered drug is light yellowish-green and, when examined under the microscope, exhibits numerous rough simple hairs, up to 0.8 mm. in length and 0.03 mm. in width at the base, with a narrow lumen usually distinct at the base only and with heavy, mostly non-lignified walls, often curved near the base so that the major portion of the hair lies nearly parallel to the surface of the stem or leaf; fragments of the epidermis from the stems composed of somewhat rectangular .cells up to about 0.07 mm. in length and about one-half as broad, with square or somewhat pointed ends, with few broadly elliptical stomata about 0.03 mm. in length; sub-epidermal cells from the stem resembling those of the epidermis in shape but with lignified walls; tracheae, spiral, up to 0.02 mm. in width, with bordered pores up to about 0.035 mm. in width; tracheids from stem few; strongly lignified, thick-walled sclerenchyma cells or fibers few; lignified pith-parenchyma with large simple pores; fragments of epidermal cells and mesophyll of leaf; the former with somewhat wavy, vertical walls and associated with stomata up to 0.024 mm. in length; numerous crystals of calcium oxalate in rosette aggregates up to 0.03 mm. in diameter and occasionally in prisms; starch grains few, simple, up to 0.005 mm. in diameter. Damiana yields not more than 10 per cent. of ash." N. F. Parsons (Arch. d. Pharm., 1881, p. 133) obtained 0.2 per cent. of a volatile oil; 8.06 of a soft resin, fixed oil and chlorophyll; 3.46 per cent. of tannin; 7.08 per cent. of a bitter principle; 6.39 per cent. of a hard brown resin; 10 per cent. of extractive; 13.5 per cent. of a gum; 6.15 per cent. of starch, etc. The leaves of the composite plant Aplopappus discoideus DC. (Bigelovia Veneta Gray) were, formerly, also sold under the name of damiana. Although damiana has achieved some repute in the treatment of sexual impotence, it is worthy of note that it is always given in conjunction with strychnine, phosphorus or some other stimulant; it is probably nothing more than a feeble tonic. Dose, one-half to one drachm (2-4 Gm.) of the leaves, either in the form of infusion or fluid-extract.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick. - Fo Ti

Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. China and Japan. The roots are used as food.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick. - Ginkgo

aloba Ginkgo biloba Linn. Coniferae. Ginko. Maiden-Hair Tree. China and Japan. The fruit of the ginko is sold in the markets in all Chinese towns and is not unlike dried almonds, only whiter, fuller and more round. The natives seem very fond of it, although it is rarely eaten by Europeans. In Japan, the seeds furnish an oil used for eating and burning. The fruit of the maiden-hair tree is called in China pa-kwo. The Chinese consume the nuts of this tree at weddings, the shells being dyed red; they have a fishy taste. This tree is largely cultivated as an ornamental in Europe, Asia and North America.

King's American Dispensatory By Harvey Wickes Felter and John Uri Lloyd 1898 - Panax Ginseng

Botanical name: Panax ginsengPanax quinquefolius Fig. 189. Aralia quinquefolia.The root of Aralia quinquefolia, Decaisne and Planchon (Panax quinquefolium, Linné; Ginseng quinquefolia, Wood). Nat. Ord.—Araliaceae. COMMON NAME: Ginseng. ILLUSTRATION: Johnson, Med. Bot. of N. A., Fig. 132. Botanical Source.—Ginseng has a perennial, fusiform, whitish, thick, and fleshy root, transversely wrinkled, and terminating in fibers; its upper portion slender and marked with the scars of the former shoots. The stem is round, smooth, green, often with a tinge of red, about 1 foot high, regularly divided at top into 3 petioles, with a flower-stalk in their center. The petiole is round, smooth, and swelling at the base. Leaves 3, ternate, quinate, or septentate. Leaflets pedicellate, obovate, sharply serrate, acuminate, smooth on both sides, with scattered bristles on the veins above. Flowers small, greenish, in a simple umbel, supported by a round, slender peduncle, which rises from the top of the stem, in the center of the petioles. The involucre is composed of a multitude of short, subulate bracts, interspersed among the flower-stalks, which are so short as to give the appearance of a head rather than an umbel. Calyx with 5 small, acute teeth. Petals 6, oval, reflexed, and deciduous. Stamens 5, with oblong anthers. Styles 2, reflexed and persistent. Ovary large, inferior, ovate-cordate, and compressed. The berries are kidney-shaped, retuse at both ends, compressed, of a bright-scarlet color, crowned with a calyx and styles, and contain 2 and sometimes 3 semicircular seeds. The outermost florets ripen first, and their berries often obtain their full size before the central ones are expanded; the central florets are frequently abortive (L.—W.). History and Description.—Ginseng is a native of most of the middle and northern states, and extends on the mountains far south, growing in rich soil and in shaded situations, and flowering in July. C. S. Rafinesque (Med. Flora of the U. S., Vol. II, 1830, p. 53) states that the Jesuits, knowing the plant from their sojourns in Tartary, found it afterward, toward 1718, in Canada, and instituted the trade in this root with China. The root is somewhat fusiform, 2 or 3 inches in length, and about ½ an inch in diameter, and sends off a few delicate fibers. When dried, it consists of a soft, yellowish-white, corrugated bark, inclosing a central, woody substance. It has a faint smell, and its taste is sweetish, somewhat bitter, mucilaginous, and feebly aromatic. Water or alcohol takes up its properties. Large quantities of it are now gathered and sent to China, where it commands an enormous price, as the Chinese ascribe wonderful medicinal virtues to it. The American drug is cheapest (about $1.86 per pound), next ranks Corea ginseng ($16.50 per pound), and highest in price is the genuine Chinese ginseng. The latter is seldom found in the stores, and the finest qualities command the price of from $60 to $100 for a weight of about 580 grains. In Corea, the cultivation and trade in ginseng is a government monopoly (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1887, p. 597; 1897, p. 551, and 1898, p. 251). Ginseng is also grown in Japan, but is considered inferior to Corea ginseng. The genuine Chinese ginseng is the root of Aralia Ginseng, A. Meyer (Panax Ginseng, Nees), an east Asia plant. Altogether, 5 commercial grades of ginseng are distinguished in China. It is often adulterated by mixing it with the root of some species of Convolvulus and other roots. (On the cultivation of ginseng in America, see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1891, p. 411.) Ginseng is becoming very scarce and, unless a method of cultivation becomes practical, bids fair to be exterminated. The price now is from $4.00 to $7.50 per pound and advancing. Chemical Composition.—Rafinesque (loc. cit.) states that the roots have a pleasant, camphorated smell, and that they owe their active properties to a peculiar substance similar to camphor, which he calls panacine—white, pungent, soluble in alcohol and water, more fixed than camphor. The roots also contain a volatile oil, sugar, mucilage, resin, etc. S. S. Garrigues (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1854, p. 511) obtained from an aqueous infusion a sweetish-bitter, amorphous yellow principle, which he calls panaquilon. It is soluble in ether and alcohol, insoluble in water. Concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves it with purple-red color. If the solution is poured into water, a white precipitate (panacon) results (see Davydow, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890, p. 338). Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—A mild tonic and stimulant. Useful in loss of appetite, slight nervous debility, and weak stomach. Continued for some length of time, for its temporary administration gives but little benefit, it is a very important remedy in nervous dyspepsia, and in mental exhaustion from overwork. It gives fairly good results in nervous prostration, and in cerebral anemia. By some, it is considered useful in asthma, gravel, convulsions, paralysis, to invigorate the virile powers, etc. It gives fairly good results in atonic laryngitis, bronchitis, and some relief in phthisis, being a secondary remedy for these complaints. Dose, of the powder, from 10 to 60 grains; of the infusion, from 2 to 4 fluid ounces; specific panax, 5 to 60 drops. Specific Indications and Uses.—Nervous dyspepsia; mental and other forms of nervous exhaustion from overwork.