Witnessed by: Western
Queen's root (Stillingia sylvatica), of the Euphorbiaceae family. Erect perennial herb of the spurge kind with milky juice, alternate leathery leaves and a terminal yellow spike; native range: the sandy pine-barrens and dry coastal plain of the southern United States, from Virginia to Florida and west to Texas. Globally recognized as queen's root · queen's delight · yaw root · silver leaf in English. The part used is root. Root-slices greyish-brown without and pinkish within, showing milky-white latex specks and a resinous ring; the odour faint and peculiar, the taste at first bitterish, then sharply acrid and biting, prickling the tongue and the back of the throat for some minutes after. The acridity fades as the root ages — and with it the drug.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
QUEEN'S ROOT
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- queen's root
- Scientific name
- Stillingia sylvatica L.
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae
Form
- Part used
- root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- acrid · bitter · pungent
Temperature
- Western
- warm
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- blood · skin · liver · lungs · mucous membranes
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- alterative — the leading one of its class in Eclectic practice — with sialagogue, expectorant and cholagogue action; in large doses emetic and cathartic; a stimulant to the lymphatics and the skin
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy; acute inflammatory conditions of the stomach and bowel; and irritable or ulcerated gut — the drug is an acrid euphorb and works on a raw surface
- Toxicity
- the fresh root and its milky latex are acrid and irritant in the manner of the spurge family, raising burning and prickling in the mouth and throat, and inflammation on the skin. Large doses vomit and purge violently and gripe; the drug was given small, and in combination. Aged root is inert rather than dangerous — which cuts both ways, since a practitioner dosing up to effect on stale stock will overshoot badly when fresh stock arrives.
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