Phytolacca decandra
Made from pokeweed — the American weed whose lectins are genuine laboratory tools and whose berries are a genuine poison, and the classical remedy of the breast, the throat and the hard glands.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of a breast in trouble: a hard, swollen, painful breast — nursing or not — radiating pain at every touch, a throat of deep purple with pains shooting to the ear, glands hard and tender along the whole chain, and a body aching as if bruised to the bone. The radiating breast-and-throat remedy: that is Phytolacca.
The substance, in plain words
Pokeweed is the flamboyant American weed of roadsides and fencerows — its berries a genuine poison, its roots a genuine medicine to the Eclectics, and its lectins — pokeweed mitogen — genuine laboratory instruments, used worldwide to stimulate lymphocytes in immunology. The proving gave the remedy its radiating portrait.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Anxiety with the pains. Fear, restlessness, worse at night with the radiating breast and throat.
- Irritability. Cross, worse from motion, touch and the least jarring.
- Despondency. Gloomy in the chronic glandular states.
The body
- Hard swollen breasts radiating. The keynote: breasts hard, swollen, painful, the pains shooting through at every touch and motion — nursing and non-nursing alike.
- Purple throat shooting to the ear. Deep purple-red throat, the pain shooting to the ear on swallowing — the books' celebrated sign.
- Glands hard and tender. The whole glandular chain — cervical, axillary — hard, tender, swollen.
- Bruised, aching body. The sensation of having been beaten over the whole body.
- Worse cold damp and motion. Wet weather, motion and touch renew everything.
- Better for rest and warmth Rest, warmth and dry weather ease the bruised aching.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| cold damp weather; motion; touch; swallowing. | rest; warmth; dry weather. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Breasts and glands, throat and tonsils, muscles and connective tissue, bones.
Where the classical picture comes from
The Eclectic breast-and-gland remedy's proving gave the library its great radiating portrait — the breast that shoots, the throat that shoots to the ear, the bruised whole body. Phytolacca became the classical remedy of the hard gland and the radiating breast.
The substance in real medicine Pharmacology
What this section is: the pharmacology and toxicology of the source substance. It is not clinical evidence that a homeopathic preparation of it treats any condition. What controlled trials do and do not show is set out on the Evidence page.
Pokeweed's lectins — pokeweed mitogen — are genuine, world-standard laboratory tools: immunologists use them to stimulate lymphocyte division, and they are studied for antiviral protein applications. The plant is genuinely poisonous, its berries a recurring cause of childhood poisoning, its roots a genuine if dangerous Eclectic drug. A weed with real laboratory credentials and a real poison file.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Conium maculatum | Hard glands and breasts | Conium's glands are hard with turning-head vertigo; Phytolacca's hard with radiating pains. |
| Bellis perennis | Bruised breasts | Bellis' breasts are bruised and sore; Phytolacca's hard, swollen and radiating. |
| Hepar sulphuris | Throat and glands | Hepar's throat is touchy and early-suppurating; Phytolacca's purple and shooting to the ear. |
| Mercurius solubilis | Throat, glands, night sweats | Mercurius is sweaty and foul; Phytolacca radiating and purple. |