Sarracenia
Made from the pitcher plant — the carnivorous trumpet of the American bogs, and the classical remedy of the cough and the periodic eruption.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of a cough with a calendar: the cough and the expectoration of the books' chest chapter, the skin eruptions that return with a periodicity of their own, and the carnivorous trumpet of the American bogs. The periodic-eruption pitcher: that is Sarracenia.
The substance, in plain words
The pitcher plant is the carnivorous trumpet of the American bogs, its modified leaves drowning the insects the poor soil cannot feed it — a genuine botanical marvel. The proving gave the pitcher plant the cough-and-periodic-eruption portrait.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Anxiety about health. Worry over the cough, the eruptions, the periodicity, worse at night.
- Irritability. Cross from the constant cough and the eruptions.
- Despondency. Gloomy in the recurrent, periodic states.
The body
- Cough with expectoration. The keynote: the cough with its expectoration of the books' chest chapter.
- Periodic skin eruptions. The books' second characteristic — the eruptions that return with a periodicity of their own.
- Worse cold damp and night. Wet weather and night thicken the chest and the skin.
- Better for open air and rest. Open air and rest ease the pitcher state.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| cold damp weather; night; exertion. | open air; rest; warmth. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Bronchi and lungs, skin (periodic eruptions), general vitality.
Where the classical picture comes from
The bog plant's proving gave the cough-and-periodicity portrait; Sarracenia became the classical remedy of the chest and the calendar of the skin — the carnivorous trumpet serving the eruptions its pitchers could not.
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.
The pitcher plant's real career is botanical — the carnivorous marvel of the bogs, its chemistry modest. The cough it portrayed is now respiratory medicine's; the periodic eruptions are dermatology's. The plant's marvel is its digestion of insects; the remedy's portrait is the old books' chapter.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Aranea diadema | Periodicity | Aranea's is the periodic cold bones; Sarracenia the periodic eruption with the cough. |
| Cedron | Clockwork returns | Cedron's are the clockwork fevers; Sarracenia's the periodic skin. |
| Drosera rotundifolia | Cough chapter | Drosera gags at midnight lying; Sarracenia coughs with the periodic eruption. |
| Fagopyrum esculentum | Eruptions | Fagopyrum prickles and blothes; Sarracenia's are the periodic ones of the bog chapter. |