Scutellaria.
Synonym.—Scullcap.
Scutellaria is the dried plant of Scutellaria lateriflora, Linn. (N.O. Labiatae), a perennial herb indigenous to the United States. The drug is official in the U.S.P. The dried tops are about 50 centimetres long, with branched quadrangular stem, and opposite, petiolate, ovate-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, serrate leaves, about 5 centimetres long; the flowers are about 6 millimetres long, in axillary one-sided racemes, with a pale blue corolla and bilabiate calyx, closed in front, the upper lip helmet-shaped. Odour, slight, and taste, bitterish.
Constituents.—The chief constituents of the drug are the bitter, crystalline, glucoside scutellarin, and a small quantity of volatile oil.
Action and Uses.—The medicinal properties of scutellaria are unknown, but it has been used in neuralgia, delirium tremens, chorea, convulsive affections, and ever. hydrophobia. It is administered in the form of fluidextract.
Dose.—1 to 2 grammes (15 to 30 grains).
PREPARATION.
- Fluidextractum Scutellariae, U.S.P.—FLUIDEXTRACT OF SCUTELLARIA. Syn.—Extractum Scutellariae Fluidum.
- Scutellaria, in No. 40 powder, is exhausted with alcohol (49 per cent.) and the volume of the product adjusted so that 1 fluid part represents 1 part of drug. Average dose.—1 mil (15 minims).
