Eriodictyon.
The dried leaves of Eriodictyon californicum (Hooker and Arnott), Greene (Nat. Ord. Hydrophyllaceae). A shrubby plant of California and northern Mexico. Dose, 5 to 30 grains.
Common Names: Yerba Santa, Mountain Balm.
Principal Constituents.—Resin, volatile oil, the glucoside ericolin, and eriodictyonic acid.
Preparation.—Specific Medicine Yerba Santa. Dose, 5 to 30 drops.
Specific Indications.—"Cough with abundant and easy expectoration" (Scudder). "Chronic asthma with cough, profuse expectoration, thickening of the bronchial membrane, loss of appetite, impaired digestion, emaciation" (Watkins).
Action and Therapy.—A stimulating expectorant having a kindly and beneficial action upon digestion. It is to be employed where there are excessive catarrhal discharges of the bronchial and renal tracts. It may be used where there is chronic cough with free secretions, as in chronic bronchitis, bronchorrhea, humid asthma, and the cough of phthisis. Some cases of chronic catarrh of the stomach and catarrhal cystitis have been successfully treated with it.
