Epigea.

The leaves of Epigea repens.

Therapeutic Action.—Epigea is diuretic, astringent, and said to be tonic and antilithic. It is esteemed a very useful diuretic, and has been employed successfully in gravel, suppression of urine, dropsy, etc. It appears to be more especially adapted to the relief of chronic affections of the urinary organs attended with an increased secretion of mucus, or with a discharge of purulent matter, as in catarrhus vesica, or in cases where a suppurative action is going on in the kidneys, bladder, or urethra; consequently, it is to be classified with the tonic or astringent diuretics, as the uva ursi, chimaphila, etc., though it is superior to either of these.

The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.