Anacardiaceae group of drugs and Rhus genus comparison

Dr Ajay Kumar

Introduction:

• This family is also called Sumach or Cashew family.
• Peculiarity of this family is presence of resinous or milky fluid in the bark, which turns black on exposure to sunlight.
• This aspect shows it has ability to have a deep longlasting mark on the constitutions, often causing damage and disfiguring.
• Anacardiaceae family produces most violent symptoms by the slightest touch or even without touching it.

Morphology:

• Trees or shrubs with inconspicuous flowers, highly poisonous, sometimes foul-smelling resinous or milky sap.
• Resin canals and tannin sacs are characteristic and wide spread among the family.
• Leaves: Leaves are alternate or rarely opposite without stipules.
• Flower: Flowers grow at the end of branch or stem or at an angle from where leaf joins the stem and have bracts.
• Fruits: Fruits rarely open at maturity and are most often drupes.

Active Principles:

• Fisetin
• Urushiol
• Pheridic oil
• Gallic and tannin
• Rhoitanic acid
• Toxicodendric acid
• Toxicodendralis

General Group Characteristics:

Constitution:

• Best suited to Old people, with lack of physical and mental power.
• Nervous hysterical women.
• Ill-natured children.
• Temperament: Irritable, easily angered.
• Thermal cleavage: Chilly or Ambithermal.
• Diathesis: Rheumatic and Gouty.
• Miasms: Psora, Syphilis.

According to Rajan Sankaran:

TYPHOID	RINGWORM	MALARIA	CANCER	LEPROSY	SYCOSIS
Rhus-tox	Rhus-ven	Rhus-rad	Anac	Rhus-glab Comoclad	Mangifera

Characteristic Mental Symptoms:

Lack Of Confidence:

• Extreme lack of self-confidence, loss of memory.
• A milder form of anxiety

Delusions and Illusions:

• That they cannot succeed, that they have committed crime, that he is away from home, that they are double or possessed two wills.
• Delusions: Sees dead persons, sees devils.
• This delusion state produces confusion of self-identity; therefore they seem to be lacking the very clear identity of themselves.
• Suicidal thoughts, great melancholy, gloomy state of mind with no will to live.

Fear:

• Fear of examination with nervous exhaustion from over study.
• Religious melancholia, familiar places seem to be strange.
• Fear of being pursued, killed by someone or being poisoned.
• Superstitious, mistrust, fear of misfortune, anxiety regarding ones health.
• Extreme restlessness driving from place to place and out of bed at night.

Dreams:

• Dreams of fire, murder, and misfortune.
• Fear of people, lack of confidence in self and others.
• These feelings in return produces cruelty, malice, inhumanity and violence.

Anthropophobia:

• Aversion to people.
• Anthropophobia with dreams of flying because of threat or insecurity.

Characteristic Physical Symptoms:

• Violent skin affections, Erysipelas, Herpetic, Malignant or Leprosy like skin affections.
• Mainly affect the face and genitals.
• Violent, tormenting, burning, itching, swelling and redness leading to vesication and ulceration.
• Rest is the worst factor.
• Symptoms change sides from either left to right or right to left.
• Mentally there is much stress, mental restlessness is worse in bed and at night. All symptoms aggravate after midnight.
• Remedies of this family predominately affect the nerves, spinal cord, joints and bones producing inflammation in joints and paresis of muscles.

Chart of Plant sensations by Rajan Sankaran:

FAMILY	SENSATION	PASSIVE REACTION	ACTIVE REACTION	COMPENSATION
ANACARDIACEAE	Caught Stiff Tight Tension Stuck Cramps Pressing	Paralyzed Immobile	Motion amel. Agg. In house Agg. Sitting First motion agg. Restlessness Sedentary agg. You are stuck and want to move continuously.	Always on move

General Modalities:

Aggravation:

• By rest
• “Rest is the worst factor, the most powerful action of the plant takes when the body or limb in in perfect repose”
• Rheumatism in most of them is < Rest (Comocladia, Rhus group)
• Night
• Physiologically, Clarke says that the poisonous action of the Rhus is lost if it is exposed to sunlight.
• In proving also all active symptoms are produced after midnight.
• Mental restlessness is also worse in the bed and at night.
• is better in the sun and < at night.

Amelioration:

• By motion
• From rubbing

Remedies:

• Anacardium occidentalis – Cashew nut
• Anacardium orientalis – Marking nut
• Comocladia dentata – Guao
• Karaka – Kopi
• Mangifera indica – Mango
• Rhus aromatica – Fragrant sumach
• Rhus diversiloba – Californian poison oak
• Rhus glabra – Smooth sumach
• Rhus radicus – Poison ivy
• Rhus Toxicodendron – Poison oak
• Rhus venenata – Poison sumach
• Schinus mole – Chilly pepper

Anacardium Occidentalis:

• Commonly called “Cashew nut” of the West Indies.
• It is easily distinguished from our Anacardium which comes from the East Indies, by its being kidney-shaped, while the Oriental nut, our well-proved medicine, is heart- shaped.

Mind:

• Loss of will ; cannot control voluntary muscles.
• Paralysis with imbecility.
• Did not know his surroundings.
• Weak memory. (Anac. orient.)
• Difficult thinking.

Head:

• Tearing headache on left side.
• Head falls forward, difficult to keep it up

Face:

• Erysipelas over whole face (from applying juice to destroy marks).
• Swelling of face with itching and burning.
• Applied to face to remove cuticle and produce a fresher and more youthful appearance.

Mouth & Speech:

• Cannot speak, only mutters unintelligible sounds.
• Painfully swollen tongue.
• Drinks run out of mouth.

Genito-urinary:

• Increased urination.
• Stimulates sexual desire.
• Testicles swollen.
• Erysipelas of face during menses.
• Uterine complaints and dropsy.

Extremities:

• Large blisters filled with a yellow fluid are raised on hands, followed by desquamation.

Skin:

• If hands are not washed carefully after handling nuts, they cause itching and painful burning swellings wherever they touch skin.
• Corroding or dry tetters.
• Red itching spots like nettlerash, similar to that of Rhus tox., spreading from left to right.
• Used as a vesicant it causes itching and burning ; then gradual reddening and swelling, followed by vesicles which become pustular ; these are large and flat at first and gradually become confluent and break ; the epidermis peels off, but leaves surface swollen, hyperamic and suppurating for days.
• The juice is used on corns, warts, ringworms and obstinate ulcers.

Relations:

• Collateral relations: Anacardium orien.
• Similar to: ; Mezer. (as a vesicant); Crot. tig.; Rhus rad.; Rhus tox.
• Antidoted by: Rhus tox.
• The tincture of Iodine was found useful as a local application to parts affected.

Anacardium Orientalis:

• Also called as Semicarpus anacardium
• Commonly called as “Marking Nut”.
• Preparation: Layer of nut between shell and kernel is triturated.
• Proved by Dr Stapf

A Confection of Fools:

• Because many had lost their memory and became mad on the account of using it too often and inconsiderately
• “Hence it was only the improper and too frequent use of anacardium that made it hurtful,” as Hahnemann points out, “If applied correctly it became curative.”

Clinical:

• Apoplexy. Brain-fag. Constipation. Cough. Debility. Dysmenorrhœa. Dyspepsia. Eczema. Elephantiasis. Examination funk. Hæmorrhoids. Headache. Heart, affections of. Hypochondriasis. Hysteria. Insanity. Memory, loss of. Mental weakness. Nervous ailments. Palpitation. Paralysis. Pemphigus. Rheumatism. Self-abuse. Skin, diseases of. Smell, illusions of. Spine, affections of. Stiff-neck. Vomiting of pregnancy. Whooping-cough. Warts. Writer’s cramp.

Spheres of Action:

• Mind and Nerves
• Stomach
• Rectum
• Skin
• Acts directly upon the sensorium, depressing the cerebral centres and the organs of special senses.

Ailments from:

• Bad effects of mental excitement
• Excessive utilization of brain for purposeless thoughts
• Consequences of fright and mortifications
• Sedentary habits

Constitution:

• Pale face with blue rings around the eyes
• Highly irritable, slight causes makes him excessively angry
• Neither chilly nor hot

Mind:

• Fixed ideas. Hallucinations
• Thinks he is possessed of two persons or wills.
• Anxiety when walking, as if pursued.
• Profound melancholy and hypochondriasis, with tendency to use violent language.
• Irresistible desire to curse and swear
• Brain-fag. Impaired memory. Absent mindedness.
• Very easily offended. Malicious; seems bent on wickedness.
• Lack of confidence in himself or others.
• Suspicious (Hyos). Clairaudient, hears voices far away or of the dead.
• Senile dementia. Absence of all moral restraint.

Head:

• Pressing pain, as from a plug; worse after mental exertion, in forehead; occiput, temples, vertex; better during a meal. Itching and little boils on scalp.
• Headache relieved entirely by eating; when lying down in bed at night, and when about falling asleep; worse during motion and work.
• Gastric and nervous headaches of sedentary persons.

Eyes:

• Pressure like a plug on upper orbit. Indistinct vision. Objects appear too far off.

Ears:

• Pressing in the ears as from a plug. Hard of hearing.

Nose:

• Frequent sneezing. Sense of smell perverted. Coryza with palpitation, especially in the aged.

Face:

• Blue rings around eyes. Face pale.

Mouth:

• Painful vesicles; fetid odor. Tongue feels swollen, impending speech and motion, with saliva in mouth. Burning around lips as from pepper.

Stomach:

• Weak digestion, with fullness and distention. Empty feeling in stomach. Eructation, nausea, vomiting. Eating relieves the Anacardium dyspepsia. Apt to choke when eating or drinking. Swallows food and drinks hastily.

Sensation of fasting “all gone”, comes on only when stomach is empty and is > by eating, < during process of digestion.

Abdomen:

• Pain as if dull plug were pressed into intestines. Rumbling, pinching, and griping.

Rectum:

• Bowels inactive. Ineffectual desire; rectum seems powerless, as if plugged up; spasmodic constriction of sphincter ani; even soft stool passes with difficulty. Itching at anus; moisture from rectum. Hæmorrhage during stool. Painful haemorrhoids.

Male:

• Voluptuous itching; increased desire; seminal emissions without dreams. Prostatic discharge during stool.

Female:

• Leucorrhœa, with soreness and itching. Menses scanty.

Heart:

• Palpitation, with weak memory, with coryza in the aged; stitches in heart region. Rheumatic pericarditis with double stitches.

Respiratory:

• Pressure in chest, as from a dull plug.
• Oppression of chest, with internal heat and anxiety, driving him into open air.
• Cough excited by talking, in children, after fit of temper. Cough after eating with vomiting of food and pain in occiput.

Sleep:

• Spells of sleeplessness lasting for several nights. Anxious dreams.

Back:

• Dull pressure in the shoulders, as from a weight. Stiffness at nape of neck.

Extremities:

• Neuralgia in thumb.
• Paralytic weakness.
• Knees feel paralyzed or bandaged.
• Cramps in calves.
• Pressure as from a plug in the glutei.
• Fingers swollen with vesicular eruption.

Skin:

• Intense itching, eczema, with mental irritability; vesicular eruption; swelling, urticaria; eruption like that of Poison-Oak.
• Burning itching, increased by scratching.
• Lichen planus; neurotic eczema.
• Warts on palms of hands.
• Ulcer formation on forearm.
• Skin not easily excited by irritants.

Modalities:

• Worse, on application of hot water.
• Better, from eating. When lying on side, from rubbing.

Relations:

• Antidote: Grindeleia; Coffea; Juglans; Eucalyptus
• Compare: Rhus-r, Rhus-t, Rhus-v.
• Follows well after Lyc. and Puls.
• Follows and is followed by Platinum.

Comocladia Dentata:

• Commonly called as Guao (Cuba).
• Preparation: Tincture of leaves and bark.

Clinical:

• Antrum of Highmore, Affections of breasts, Affections of ears, Affections of Eczema. Erysipelas. Eyes, affections of Herpes. Leprosy. Neuralgia. Skin, malignant inflammations of. Toothache. Ulcers. Zona. Affections of joints and ankles.

Characteristics:

• The plant causes tormenting itching, swelling, redness, vesication, ulceration.
• Hale quotes from Navarro cures of ulcers: “Sloughing ulcer of right breast”. “Indolent ulcer, lower third right leg,” deep, discharging sanious fetid pus. “Inflammation of left leg and foot, with enormous swelling and fever.”
• A cough, with pain under left breast going through to left scapula.
• There are also rheumatic pains, and, as with Rhus, these and the symptoms in general are > by motion and < by rest.
• In contradistinction to Rhus, heat < and open air > most of the symptoms.
• Throbbing pains worse by heat.
• Most symptoms are < at night as with Rhus. Pressure >.

Head:

• Giddiness on rising from bed; everything looks dark; > motion, < heat.
• Severe pain at intervals from posterior portion of eyeballs to occipital protuberance.
• < near warm stove; when stooping. > in open air.
• Corrosive itching with shooting pains, > by movement.

Eyes:

• Ciliary neuralgia with eyes feeling large and protruded especially right, feels sore; heavy; as if pressed out from above.
• Sees only glimmer of light with left eye. Sees a red ring round flame of lamp.
• Eyes < near warm stove, Eye balls feel worse on moving them.
• Glaucoma, sense of fullness; eyeball feels too large.

Ears:

• Heat and fullness in interior of right ear.
• Left ear all cracked, and desquamating a substance like powdered starch.

Face:

• Burning; extreme swelling; heat and itching of the face.
• Aching first in left and then in right maxillary joint on entering a warm room.
• Aching in base of right antrum of Highmore, afterwards in left. Sensation as if a pimple on right antrum.
• Sensation as if the skin was puckered or drawn up from the face and about the nose, causing slight giddiness.
• Lower lip- blistered and swollen.

Mouth:

• Sensation as if a tooth were being drawn out of its socket, putting the nerve on the stretch.
• Second right molar caries, pain commences in it 4:30 to 5p.m; at times shoots down in line with larynx, leaving sore track.
• Pain < in bed, > by external warmth and pressure.
• Gums of lower jaw inflamed.
• Dry mouth. Tongue- coated dirty yellow.

Stomach:

• Some eructation’s two hours after eating.
• Pressure and heaviness in region of stomach.

Stool:

• Severe flatulent pain in abdomen preceding and during a diarrheic stool; followed by a feeling of weakness and perspiration on face and neck.

Male sexual organs:

• Intense itching on lower part of penis, also on inner side of prepuce.
• Continued tingling, itching of scrotum during night.

Sleep:

• Dreamy, refreshing sleep with pleasant dreams, almost clairvoyant.

Modalities:

• Better- open air, scratching, by motion.
• Worse- touch, warmth, rest, night.

Relations:

• Compare: Anac., Rhus, Euphorb. (red stripes on skin), Apis (eye symptoms- < near stove).

Dose:

• First to thirtieth potency.

Karaka:

• Commonly called as Corynocarpus Laevigatus, Kopi tree.
• Natural order: Myrsinaceae (Allen puts it in Anacardiaceae).
• Preparation: Tincture or Trituration of fresh seeds.
• Bennett has recorded a few symptoms observed in the case of a Maori chief poisoned with the seeds of Karaka, which contain a tasteless farinaceous substance and are eaten in times of scarcity.
• But the raw seeds are poisonous and produce spasmodic pains, giddiness, and partial paralysis.
• To obviate this they are steamed for twenty-four hours, and then either buried in the ground or allowed to soak in water for some days

Characteristics:

• F. Fischer proved Karaka and used it clinically in cases of convulsions.
• He quotes an account of its effect from the Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute: Violent spasms and convulsions of whole body, arms and legs stretched violently and rigidly out; great flushing’s of heat; protrusion of eyes and tongue; gnashing of jaws.
• The poison proves rapidly fatal if the patient is not attended to immediately; and the limbs are permanently and rigidly distorted if they are not fixed in proper positions until the crisis is passed.
• The general treatment is to bind the patient (generally a child), with the limbs in right position, dig a pit and place him in it, standing, buried up to the chin with a gag in his mouth.
• The writer describes a youth, aet. 12, who had recovered after being poisoned, but whose limbs had not been properly secured and were ever after absolutely useless.
• One leg was curved up behind his loins, the other bent up with the foot outwards; one arm inclined behind his shoulder, the other slightly bent and extended forward, and all, as to muscles, inflexibly rigid. He could not move himself or even drive away the flies.

Generalities:

• Spasm with pains.
• Violent pain lasting a week. Partial paralysis.
• Heat-anesthesia;
• when warm water was applied he did not feel any warmth from it.
• Violent spasms and convulsions of whole body, arms and legs stretched violently and rigidly out.
• Permanent rigid distortion.

Mangifera Indica:

• Commonly called as Mango.
• Mangiferin (a pharmacologically active hydroxylated xanthone C- glycoside) is extracted from mango at high concentrations from the Young leaves- 172g/kg, Bark – 107g/kg, Old leaves- 94g/kg.

Clinical:

• One of the best general remedies for passive hemorrhages, uterine, renal, gastric, pulmonary and intestinal. Rhinitis, sneezing, pharyngitis, suffocative sensation as if throat would close. Relaxation of mucus membrane of alimentary canal. Catarrhal and serous discharges, chronic intestinal irritation. Varicose veins. Drowsiness. Atonic conditions, poor circulation, relaxed muscles.

Skin:

• Itching of palms.
• Skin as if sunburnt, swollen.
• White spots, intense itching.
• Lobes of ears and lips swollen.

Relationship:

• Compare – Erigeron; Epilobium.

Schinus Molle:

• Commonly called as chilly pepper.
• Preparation: Tincture of the berries.
• Tincture of leaves and berries.

Clinical:

• Liver, griping pain in. Esophagus, dryness of. Spinal cord, drawing in. Vomiting.

Characteristics:

• Allen says Schinus is an evergreen shrub, native of Mexico and South America, and frequently cultivated in Southern California under the names “Pepper tree” and “Chilly pepper.’’
• The symptoms were observed by Dr. P. W. Poulson on a young lady who ate a few berries after dinner, and on himself.
• Poulson ate leaves as well as berries, and he had heartburn, griping in liver, and “a kind of drawing sensation as in the spinal cord and cerebellum.”

Stomach:

• Long-continued vomiting, “as if all the bowels would be emptied out”; vomiting very painful.
• As the vomiting subsides diarrhea sets on, the diarrhea being painless.
• Heart burn, dryness of esophagus.

Abdomen:

• Rolling and flatulence in the bowels, and a griping sensation in the liver.

Stool:

• Painless diarrhea following painful vomiting.
• Profuse diarrhea continuing all night.

Back:

• Drawing sensation as in the spinal cord and cerebellum.

Relations:

• Compare: Anac., Rhus, Comocladia.

Comparision of “Rhus” Genus Drugs:

Rhus toxicodendron	Rhus venenata	Rhus glabra	Rhus aromatica	Rhus diversiloba	Rhus radicans
Commonly called as Poison-Oak. Preparation: Tincture of fresh leaves gathered at sunset just before flowering time. Rhus tox. is a shrub with erect stem from two to four feet high. The stem is devoid of rootlets. Clinical: Acne rosacea. Anal fissure. Beri-Beri. Dengue fever. Diphtheria. Dysentery. Dyspepsia. Erysipelas. Exostosis. Haemorrhages. Haemorrhoids. Hernia. Herpes. Herpes zoster. Hydrocele. Liver abscess. Measles. Paraphimosis. Pemphigus. Scarlatina. Urticaria. Warts. Mind: Listless, sad. Thoughts of suicide. Extreme restlessness, with continued change of position. Delirium, with fear of being poisoned (Hyos). Sensorium becomes cloudy. Great apprehension at night, cannot remain in bed Head: Vertigo, when standing or walking; worse when lying down; <rising from lying, or stooping Headache: Brain feels loose when stepping or shaking the head; sensation of swashing in brain; stupefying as if torn; from beer; <from sitting, lying in cold, > warm and motion Eyes: Swollen, red, edematous; orbital cellulitis. Pustular inflammations. Photophobia; profuse flow of yellow pus. edema of lids, suppurative iritis. Lids inflamed, agglutinated swollen. Old injured eyes. Face: Corners of mouth ulcerated, fever blisters around mouth and on chin Mouth: Teeth feel loose and long; gums sore. Tongue red and cracked; coated, except red triangular space at the tip; dry and red at edges, with imprint of teeth. Corners of mouth ulcerated; fever-blisters around mouth and chin (Nat mur). Pain in maxillary joint. Throat: Sore, with swollen glands. Sticking pain on swallowing. Parotitis; left side. Stomach: Want of appetite for any kind of food, with unquenchable thirst. Bitter taste (Cupr). Nausea, vertigo, and bloated abdomen after eating. Desire for milk. Great thirst, with dry mouth and throat. Pressure as from a stone. Abdomen: Violent pains, relieved by lying on abdomen. Swelling of inguinal glands. Pain in region of ascending colon. Colic, compelling to walk bent. Excessive distention after eating. Rumbling of flatus on first rising, but disappears with continued motion. Rectum: Diarrhea of blood, slime, and reddish mucus. Dysentery, with tearing pains down thighs. Stools of cadaverous odor. Frothy, painless stools. Will often abort a beginning suppurative process near the rectum. Dysentery. Urinary: Dark, turbid, high-colored, scanty urine, with white sediment. Dysuria, with loss of blood. Male: Swelling of glands and prepuce-dark-red erysipelatous; scrotum thick, swollen, edematous. Itching intense. Extremities: Hot, painful swelling of joints. Pains tearing in tendons, ligaments. Rheumatic pains better motion Limbs stiff paralyzed. The cold fresh air is not tolerated. worse, cold, damp weather, at night. Tenderness about knee-joint. Skin: Red, swollen; itching intense, burning, stinging. Vesicles, herpes; urticaria; pemphigus; erysipelas, from left to right; vesicular suppurative forms. Glands swollen. Cellulitis. Burning eczematous eruptions with tendency to scale formation Relationship: Complementary: Bry; Calc fluor. Phytol (Rheumatism). In urticaria follow with Bovista. Inimical: Apis Compare: Arn., Bry., Rhod., Nat-s., Sulph. Sepia, often quickly > itching and burning of Rhus-t., the vesicles dry up in few days	Commonly called as Poison Elder, Poison Sumach, Swamp Sumach It is frequently named “R. Vernix,” and it is given under this name in Hempel’s Jahr., but the name belongs properly to the allied Varnish-tree of Japan. Preparation: Tincture of fresh leaves and stem. Clinical: Boils. Chilblains. Diarrhoea. Dyspepsia. Dysphagia. Eczema. Eruptions. Erysipelas. Erythema nodosum. Haemorrhoids. Herpes. Impetigo. Lumbago. Measles. Menorrhagia. Ophthalmia. Paraplegia. Prurigo. Purpura. Scabies. Urticaria. Mind: Great sadness, no desire to live, or do anything, everything seems gloomy. Apprehensive, restless, variable feeling; sometimes cheerful, then hypochondriacal. Cannot connect ideas or concentrate mind; forgetful; dull; stupid. Head: Heavy, frontal headache; worse, walking or stooping. Eyes nearly closed with great swelling. Vesicular inflammation of ears. Nose red and shiny. Face swollen. Tongue: Red at tip. Fissured in middle. Vesicles on under side. Eyes: Eyes nearly closed with great swelling; redness. Eyes feel as if sand in them. Smarting, burning irritation and acridity about eyes; profuse lachrymation. Blur-eyes, < night; cannot read by candle-light. Photophobia: Sharp pain in r. eye, extending to supraorbital region. Mouth: Drawing in r. upper teeth. Gums swollen. Tongue: coated white in middle, back and edges red; red on tip; red and cracked in middle; cracked in middle and covered with little vesicles; several vesicles on under side. Sensation as if tongue were being pulled out by the roots.   Throat: Pharynx and esophagus irritable and sensitive, painful and difficult to swallow, food caused pain and seemed to stop mid-way to stomach; cold water produced the same effect as very hot tea, and an aching such as is felt after drinking ice-water, though thirst was great. Abdomen: Profuse, watery, white stools in morning, 4 am, with colicky pain; expelled with force. Pain in hypogastrium before every stool Stool and Anus: Bleeding hemorrhoids with extensive itching and burning. -Neuralgic pains in anus. Most intolerable burning and itching in anus. Diarrhoea 2 to 5 a.m., Stool: very dark; dark and partly undigested; dark, hard, and small in quantity. Urinary Organs: Burning in urethra. Urine increased. Desire to void urine often, but in small quantities. Male Sexual Organs: Groins and penis affected in morning. Scrotum red, swollen, much corrugated, covered with vesicles; prepuce swollen; Glans swollen. Extremities: Paralytic drawing in right arm,especially wrist, and extending to fingers. Skin: Itching; relieved by hot water. Vesicles. Erysipelas; skin dark red. Erythema nodosum, with nightly itching and pains in long bones. Skin: A fine white rash keeps under the skin. Ulcers, cuts, and other lesions surrounded by a miliary whitish rash. Nightly itching, and an eruption very like erythema nodosum. Within twenty-four hours itching with swelling, which gradually extends over body assuming erysipelatous appearance. Relationship: Antidote: clematis. The California poison-oak is identical with it. It antidotes radium and follows it well. Compare: anacardium.	Commonly called as Smooth Sumach, Pennsylvania Sumach, Upland Sumach. Found in rocky or barren soils in North America. Preparation: Tincture of fresh bark; of root; of berries. Clinical: Debility. Diarrhea. Dreams, annoying. Dysentery. Epistaxis. Hemorrhage. Head-ache. Mouth, ulcers in. Mind: Distaste for society. Stupid Forgetful Indifferent to surrounding objects. Head: Dull, heavy headache on waking, > by exercise. Dull, heavy pain in front and top of head. Nose: Bleeding from left nostril and mouth. Bloody scabs in left nostril. Left nostril hot and dry Mouth: Tongue furred white. Several small, very sensitive ulcers on mucous membrane opposite the bicuspids. Taste flat, alkaline. Bleeding from mouth Throat: Expelled two clots of blood from throat soon after waking. Stomach: Loss of appetite. Hunger (4th day). At breakfast could eat but little though feeling as if he had fasted many days (6th day). Distress in stomach, disturbed, very restless. Pain in stomach much < by all food or drink. Abdomen: Sharp cutting in umbilical region and abdomen. Umbilical region tender to pressure Stool and Anus: Diarrhea in afternoon, < towards evening; later dry, hard stool; then first part dry, later moist; then natural; and again diarrhea of short continuance. Lower Limbs: Aching and fatigue of lower limbs, can hardly stand. Relationship: Said to be antidotal to the action of Mercury, and has been employed in the treatment of secondary syphilis after mercurialization. Dose: Tincture- locally to soft, spongy gums, aphthae, pharyngitis, etc. Internally, first potency.	Commonly called as Fragrant Sumach. Preparation: Tincture of fresh root bark Clinical: Renal and urinary affection, especially diabetes. Enuresis due to vesical atony; senile incontinence. Hematuria and cystitis. Diabetes, Diarrhea, chronic. Dysentery, chronic. Hemorrhages from kidneys, uterus come with in the range of this remedy. Head: Dull frontal headache. Head hot. Urine: Pale, albuminous. Incontinence of urine. Severe pain in at beginning or before urination, causing great agony in children. Constant dribbling. Diabetes, large quantities of urine of low specific gravity. [ phos. Acid; acetic acid]. Relations: Rh. a. is closely allied to Rh. g. They are both non-poisonous, and have terminal flowers, instead of the axillary flowers of the poisonous varieties. Dose: Tincture rather in material doses.	Commonly called as Californian Poison Oak. Preparation: Tincture of fresh leaves. Murray Moore observed the effect of Rhus Diversiloba. Clinical: Chicken-pox. Eczema. Erysipelas. Skin, sensitive Eyes: Left eye closed entirely by swelling; right partially. Face: Vesicular erysipelas rash with great oedema and swelling of glands in neck. Vesicles dried into crust so dense that movements of mouth and face were painful. Stomach: Loss of appetite. Nausea; vomiting. Whole digestive system deranged for three weeks. Stool- Bowels costive. Urinary organs: Urine scanty, high- colored. Felt hot when passed. Male sexual: Heat and itching of scrotum and adjacent surfaces of thigh, < on hairy parts. Limbs: Stiffness of limbs; of all joints on first moving them. Skin: Eruption very like chicken-pox. After the erysipelatous condition of the skin subsided extreme irritability remained, and hypersensitiveness to cold air. Five months after the poisoning there was a recurrence (without fresh exposure) shortly after taking a bath rather too hot.	Commonly called as Poison Ivy or Vine. Preparation: Tincture of entire plant, leaves, seeds, juice, extract. Clinical:   Intermittent fever, Erysipelas of the face, Eneuresis, Parotitis after scarlatina, Oesophagitis, Acne rosacea. Indolent ulcers. Mind: melancholic., Mental depression Apathy, indolence. Unusual irritability of disposition. Depression of spirits. Discouragement,  anxiety & apprehension about future. Extreme peevishness &  impatience. Throat: Painful deglutition Abdomen: Pain in abdomen. Often in semilateral parts

References:

• Group study in homoeopathic materia medica by J.D.Patil.
• Gems text book of homoeopathic materia medica by J.D.Patil.
• Sankarans schema.
• Sankaran’s plant sensations.
• Our magnificient plants by Dr Rupal Desai.
• Keynotes and characteristics by H.C.Allen
• Homoeopathic materia medica by William Boericke
• A dictionary of practical materia medica by J.H.Clarke
• com

Dr Ajay Kumar
PG Scholar
Department of Homoeopathic Materia Medica
Father Muller Homoeopathic Medical College And Hospital, Mangalore.

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