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Spigelia marilandica

Common name:	Indian Pink	Family:	Loganiaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	43, 200, 274
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	This plant is poisonous in large quantities[21].
Range:	South-eastern N. America - New Jersey to Florida.
Habitat:	Rich dry soils on the edges of woods[4, 43].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	0	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	3

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Lonicera marilandica[G] S. marylandica[H,HORTIPLEX]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Pink Root [H], Pinkroot [E], Spicelia [E], Woodland Pinkroot [P,B],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Gentianales. Logania family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Turkey Us Us(Amerindian) Us(Appalachia)

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.5m by 0.25m . It is hardy to zone 8. It is in flower in July. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 0/5 for edibility and 3/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Sunny Edge, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Anthelmintic Narcotic.

The whole plant, but especially the root, is anthelmintic and narcotic[4, 21, 46]. A safe and effective anthelmintic when used in the proper dosage, it is especially effective with tapeworms and roundworm[4]. Its use should always be followed by a saline aperient such as magnesium sulphate otherwise unpleasant side effects will follow[4]. Another report says that it can be used with other herbs such as Foeniculum vulgare or Cassia senna[254]. These will ensure that the root is expelled along with the worms since the root is potentially toxic if it is absorbed through the gut[254]. The root is best used when fresh but can be harvested in the autumn then dried and stored[213]. It should not be stored for longer than 2 years[213]. Use with caution and only under professional supervision[21, 254]. The plant contains the alkaloid spigiline,which is largely responsible for the medicinal action but side effects of an overdose can include increased heart action, vertigo, convulsions and possibly death[222, 274].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Succeeds in most fertile soils in semi-shade[200]. Tolerates full sun if the soil remains reliably moist in the growing season[200], in a shady position it tolerates considerably drier soils[4].
Plants are hardy to about -15° c[200].
A very ornamental plant[1].

Propagation

Seed - requires stratification, pre-chill for 3 weeks prior to sowing. It will usually germinate in 1 - 3 months at 20° c. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots once they are large enough to handle and grow on in a cold frame for their first winter. Plant out in late spring or early summer.
Division in the spring.
Basal cuttings in late spring. Harvest the shoots with plenty of underground stem when they are about 8 - 10cm above the ground. Pot them up into individual pots and keep them in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[S] Image from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[S] Illustration from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[S] Image from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine

References for Spigelia marylandica (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Loganiaceae.

[CHINA] Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[213] Weiner. M. A. Earth Medicine, Earth Food. Ballantine Books 1980 ISBN 0-449-90589-6
A nice book to read though it is difficult to look up individual plants since the book is divided into separate sections dealing with the different medicinal uses plus a section on edible plants. Common names are used instead of botanical.

[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.

[254] Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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