Smilax peduncularis.
Botanical name:
The root of the Jacob's Ladder is said to possess strong diuretic and lithontriptic properties. Whether it really possesses the virtues reported to belong to it, we are unable, from present knowledge, to say. Several botanical writers and practitioners who have administered it frequently, speak very favorably of it as a diuretic in suppression of urine, dropsies, etc., and also in calculous affections. It promotes the flow of urine, and relieves the irritation incident to urinary deposits. It is used in the form of a decoction, a pint being taken in the course of twenty-four hours.
The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.
