Ononis. Rest Harrow. Ononis spinosa.

Ononis. Rest Harrow. Ononis spinosa L.— The roots are official in several European Pharmacopoeias under the title of "Radix Ononidis." The plant is common throughout Europe. The root is more or less flattened, twisted and slightly branched; from 10 to 60 cm. in length and 1 to 2 cm. in thickness; externally it is grayish-brown, deeply wrinkled; the odor resembles that of licorice, the taste being sweetish, mucilaginous, afterward bitter. Reinsch obtained from this plant ononin, C₂₅H₂₆O₁₁, a glucoside. Onocerin, a di-secondary alcohol, C₂₆H₄₂(OH)₂, was isolated by Thoms, who proposed to change its name to onocol. (A. Pharm., 1897, 28.) Cow (A. E. P. P., 1912, lxix, p. 393) has found that in the dog, the aqueous extract of ononis exercises a diuretic effect approaching in power that of juniper, which conclusion has been clinically confirmed by Breitenstein. It also contains tannin.

The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.