Vincetoxicum. Vincetoxicum officinale. White Swallow-wort.

Vincetoxicum. V. officinale Moench. (now more properly Cynanchum Vincetoxicum (L.) Pers. White Swallow-wort. Vincetoxicum. Asclepiade, Dompte-venin, Hirundinaire, Fr. Schwalbenwurz, Giftwende, G.—A perennial, herbaceous European plant, the root of which was formerly esteemed a counterpoison, and hence the botanical name. It has a bitterish, acrid, taste, and, when fresh, a disagreeable odor, which is diminished by drying. Kubler found a glucoside, vincetoxin, C₅₀H₈₂O₂₀; which he states differs from condurangin which other investigators asserted to be identical. (A. Pharm., 1908, 659.) Taken internally, especially in the recent state, it excites vomiting, and is capable, in larger quantities, of producing dangerous, if not fatal, inflammation of the stomach. Feneulle found in the root a principle analogous to emetin. It has been used in skin diseases and scrofula.

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