In slender, cylindrical pieces, often curved or coiled, light, spongy, white, inodorous, and insipid. Pharm. , Vol. Druggist , Vol. Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. It is generally used in combination with other alteratives, particularly podophyllum, whose flavor it improves, in syphilitic affections, chronic rheumatism, scrofula, and many cutaneous eruptions .
Stubborn cases require also the aid of vapor, spirit or sulphur baths.
This is a large evergreen tree, which is found growing in the mountainous regions of California. There has been some considerable difficulty in determining its precise botanical position, and it has been variously described as Umbellularia californica, Oreodaphne californica, Drimophyllum pauciflorum, Tetranthera californicum, and Laurus regia . The flowers appear in April, in lateral clusters, and are of a greenish-yellow color. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate, entire, and of a firm texture. They are borne on short leaf-stalks, and end in slender, acuminate points.