Hiera picra
“The holy bitter”
- Known today as
- A compound purge of aloes with cinnamon, mastic, saffron, and other aromatics.
- Kind
- Compound, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- barbaloin and isobarbaloin, canella bark, honey
- Poisoning
- The anthranoid purgatives
- Earliest authority here
- Galen (AD 129–c. 216)
Revised October 3, 2026: Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.
Caution. Aloes should not be given in pregnancy or to nursing women.
Hiera picra: what was it used for?
A bitter purge for the stomach and the head, and a base of many other compounds of the London Dispensatory; see Hiera with agaric.
Hiera picra: what does modern science say?
An aloes laxative; Culpeper found that it “very gently purgeth the belly.”
Hiera picra: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. Aloes should not be given in pregnancy or to nursing women. Its poisoning is the anthranoid purgatives: Eight to twelve hours: the glycosides pass the small bowel and are freed by the colonic bacteria. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- barbaloin and isobarbalointhe aloins of aloes, the purge
- canella barkor cinnamon, the aromatic
- honey ChEMBLin the electuary form
- Mechanism
- The holy bitter: aloes, which acts mainly on the large intestine some fifteen to eighteen hours after a dose and is given with carminatives against its griping. The BPC of 1911 still had it, as aloes and canella powder.
- Toxic dose
- Three to ten grains of the powder (BPC 1911); Culpeper took a scruple as pills at night.
- Syndrome
- The anthranoid purgatives
- Standing
- Aloes and canella powder was in the BPC of 1911; in 2002 the U.S. FDA ruled aloe not generally recognized as safe and effective in over-the-counter laxatives.
- Reynolds, T., and Dweck, A. C. (1999). “Aloe vera leaf gel: a review update.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology 68. Verified against its record · doi:10.1016/s0378-8741(99)00085-9
- Culpeper, N. (1653). Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, “Hiera Picra simplex.” Read in part · the text read
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
The Recipe
The recipe: 8 ingredients, with the apothecaries’ weights in modern measure. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.
Used in These Compounds
Hiera picra is an ingredient of 1 compound medicine in the database. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.
Hiera picra: what did the older authorities say?
- Galen
- The formula passed under his name through the medieval and early modern pharmacopoeias.
Sources
- Culpeper, N. (1653). Pharmacopœia Londinensis. Read in full · the text read
- The British Pharmaceutical Codex (1911). London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Monographs as transcribed at Henriette’s Herbal Homepage, henriettes-herb.com. Read in full · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)
- Sources
- 4 cited: 2 read in full, 1 read in part, 1 verified against its record.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026
- Chicago
“Hiera picra.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hiera-picra.
- MLA
“Hiera picra.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hiera-picra. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Hiera picra. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hiera-picra
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See Also
Poisoned alike: the anthranoid purgatives
Lenitive electuary · Diacatholicon · Madder · Compound fumitory · Myrobalans · Cassia, flower of · Rhubarb · Yellow dock · the syndrome, with all of them →
Sharing honey
Also in Galen
Peony in Galen · Garlic in Galen · Purslane in Galen · everything Galen names →
Drawing on the same sources: Culpeper
Hiera with agaric · Herb Paris · Indian and Arabian pills · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Hiera of Pacchius · The Holy Name, IHS (the first three letters of Jesus in Greek, often within a sunburst) · Holy water (usually with exorcized salt mixed in) · Herb bennet (of the rose family, with a root that smells of cloves) · The holy water stoup (and the small stoups kept in homes) · Henbane (of the nightshade family)
Historical description, not medical advice.