# Hiera picra

*“The holy bitter”*

**Known today as.** A compound purge of aloes with cinnamon, mastic, saffron, and other aromatics.

Kind: Compound  
Poisoning: The anthranoid purgatives (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/anthranoid)  
Toxic: yes

> **Caution.** Aloes should not be given in pregnancy or to nursing women.

## 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](https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hiera-with-agaric).

## What does modern science say?

An aloes laxative; Culpeper found that it “very gently purgeth the belly.”

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **barbaloin and isobarbaloin**: the aloins of aloes, the purge
- **canella bark**: or cinnamon, the aromatic
- **honey**: in 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.

**Dose.** Three to ten grains of the powder (BPC 1911); Culpeper took a scruple as pills at night.

**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.

## 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*.
- *The British Pharmaceutical Codex* (1911). London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Monographs as transcribed at Henriette’s Herbal Homepage, henriettes-herb.com.
- Reynolds, T., and Dweck, A. C. (1999). “*Aloe vera* leaf gel: a review update.” *Journal of Ethnopharmacology* 68.
- Culpeper, N. (1653). *Pharmacopoeia Londinensis*, “Hiera Picra simplex.”

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*Hiera picra.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-03. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hiera-picra

Historical description, not medical advice.