Scammony
Scammonium; diagrydium
- Known today as
- The dried root resin of Convolvulus scammonia.
- Kind
- Resin & Wood, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- jalapin
- Poisoning
- Gastrointestinal irritants
- Earliest authority here
- Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.
Caution. A violent purge.
Scammony: what was it used for?
One of the most violent purges of the old pharmacy, in the golden and cochia pills; see Golden pills.
Scammony: what does modern science say?
A drastic cathartic, long abandoned.
Scammony: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. A violent purge. Its poisoning is gastrointestinal irritants: Thirty minutes to three hours: the short latency is reassuring, since the deadly syndromes come later. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- jalapina glycoside resin
- Mechanism
- The resin glycosides irritate the gut wall and draw water into it.
- Toxic dose
- Drastic in gram doses.
- Syndrome
- Gastrointestinal irritants
- Standing
- No medicinal use.
- Pomet, P. (1694). Histoire générale des drogues. Book, seen in reviews
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.
Used in These Compounds
Scammony is an ingredient of 6 compound medicines in the database. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.
Scammony: what did the older authorities say?
- Pliny
- Scammony “is productive of derangement of the stomach. It carries off bile, and acts strongly as a purgative upon the bowels; unless, indeed, aloes are added, in the proportion of two drachmae of aloes to two oboli of scammony”: the drug is the juice of a plant branchy from the root with unctuous white triangular leaves and a nauseous root, dug about at the rising of the Dog-star so the juice collects, then dried in the sun and divided into tablets; at Thasos it was planted among vines to make a wine called phthorium, “productive of abortion”; some mixed it with black hellebore, “but salt is looked upon as more safe.”
Sources
- Dioscorides, De materia medica. Read in part · the text read
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History 26.38, 14.19, 25.22, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Primary text
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 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
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 3 cited: 1 read in part, 1 primary text, 1 book, seen in reviews.
- 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 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Scammony.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/scammony.
- MLA
“Scammony.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/scammony. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Scammony. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/scammony
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See Also
Poisoned alike: gastrointestinal irritants
The sickener · Pokeweed · Yellow stainer · Morel · Bryony · Mistletoe · Caper spurge · Melon root · the syndrome, with all of them →
Sharing jalapin
Also in Pliny the Elder
Shepherd’s purse in Pliny the Elder · Savin in Pliny the Elder · Silphium in Pliny the Elder · Saltpetre in Pliny the Elder · everything Pliny the Elder names →
Drawing on the same sources: Dioscorides, Pomet
Sorrel, syrup of · Rocket · Southernwood · Spermaceti · Sarsaparilla · Turmeric · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Scapular (worn over the shoulders, a miniature of the monastic scapular) · Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) · The SATOR square (A five-line Latin word square that can be read in four directions) · Senna (The leaves and pods of Senna alexandrina) · Sassafras (The root bark of Sassafras albidum)
Historical description, not medical advice.