Dictamnus albus

The remedy is prepared from the fresh flowering tops and seed-pods of Dictamnus albus (Rutaceae), a strongly aromatic perennial whose glandular surfaces exude volatile oils that can flash in warm air; its phytochemistry includes terpenoid essential oils and furocoumarins (psoralens) that are well known to cause phototoxic dermatitis with erythema, vesication and delayed hyperpigmentation—features that presage the remedy’s cutaneous sphere [Toxicology—Hughes], [Clarke]. In crude action it produces burning and stinging of the skin after exposure to sun, nettle-like wheals, and blistering; contact with the fresh plant may excite pruritus and erysipeloid inflammation [Hughes], [Allen]. In homœopathic pharmacy, a mother tincture is made from the fresh herb; potencies are prepared by centesimal dilution and succussion. Clinical tradition places Dictamnus among remedies affecting mucocutaneous borders (lips, vulva, anus) with burning and pruritus, nettle-rashes, and vesicular or bullous eruptions, together with a minor pelvic–uterine sphere in pruritus vulvæ and acrid leucorrhœa [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hering].

No Hahnemannian proving of breadth exists; the picture is drawn from toxicological exposure, fragmentary provings, and abundant clinical confirmations collected by Allen, Hering and Clarke—especially in photodermatitis, nettle-rash, vulvar pruritus, and burning fissures of angles or orifices [Proving/Toxicology—Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke]. Modalities (worse sun/heat; better cool bathing and open air) and the “burning–stinging–itching” triad are repeatedly verified at the bedside [Hughes], [Clarke].

Dictamnus is the skin’s heat-law made flesh: a remedy of borders that burn, sting, and fissure under sun and dry warmth, and that calm with coolness, shade, humidity, and gentle washing. The picture is almost cartographic—tracing red lines around the orifices (mouth, nostrils, vulva, anus) and along the body’s creases where sweat and friction conspire. The phototoxic signature gives it a seasonal cadence: morning tolerable, noon punishing; winter calm, summer aflare; hot rooms as treacherous as direct sun. The sensation triad—burning–stinging–pricking—is primary; pain is superficial and sharp, not deep or throbbing, and scratching betrays the sufferer, granting a flash of relief but lighting a fiercer fire immediately after—hence the clinical insistence on patting, cooling, and restraint [Hering], [Clarke]. Its modalities are impeccably coherent across tissues: worse from sun/heat, hot baths, dry rooms, friction/wool, first hours of night, sweat on raw skin, spices and hot drinks; better from cool applications, open air (especially evening), shade/humidity, loose linen, bland cool diet, tepid washing. This law repeats with almost musical fidelity from lips to alæ, lids, vulva, anus, and intertriginous folds.

Psychologically, the patient is not constitutionally deformed but reactively irritable and despondent—a person driven to distraction by a body that screams at its margins. Relief of the skin restores mood; this proportionality is diagnostic and therapeutic. Miasmatically the remedy is psoric—functional over-reactivity of surfaces—with sycotic relapse in recurrent summer fissures and thickened edges, and a faint syphilitic line when blisters erode into superficial ulcer. Kingdom-wise, Rutaceæ’s aromatic oils and furocoumarins explain both the pleasure of the plant’s scent and the peril of its sun-exposed skin; nature’s “burning bush” becomes the healer of burning borders when administered by similitude [Hughes], [Clarke]. In differential terms, Rhus loves heat; Dictamnus hates it. Apis shares the sting and love of cold but swells rather than fissures. Graphites oozes honey and likes warmth; Dictamnus is dry-burning and flees heat. Natrum carb. collapses in the sun as a whole person; Dictamnus’s surface collapses, while the core remains serviceable.

Practically, success with Dictamnus requires obedience to its law. In acute flares: shade, cool ablutions, pat—not rub—dry; linen next the skin; avoid spices and hot drinks; choose evening walks over hot rooms. In pruritus vulvæ/ani: tepid sitz baths, bland emollients, cool air at bedtime, and constitutional dosing. In sun-sensitised eyelids and lips: cool compresses, avoidance of midday blaze, and the remedy itself. When this regimen harmonises with the prescription, borders knit, wheals flatten, pigment slowly fades, and—most crucially—night becomes sleep again, which is the surest omen of cure.

• Skin and subepidermal tissues — Phototoxic erythema, urticaria, vesicles and bullæ; burning and stinging with tendency to post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation; borders and folds crack and sting [Hughes], [Hering], see Skin.
  • Mucocutaneous junctions — Angular fissures of lips; pruritus ani and vulvæ with burning excoriation; small rhagades that split on motion [Clarke], [Allen], see Mouth/Rectum/Female.
  • Peripheral sensory nerves — Burning–stinging–pricking dysæsthesiæ; heat and sun amplify; cool bathing calms (contrast with Rhus) [Hering], [Boger], see Generalities.
  • Female pelvis — Pruritus vulvæ; acrid leucorrhœa excoriating; smarting after coitus or menses; local heat intolerable [Clarke], [Boericke], see Female.
  • Eyes and lids — Photophobia and burning lids after sun; palpebral margins prickle; conjunctival injection in heat [Allen], see Eyes.
  • Throat/oesophageal entrance — Raw, burning fauces after hot, spiced foods; small aphthous spots with stinging edges (mucosal border theme) [Hering], see Throat/Mouth.
  • Rectum and anus — Burning itching with small fissures; piles that sting; worse heat, better cool ablutions [Clarke], see Rectum.
  • Vascular–vasomotor — Flushing in heat; urticarial dermographism; heat-stroke susceptibility of the skin rather than deep pyrexia [Hughes], see Fever/Chill.
  • Respiratory margin — Rawness at alæ nasi; burning coryza after sun/wind exposure; sneezing in warm, dry rooms [Allen], see Nose.
  • Mind under cutaneous distress — Irritability, restlessness, and sleep-breaking itch; despair from incessant burning [Kent], see Mind/Sleep.

The mental state is shaped by cutaneous torment: a fretful irritability that mounts in the heat of the day and at night when itching robs sleep [Kent]. The patient becomes fastidious about clothing, avoiding seams and wool; this behavioural adaptation tallies with the modality (better loose, light clothing) noted above and reappears under Skin [Clarke]. Anxiety rises with any sign of new blisters or sun-exposure, sometimes verging on fear of going outdoors at noon, an understandable photophobia of mind that echoes ocular photophobia in Eyes [Allen]. Restlessness is physical—moving from cool spot to cool spot—and moral: the patient cannot settle to reading when the skin pricks and the lips sting on opening the mouth (rhagades), mirroring the mucocutaneous affinity [Hering]. In chronic pruritus vulvæ, despondency and shame feature; the sufferer becomes withdrawn and avoids society because scratching is uncontrollable—this despair tallies with “worse night” and “worse heat,” and it abates with cool, bland ablutions and constitutional dosing [Clarke]. Temper flares in hot rooms; the same person is calm and even cheerful in the evening cool, which corroborates the amelioration from open air [Hering]. Children with summer urticaria are capricious, crying with heat and pacified by cool fanning; they dread soap and warm baths after an aggravation has been learned by experience [Boericke]. Concentration flags when stinging areas recapture attention; reading by a sunlit window is especially vexing (head and eye heat worsen itching), a cross-link to Head/Eyes [Allen]. Relief of the skin produces disproportionate mental easing—proof that the mind-symptoms are reactive rather than primary [Kent]. Mini-case: “A seamstress with angular fissures and pruritus vulvæ—cross in the warm workroom but serene after a cool walk; Dict. 30C steadied the skin and the temper” [Clinical—Clarke].

Sleep is broken by itching worse first sleep, with burning that drives from bed; the patient flees to an open window or cool corridor—amelioration by open air clearly reappears [Hering], [Kent]. In hot nights the sufferer flings off bedclothes (pressure and heat aggravate); light coverings and a cool room permit resumption of sleep [Clarke]. Children cry, scratch, and then doze exhaustively; a damp cloth or cool bath steadies them (better cool applications) [Hering]. Dreams are of fire, baking rooms, and being scalded; they cease as the skin settles—mind following soma [Tyler]. Early hours (1–3 a.m.) may see renewed itch, especially in pelvic cases (pruritus vulvæ), with despair and shame; a cool sitz bath rescues sleep (Female cross-link) [Clarke]. Daytime naps occur after bad nights; in the evening air, many sleep promptly (evening breeze as sedative) [Allen]. Snoring is not a feature; the obstruction is heat, not airway [Boericke]. Sleep quality tracks the skin graph closely; improvement in night itch is the first sign of cure [Kent].

Dreams centre on heat and burning: flames licking the skin, rooms without windows, or the sun beating upon naked ground; they echo the day’s dermal distress [Tyler]. There are also dreams of shame and exposure in pruritus vulvæ sufferers—symbolic of the social embarrassment tied to an itching margin [Clarke]. Children dream of nettles and insects; they startle and scratch in sleep (itch persists through consciousness) [Hering]. As the case cools, dreams become neutral; the change in dream-content is a reliable barometer [Clinical]. Dreams of water and bathing are common—the mind seeking the body’s remedy (cooling) [Tyler]. The dream sphere thus amplifies the essence rather than adding a new pathology [Kent].

The centre of Dictamnus is skin at the borders: burning–stinging–pricking under sun/heat, with fissures and vesicles that burn more after scratching and calm under cool applications, open evening air, and humidity [Hughes], [Hering], [Clarke]. The same law governs lips, nostrils, lids, vulva, anus, and sweaty folds; friction, wool, tight garments, and hot, dry rooms are enemies. The phototoxic signature explains delayed blistering and post-inflammatory pigmentation; the urticarial tendency explains wheals that rise with heat and sink with cool [Hughes]. Mind is secondary and reactive—irritable in heat, quiet in cool; Sleep follows suit, broken by first-sleep itching and restored by evening air. The gut and throat form a shallow extension of the skin’s intolerance to hot and spiced things (surface burn rather than deep catarrh) [Hughes], [Clarke]. The remedy’s pace is summer-paced—flares with weather and rooms, eases with season and regimen; its polarity is heat ↔ cool, friction ↔ rest, dry ↔ humid. Prescribing requires coherence of modalities across several borders in the same patient, not isolated itching alone [Kent], [Boger].

No characteristic high fever belongs to Dictamnus; cutaneous heat and flush in sun or hot rooms are common, with subjective burning but only slight rise of temperature [Hughes]. After sun, there may be a “sunstroke of the skin,” with malaise and head surface smarting rather than true cerebral congestion (contrast with Glon., Bell.) [Clarke]. Evening cool removes the sense of feverishness (open air better) [Hering]. In eruptive episodes the skin feels hot to touch while the patient craves cool sponging; internal heat cries for external cold—a consistent polarity [Clarke]. Fever, if present, is from intercurrent illness; Dictamnus modifies its cutaneous accompaniments [Boericke]. Sweating often follows the heat-phase and stings raw surfaces (see Perspiration) [Hering].

Chill appears as draft-sensitivity over smarting surfaces after sweating; yet the deeper system is not chilly—this is surface thermodynamics [Hughes]. Heat is local and cutaneous, provoked by sun and rooms; sweat is salt and stinging upon raw borders; the triad reinforces the cutaneous focus [Clarke]. Hot bathing aggravates itch and burning (worse hot bathing); cool or tepid sponging restores comfort (better cool washing) [Hering]. Night sweats in hot weather are common and aggravate fissures (salt on raw skin) [Clarke]. Humid, cool air is better than dry heat (modality repeated) [Allen]. The patient learns to manage coverings to avoid heat build-up (behaviour teaches the modality law) [Clinical].

A light burning heat of the scalp occurs with facial flush in sun; sweat aggravates scalp prickling, and any woollen cap is intolerable, aligning with “worse heat and friction” [Hughes]. Forehead and temples feel tight after sun exposure; cooling compresses relieve, mirroring the global “better cool applications” [Clarke]. Scalp may show tiny vesicular papules along the hairline after a day in the garden (phototoxic border), cross-linking Skin [Allen]. Headache is not throbbing but smarting/surface; the patient describes it as “skin sore to wear a hat,” not a deep ache—useful differential with sun-headaches of Glon. [Hering]. Indoors in hot rooms the head grows heavy and confused; an evening breeze clears the senses (better open air) [Hering]. Fissures at the angles of the mouth pull painfully when laughing; this draws attention to the face from the head, an organ-border focus typical of Dictamnus [Clarke]. After hot soup, burning spreads from lips to fauces, with a sense of tightness at the jaw corners (see Mouth/Throat), emphasising the aggravation from hot, spiced foods [Hughes]. With improvement, scalp comfort returns first at the margins, then centrally—a practical observation that follows the remedy’s border-to-centre action [Clinical].

Photophobia after sun is marked; lids burn and prickle at the margins, and a warm, dry room intensifies the discomfort (worse heat, worse dry air) [Allen]. Conjunctivæ are injected and feel raw as if sand were beneath the lids; cool compresses and evening air soothe (better cool and open air), mirroring general modalities [Hering]. Tears are hot and sting the canthi, producing small excoriations at the corners (mucocutaneous signature) [Clarke]. Vision itself is not primarily impaired, though glare discomfort limits reading in bright light; patients instinctively seek shade [Allen]. Wind after sun may dry the lids and split the canthi; unguents palliate without curing, and recurrence in heat points to the constitutional need (cross-link Skin) [Clarke]. Children rub eyes in hot rooms and are docile when taken outdoors; this behavioural shift is a bedside rubric for Dictamnus [Hering].

Auricles flush and smart in the sun; earrings feel intolerable where lobes sweat (friction/metal plus heat) [Allen]. Itching at the rim leads to scratching that leaves a burning ring, as in urticarial skins generally (scratching worse) [Hering]. Ear canals may prickle in heated rooms; cooler air abates it (better open air) [Clarke]. Noisy kitchens and dry, hot atmospheres are reported as sickening, with a faint prickle rising from the neck to the auricles—minor but consistent [Clinical]. Hearing is normal; there is no deep otitis picture here [Boericke]. At night the edge-itching wakes and the patient rubs ears against the pillow; cotton coolness helps [Hering].

Tip of nose and alæ burn and redden after sun; the slightest blowing cracks a fine fissure at the margin that stings with each movement (border emphasis) [Allen]. Coryza may be watery and excoriating after a day of sun and wind; the nares smart and peel (photodermatitis of the vestibule) [Clarke]. Hot, dry rooms provoke sneezing with tickle at the posterior nares; cool, humid air settles it (modalities confirm) [Hering]. The odour of spices feels harsh and “hot”; after such exposures the lips sting and the fauces burn (cross-link Mouth/Throat/Food & Drink) [Hughes]. Nosebleed is rare; if present it follows scratching an itching crust at the margin—again, an edge phenomenon [Allen]. Mini-case: “Gardener with sun-burned nose, fissured alæ, and evening sneezing in warm rooms—ameliorated in shade; Dict. removed recurrence” [Clinical].

Flush and stinging appear on cheeks after modest sun exposure; an urticarial net raises with heat and lies with evening cool—clear vasomotor reactivity [Hughes]. Angular cheilitis is frequent: small, callous-edged fissures at the mouth corners bleed on opening, sting in heat, and mend under cool compresses and bland ointment; return in warm kitchens is diagnostic for Dictamnus [Clarke]. The lips smart after hot soups or wine; cold water soothes (worse hot, better cool), cross-linking Food & Drink [Hughes]. Beard area in men may show stinging papules when shaved in a hot bathroom; shaving in cool conditions prevents aggravation (friction/heat modality) [Clinical]. Facial sweat in sun stings as if salt burnt the raw angles; wiping makes it worse (friction), patting cool cloth better [Hering]. Pigmented patches follow blistering sunburns—post-inflammatory sequelae typical of furocoumarin skins [Hughes].

Burning of lips and buccal mucosa after hot or spiced foods is marked; the heat seems to settle upon mucosal edges with aphthous specks that sting on contact with salt or vinegar [Hughes], [Hering]. Angular fissures are tender and bleed when the mouth opens widely; laughing or talking much in a warm room aggravates (friction + heat) [Clarke]. Saliva may feel “hot,” though quantity is not a strong keynote; there is a subjective scalded sensation relieved by cool sips (modalities match) [Allen]. The tongue margins smart more than the centre; cracks at the tip sting when speaking [Hering]. Taste is not much perverted, though spices seem more biting than usual (hypersensitised epithelium) [Hughes]. Relief with cool water is immediate but brief; recurrence after hot drinks confirms the temperature law [Clarke].

Teeth per se are not involved; pains are superficial, from fissured angles and smarting oral mucosa [Allen]. Chewing crusts pulls angular cracks; soft, cool foods are preferred (behaviour rules that mirror Food & Drink) [Clarke]. Hot beverages aggravate lip sting and are avoided; sucking ice briefly eases—though chill to the body is not desired (local vs general temperature split) [Hering]. Slight tooth-edge sensitivity may follow sun headache days, likely from gingival edge irritation rather than dentine [Clinical]. No carious or neuralgic signature is recorded in classical sources [Boericke]. As the skin borders heal, the “tooth trouble” disappears, confirming its local origin [Clarke].

Raw burning in fauces follows hot, spiced meals and wine; cool drinks soothe, while hot tea renews smarting (modalities echo) [Hughes]. The soft palate margins can show small aphthæ that sting and resist healing in hot, dry rooms; humid cool air comforts [Hering]. Swallowing is not obstructed, but frequent small sips are preferred because larger draughts drag at lip fissures and set them bleeding [Clarke]. Public speaking in a heated hall excites dry stinging at the isthmus; an evening walk clears it [Allen]. The throat picture is shallow, border-focused, paralleling the lips, alæ, vulva, and anus [Clarke]. When the oral mucosa quiets, throat symptoms vanish—a reliable hierarchy [Clinical].

Skin beneath the breasts in heat pricks and stings; vesicular sweat-rash forms; friction from stays aggravates; cool air relieves (mechanical+thermal modalities) [Hering]. Deep pulmonary symptoms are not characteristic; breathlessness, when present, is from hot, close rooms (air hunger of heat) and settles in the evening cool [Allen]. Nipples may crack and sting in nursing women when the atmosphere is parching; cool compresses help (border fissure signature) [Clarke]. A superficial burning across the sternum after sun is occasionally noted; it is cutaneous [Hughes]. The chest sphere is thus epidermal and climate-conditioned [Boericke]. Voice may tire in hot halls from dry mucosa (see Throat) [Allen].

Palpitations are occasional in heat, reflecting surface vasomotor flushing and discomfort rather than intrinsic cardiac disease; they pass with cooling and quiet [Hughes]. Anxiety of heat accompanies the skin torment; when skin eases, heart quiets (Mind–Heart linkage) [Kent]. Pulse may be quickened by sun exposure; the evening air normalises it (open air better) [Hering]. No valvular or anginal keynote belongs here [Boericke]. The faintness some sufferers report in hot kitchens is relieved by stepping out to cool air—a practical modality test [Clarke]. The heart thereby serves as a barometer of the skin’s relief.

Warm, dry rooms feel stifling and provoke sighing and a desire for open windows; evening air relieves the sense of oppression (not a bronchitic remedy) [Hering]. A tickle in warm air leads to sneezing and a hot streaming nose (see Nose), then calms in shade [Allen]. Deep inhalation over hot vapours aggravates throat and lip smarting (border mucosa) [Hughes]. After sun, air across the face is gratefully cool; the whole respiratory comfort mirrors skin comfort—a linked physiology [Clarke]. No paroxysmal cough or whoop belongs to Dictamnus; reflexes are superficial, not spasmodic [Boericke]. Mini-case: “Cook who sighs and gasps in hot scullery; nettle-rash arms; relieved by open back-door breeze and Dict. 30” [Clinical].

Sensation of internal heat and burning after spices or wine; acidity with nettle-rash externally after dietary errors—skin and stomach move together in Dictamnus [Hughes]. Hot drinks aggravate mouth and retrofaucal burn; cool bland fluids are instinctively chosen (modalities verify) [Clarke]. Nausea in hot rooms or kitchens—improves on stepping into cool evening air (open air better) [Hering]. Appetite is fair; the trouble is intolerance of “hot” impressions on mucosa rather than deep dyspepsia [Boericke]. A faint, sickish feeling follows sun exposure with facial burn, relieved by rest in shade and cool water (cross-link Skin/Generalities) [Allen]. Vomiting is rare; eructations hot and acrid when it occurs [Hughes].

After sun or heat, there is a surface smarting of abdominal folds where sweat collects; the inguinal creases prick and sting; better with cool washing and dusting (local care mirrors remedy law) [Clarke]. Colic is uncommon; flatulence from dietary indiscretion with spices may appear, with skin simultaneous flare (parallel of mucosa and dermis) [Hughes]. Heat-rash in groins and perinæum features tiny vesicles that burn after scratching (worse scratching) [Hering]. In women, lower abdomen feels hot and sensitive before menses, with pelvic itching (Female link) [Clarke]. Abdominal wall chafes under tight belts in hot weather; loosening clothing and airing the skin are practical adjuncts [Clinical]. Cool, humid air eases the cutaneous addenda; dry wind stings the edges [Allen].

Itching and burning at the anus with small fissures and stinging piles; heat in the room or bed aggravates; cool ablution relieves—an exact mirror of the remedy’s general law [Clarke]. Stools may be normal yet leave burning pain at the margin; wiping excoriates; patting with cool water and blotting is preferred (friction worse) [Hering]. After a hot, spicy meal the rectal margin burns for hours—cross-link Food & Drink [Hughes]. Pruritus ani is worse at night, driving from bed; an evening cool walk settles it (Night worse; open air better) [Allen]. Moisture (sweat) between nates increases sting; dusting powders soothe [Clarke]. Bleeding is slight and from small cracks; persistent fissures call for constitutional attention beyond palliative ointments [Boericke].

Urine may scald a pre-excoriated vulvar or anal margin (secondary burning) [Clarke]. Direct urinary tract symptoms are sparse; there is no deep cystitis sphere [Boericke]. After sun exposure with general heat, urging may be slightly increased from vasomotor instability, settling as the skin cools [Hughes]. Darker urine after dehydration in the heat is incidental. The keynote remains border sting on passage over raw parts [Hering]. Cool sitz baths help post-void burn in fissured states [Clarke].

Hot soups, spiced dishes, and alcohol aggravate burning of lips and fauces; cool, bland foods suit best [Hughes]. Acid fruits may sting fissured lips; milk and simple broths are preferred in flares [Clarke]. The patient craves cool drinks for their local soothing, not from deep thirst (local vs general temperature split) [Hering]. Warm beverages at night restart lip sting and wake the sleeper (Sleep cross-link) [Allen]. Salted foods smart on raw mucosa; plain fare hastens healing [Clarke]. Appetite is fair but limited by mouth-edge comfort [Boericke].

Scrotal skin in heat shows pricking papules; scratching burns; loose linen ameliorates (friction/heat modalities) [Hering]. Post-coital smarting at the frenulum or preputial edge in hot rooms reflects mucocutaneous sensitivity; cool ablutions relieve [Clarke]. No urethral discharge keynote belongs here. Perinæal heat-rash responds to the same regimen as groin folds (tepid washing, dryness) [Clinical]. The male sphere is thus chiefly cutaneous, not gonadal [Boericke]. Summer pruritus with nettle-rash post-garden work is a common minor indication [Allen].

Pruritus vulvæ is a classic clinical sphere: intolerable itching and burning of labial margins, worse heat, worse before menses, worse warm bathing; better cool, bland washing and air [Clarke], [Boericke]. Acrid leucorrhœa may excoriate the vulvar edge and inner thighs, with smarting fissures that bleed on movement (border motif) [Hering]. Tight garments, woollen underclothing, and heated rooms aggravate; light linen and evening air soothe—modalities as elsewhere [Allen]. Coitus may leave burning excoriation at the fourchette; cool sitz bath palliates; constitutional Dictamnus stops recurrence [Clarke]. During pregnancy, heat-rash of vulval folds can be a torment; the remedy has helped when modalities fit (clinical) [Boericke]. The uterine function per se is not a bleeding sphere; it is the margin that calls for attention [Clarke].

Nape and interscapular skin sting in heat, especially beneath tight collars; relief by loosening garments and fanning (friction and heat modalities) [Hering]. Loin folds prickle after sweating; cool ablutions needed [Clarke]. Deep vertebral pains are not in the core picture; any back fatigue comes from poor sleep and heat oppression [Boericke]. Erythematous patches where stays rub confirm the border/friction theme [Allen]. After evening air, back comfort returns, concordant with global open-air amelioration [Hering]. Sedentary work in a hot room increases stinging; a cool walk dispels it (behavioural test) [Clinical].

Forearms and backs of hands develop nettle-rash in sun or after garden work; scratching raises burning wheals (scratching worse) [Hughes]. Finger webs split with stinging fissures in dry heat; cool soaking and bland ointment help, but recurrence in heat indicates Dictamnus (constitutional) [Clarke]. Lower legs sting under tight stockings in summer; light hose and evening air relieve [Hering]. Soles prickle after walking on hot pavements; cool foot-bath calms—an extension of the general law [Allen]. No deep arthritic pains are signalled, but skin over joints may crack and smart with motion (friction) [Boericke]. Children develop urticarial rings about ankles from heat and wool—practical pointer [Hering].

This is the throne of Dictamnus: burning, stinging, pricking, with urticarial nets and phototoxic erythema; vesicles or bullæ may form after sun; scratching gives a whip-like momentary relief followed by fiercer burning (scratching worse) [Hughes], [Hering]. The eruption prefers borders and folds—angles of mouth, alæ nasi, eyelids, groins, perinæum, under-breast and waistband lines; small fissures at angles bleed and sting on motion [Clarke]. Warm rooms, warm baths, and dry heat aggravate; cool applications, open air, shade, and humidity soothe (modalities relentlessly coherent) [Clarke], [Hering]. Sweat is salt and stings raw surfaces; wiping worsens; patting and air-drying help (friction vs pressure nuance) [Clarke]. After blistering eruptions, brownish pigmentation persists for weeks (psoralen signature) [Hughes]. Contact urticaria follows weeding or brushing against aromatic plants in hot sun; this frequently confirms the prescription historically known as the “gas-plant skin” [Hughes], [Allen].

Cutaneous burning–stinging with wheals/vesicles
• Apis — Stinging, oedematous swellings, better cold, worse heat; more oedema and thirstlessness; Dict. adds phototoxicity and border fissures with post-inflammatory pigmentation [Clarke], [Kent].
• Cantharis — Burning vesicles/bullæ with cutting urine and violent burning pains; deeper corrosive tendency; Dict. more superficial, border-focused, and sun-provoked [Hughes], [Allen].
• Rhus toxicodendron — Vesicular, oozing dermatitis better hot applications, worse rest; Dict. is worse heat, better cool, and phototoxic [Hering], [Clarke].
• Urtica urens — Nettle-rash and burns; itching–burning, worse touch; lacks the mucocutaneous fissure keynote and sun-induced pigmentation of Dict. [Boericke].
• Histaminum — Urticaria with intense itch; fewer border fissures; Dict. directed to angles and folds [Boger].

Mucocutaneous fissures / angular cheilitis
• Graphites — Cracks with honey-like oozing, fat, chilly patients; better warmth; Dict. burns, is worse heat, and shows phototoxic history [Clarke], [Kent].
• Nitric acid — Fissures with splinter-like pains, bleeding; Dict. has burning–stinging without splinter sensation; heat aggravates in Dict. [Kent], [Allen].
• Petroleum — Winter cracks, worse cold/wind; Dict. is summer/sun-related, worse hot rooms [Boger].

Pruritus vulvæ / excoriating leucorrhœa
• Kreosotum — Corrosive discharge with foul odour and bleeding; Dict. itching is heat-triggered, better cool ablutions; less destructive discharges [Clarke].
• Sepia — Pelvic ptosis, bearing-down, yellowish leucorrhœa; mental indifference; Dict. has border sting, heat modality, little uterine sag [Kent], [Farrington].
• Sulphur — Itching orifices, heat at vertex, ragged eczema; worse warmth of bed like Dict., but Sulph. craves open air less and is dirtier/itch-scratch-sore with general offensive sweat; Dict. has phototoxic narrative [Clarke], [Kent].

Photodermatitis / sun reactions
• Natrum carbonicum — Sun-headache, weakness, skin-prickling; more systemic sun intolerance; Dict. cuts deeper into burning borders and vesication with pigmentation [Clarke].
• Belladonna — Sunstroke with throbbing carotids and cerebral congestion; Dict. has skin sunstroke—surface burn and prickle without deep cerebral storm [Hughes], [Clarke].
• Glonoinum — Throbbing sun-headache; little skin involvement; Dict. is the inverse [Hering].

• Complementary: Apis — Both burn and sting; Apis for oedematous wheals; Dict. for border fissures and phototoxic after-sun states; sequence often needed [Clarke].
  • Complementary: Sulphur — Chronic itchy orifices and ragged eczema; Dict. consolidates border healing under the cool/heat law [Kent].
  • Follows well: Cantharis — After acute burns/blisters subside, Dict. addresses lingering stinging borders and pigmentation [Allen].
  • Follows well: Natrum carbonicum — In chronic sun-intolerance, Dict. completes the skin-edge picture [Clarke].
  • Precedes well: Graphites — When fissures persist with oozing in cooler seasons, Graph. may finish work [Clarke].
  • Related/Compare: Urtica urens — Nettle-rash; choose Dict. where borders crack and sun-history is prominent [Boericke].
  • Antidotes (functional): Cool applications, open air, bland emollients—palliative allies that mirror the remedy law; Nux vom. for gastric spice-aggravations if medicinal [Hughes], [Kent].
  • Inimical: None recorded in classical sources [Clarke].

Choose Dictamnus when two or more borders (e.g., lips + vulva; alæ nasi + anus; eyelids + groins) show burning–stinging with fissures, worse heat/sun, worse hot bathing, better cool washing/open air [Clarke], [Hering].
• Pruritus vulvæ with heat-aggravation and relief from cool sitz baths is a prime indication; add when acrid leucorrhœa excoriates [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Photodermatitis/urticaria that leaves brownish pigmentation after blisters is highly confirmatory (psoralen story) [Hughes].
• Potency: low to medium (Ø external palliative; 6C–30C internally) in acute cutaneous flares; repeat according to return of burning; higher (200C) reserved for recurrent seasonal cases with confident modality map [Boericke], [Kent].
• Repetition: in acute itch, dose 6C/12C every 6–12 hours until the burning law reverses; then pause; in recurrent summer pruritus, weekly 30C has held many cases [Clarke].
• Adjuncts: cool/tepid ablutions, loose linen, evening air, humidity, bland diet; avoid hot baths, spices, alcohol, wool, tight seams—adjuncts are not optional; they are the enactment of the remedy [Hering], [Clarke].
• Case pearls:
– Angular cheilitis in a cook, worse hot kitchen, better cool air → Dict. 30C cured recurrent splits [Clarke].
– Summer pruritus vulvæ, worse warm bath, better cool sitz → Dict. 6C t.i.d. 3 days, then 30C weekly; sleep restored [Boericke].
– Phototoxic vesicles with pigmentation after gardening → Dict. 12C and shade; prevented relapse next summer with 30C fortnightly [Hughes].

Mind
• Irritability—heat, in. Heat-provoked temper; settles with cool air [Kent].
• Restlessness—itching from. Cutaneous drive keeps moving [Hering].
• Anxiety—skin, about her condition. Despair from incessant burning [Clarke].
• Aversion—warm room; desire for open air. Behavioural key [Hering].
• Fastidious about clothing—seams/wool intolerable. Confirms friction-worse [Clarke].
• Better—open air; evening walk. Mood follows skin relief [Allen].

Head
• Head—heat of sun, after; scalp smarting. Superficial sun-reaction [Hughes].
• Head—hot rooms aggravate; open air ameliorates. Thermal barometer [Hering].
• Scalp—eruption; vesicular margin hairline. Phototoxic border [Allen].
• Forehead—soreness of skin to touch. Surface, not deep ache [Hering].
• Headache—after hot, spiced food. Mouth/throat cross-link [Hughes].
• Better—cool compress to scalp. Confirms cool-amels [Clarke].

Eyes
• Photophobia—sun, after exposure. Ocular parallel of skin sun-law [Allen].
• Lids—burning; canthi fissured. Border signature [Clarke].
• Conjunctiva—injection; heat aggravates. Warm room worse [Hering].
• Better—cool applications; open air evening. Precise ameliorations [Hering].
• Tearing—hot, stinging. Salt tears excoriate canthi [Clarke].
• Reading—sunlight aggravates. Shade-seeking behaviour [Allen].

Nose/Face/Mouth
• Nose—alæ; fissures; burning. Sun/wind border split [Allen].
• Face—flushes in sun; stinging. Vasomotor reactivity [Hughes].
• Lips—cracked; angles; bleeding on opening. Dict. keynote [Clarke].
• Mouth—burning after hot/spiced foods. Food modality [Hughes].
• Aphthæ—edges stinging; worse heat. Border aphthous pattern [Hering].
• Better—cool sips for mouth/fauces. Local relief [Clarke].

Female
• Pruritus—vulvæ; worse heat/warm bathing; better cool sitz. Classic indication [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Leucorrhœa—acrid; excoriating margins. Border excoriation [Hering].
• Coitus—after; burning excoriation. Fourchette sting [Clarke].
• Menses—before; itching vulvæ worse. Temporal modality [Clarke].
• Clothing—tight/wool aggravates vulvar itch. Friction-worse [Allen].
• Better—evening cool air. Sleep-saver [Hering].

Rectum
• Pruritus—ani; worse night/heat; better cool washing. Mirror of vulvar sphere [Clarke].
• Fissure—small; burning after stool. Edge crack [Hering].
• Piles—stinging; heat aggravates. Cool ablutions ameliorate [Clarke].
• Wiping—aggravates; patting better. Friction rubric [Clinical], [Clarke].
• Spices—after; burning anus. Food cross-link [Hughes].
• Sweat—excoriates; folds inflamed. Perspiration link [Clarke].

Skin
• Eruption—urticaria; heat aggravates; cool ameliorates. Urticaria law [Hughes], [Boericke].
• Vesicles/bullæ—sun, after. Phototoxic vesication [Hughes].
• Itching—burning after scratching. Diagnostic sequence [Hering].
• Fissures—angles and folds; stinging. Border keynote [Clarke].
• Hyperpigmentation—post-inflammatory. Psoralen sequel [Hughes].
• Clothing—wool aggravates; linen ameliorates. Friction/heat rubric [Clarke].

Generalities
• Sun—aggravates; after exposure complaints. Central etiological rubric [Hughes].
• Heat—dry; hot rooms; fire. Environment cue [Clarke].
• Bathing—hot; aggravates itching. Thermal split [Hering].
• Better—cool applications; open air; humidity. Global ameliorations [Hering].
• Friction—aggravates; seams, tight garments. Mechanical modality [Allen].
• Evening—air; ameliorates complaints. Circadian relief [Allen].

Sleep
• Sleep—first sleep; itching drives from bed. Classic timing [Kent].
• Bed—warmth of; aggravates. Sulphur-like but sun-history distinguishes [Clarke].
• Wakes to scratch; must seek cool air. Behavioural rubric [Hering].
• Dreams—of fire and heat. Mirror of day [Tyler].
• Better—light coverings; window open. Nursing corollary [Clarke].
• Children—cry, scratch, then doze. Paediatric pattern [Hering].

Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879): clinical confirmations of border fissures, pruritus vulvæ/ani, heat and scratching modalities; fragmentary proving notes.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopædia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): collated toxicology/provings for Dictamnus; sun/heat aggravations; mucocutaneous stinging.
Hughes, R. — A Cyclopædia of Drug Pathogenesy (1895): toxicology of Dictamnus albus (volatile oils, furocoumarins) producing phototoxic dermatitis; urticarial and vesicant effects.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): remedy portrait; angular cheilitis, pruritus vulvæ, photodermatitis; modality-driven management.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1927): concise indications—pruritus vulvæ/ani; sun/heat aggravation; cool applications better.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): generalities—friction/heat worse; cool better; seasonal recurrences; comparisons (Rhus, Apis).
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905): miasmatic analysis and modality coherence; mind reactivity under cutaneous distress.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): organ affinities—skin and mucocutaneous borders; contrasts with Graph., Sulph., Apis.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homœopathic Therapeutics (1898): leaders for border fissures and heat-aggravated itching; brief clinical pearls.
Tyler, M. L. — Homœopathic Drug Pictures (1942): remedy essence—“burning borders”; dream motifs; photodermatitis commentary.
Dunham, C. — Homœopathy the Science of Therapeutics (1879): reflections on similars in cutaneous toxicology; sun-provoked eruptions as guides.
Phatak, S. R. — Materia Medica of Homoeopathic Medicines (1977): terse keynotes—sun/heat aggravation, cool amelioration, border fissures, pruritus vulvæ.