Euonymus atropurpureus Jacq

Euonymus atropurpureus is a North American shrub; Eclectic physicians used its root-bark as a bitter, cholagogue, laxative and mild diuretic. Its resinous “euonymin” was a favourite hepatic stimulant in “biliousness,” jaundice, torpor of the liver, and intermittent (malarial) disorders, with a reputation for gently moving bile and bowels without drastic griping [Hale], [Hughes], [Clarke]. Toxicology of overuse records nausea, green bilious vomiting, colicky pains, griping diarrhœa or, contrariwise, obstinate constipation with clay-coloured stools; a dull, heavy frontal headache and sallow skin complete the “bilious” tableau [Allen], [Hale]. Homœopathic tincture (φ) is prepared from fresh bark of the root; Allen compiled proving fragments and many clinical verifications in hepatic torpor, sick headaches of biliary type, gastric catarrh, constipation with pale stools, and splenic congestion in marsh districts [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke].

In 19th-century Eclectic and physio-medical practice Wahoo was a standard “alterative and cholagogue,” used in jaundice, jaundice-like dyspepsia, constipation with inactive liver, and as a mild antiperiodic in agues; also as a tonic bitter for convalescents with hepatic–portal inactivity [Hale], [Hughes]. These uses set the pharmacologic frame—bile flow, bowel action, and portal drainage—from which the homœopathic keynotes emerge [Clarke].

No Hahnemannian full proving. The pathogenesis rests on Allen’s collation (provings and clinical notes), with extensive confirmations from Hale’s “New Remedies,” Hughes’ pharmacodynamics, Clarke’s Dictionary, and Boericke’s clinical keynotes. Early confirmations: sick-headache of hepatic origin; jaundice with clay-coloured stool; constipation from torpid liver; bilious diarrhœa; spleen–liver congestion after intermittent fevers [Allen], [Hale], [Clarke], [Hughes], [Boericke]. Tags: [Proving] [Clinical] [Toxicology].

• Liver & Biliary Tract — torpor with dull right hypochondrial ache; clay-coloured stools; bitter taste; hepatic sick-headache; alternation constipation↔bilious diarrhœa; see Abdomen/Stomach/Head [Hale], [Allen], [Clarke].
• Stomach & Portal Drainage — gastric catarrh with nausea/retching of bile; coated tongue; relief when bile flows or after stool (see Stomach/Rectum) [Hughes], [Boericke].
• Intestines — sluggish peristalsis from hepatic inertia; pale, putty-like stools or green bilious stools; tenesmus slight; see Rectum [Allen], [Clarke].
• Spleen — enlargement/drag after agues; marsh-weather periodicity; left hypochondrial weight (see Abdomen/Fever) [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Head (Hepatic Cephalalgia) — dull frontal or supra-orbital headache with sallow face and bitter mouth; worse rich food and morning; see Head [Hale], [Boericke].
• Skin — sallow tint, mild icterus; pruritus when bile is obstructed; see Skin [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Urinary — scant, high-coloured urine in hepatic torpor; later diuresis when portal load is eased; see Urinary [Hughes], [Boericke].

• Free bilious stool or after a free flow of bile—relieves head and right hypochondrial weight (echo Head/Abdomen) [Allen], [Hale].
• Warm drinks; light broths—soothe gastric catarrh and favour bile excretion (see Stomach) [Hughes], [Clarke].
• Gentle walking in open air after the worst nausea—promotes portal drainage without jarring (Generalities) [Clarke].
• Lying on left side with knees drawn—takes weight off the liver (Abdomen) [Clinical], [Boericke].
• Pressure/hand support over right hypochondrium—palliative in hepatic ache (Abdomen) [Clarke].
• Regular small meals—prevents sick-headache from fasting or delayed bile (Food & Drink) [Hale].
• Dry, elevated climate; away from marsh damp—less periodic splenic–hepatic congestion (Fever) [Hughes], [Clarke].
• After a mild diuresis—urine freer, head clearer (Urinary/Head) [Hughes].

• Fatty, rich, or fried foods; pastry; alcohol—precipitate biliousness and headache (Stomach/Head) [Hale], [Clarke].
• Morning on waking—bitter mouth, coated tongue, frontal weight (Head) [Allen], [Boericke].
• Sudden stoppage of habitual stool; sedentary life—heaviness in right hypochondrium (Rectum/Abdomen) [Clarke].
• Cold, damp, marsh weather; autumn mists—periodic hepatic–splenic aggravation (Fever/Abdomen) [Hughes].
• Stooping or tight clothing over the liver—urge to loosen belt; pressure aggravates fullness (Abdomen) [Clarke].
• Anger or business worry—nausea and right-sided ache increase (Mind/Stomach) [Kent], [Hale].
• Night after late supper—bilious eructations and restlessness (Sleep/Stomach) [Boericke].
• Long fasting or missed meals—sick-headache from “stopped” bile (Head/Food) [Hale], [Clarke].

Hepatic torpor / jaundice

• Chelidonium — sharp pains to right scapula, desire for very hot drinks; yellow-coated tongue; Euonymus has dull heaviness and clay stool without marked scapular stitch [Farrington], [Clarke].
• Chionanthus — violent biliary colic, intense jaundice, salivation, sick-headache; Euonymus for quieter torpor with clay stools and frontal weight [Hale], [Boericke].
• Carduus marianus — liver swelling, stitching pains, varicose/portal stasis; Euonymus less venous, more bile-secretion regulation [Clarke], [Farrington].
• Nux vomica — irritable, ineffectual urging, gastric spasm; Euonymus milder temperament, relief after bilious stool prime [Kent], [Boger].
• Lycopodium — 4–8 p.m. flatulence, right-to-left distension, craving sweets; Euonymus lacks fixed time, has clay stool/bitter mouth [Kent], [Farrington].

Bilious diarrhœa / constipation

• Podophyllum — profuse, painless, early-morning gushes; Euonymus: alternation with clay stools; hepatic weight dominant [Farrington].
• Leptandra — black, tarry stools, prostration; Euonymus: pale or green stools, less collapse [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Mercurius dulcis — pale stools in infantile hepatic catarrh; more salivation; Euonymus with adult torpor and sick-headache [Hale], [Farrington].

Hepatic cephalalgia

• Iris versicolor — burning, acrid vomit, visual aura; Euonymus dull band-ache with bitter mouth and hepatic relief by stool [Farrington].
• Sanguinaria — right-sided, sun- or clock-related; Euonymus less periodic, more diet- and bile-linked [Clarke].

Splenic drag / intermittent tendency

• China — periodicity with profound debility, flatulent distension; Euonymus when marsh-weather and hepatic signs (clay stool, bitter mouth) lead [Hughes], [Clarke].
• Cedron — precise clock periodicity, neuralgias; Euonymus has meteorologic periodicity, biliary colouring [Farrington].

13. Remedy Relationships

• Complementary: Nux vom. — clears drugging and gastric spasm; Euonymus then regulates bile and stool [Kent], [Clarke].
• Complementary: Chelidonium — alternates in right hypochondrial states: Chel. for stitching scapular pains; Euon. for clay stools and dull weight [Farrington].
• Complementary: China — restores after long bilious states with flatulent weakness; follows Euon. when torpor lifts [Dewey].
• Follows well: Chionanthus — once acute gall-storm subsides yet torpor with clay stool remains [Hale], [Clarke].
• Follows well: Hydrastis — after mucous gastric catarrh is lessened; Euon. takes the hepatic regulation [Farrington].
• Precedes well: Lycopodium — when gas and 4–8 p.m. flatulence persist after bile flow improves [Kent].
• Related: Carduus mar., Taraxacum, Chelidonium, Nux, Leptandra, Podophyllum — hepatic cluster; compare per stools and pains [Farrington], [Boericke].
• Antidotes: Nux/Coffea for medicinal over-action; general Camphor as needed [Kent], [Allen].
• Inimicals: none recorded; avoid needless alternation among hepatic analogues on the same plane [Kent], [Boger].

Euonymus personifies the liver’s heaviness: a slow, overburdened portal tree with “stopped bile.” The sufferer wakes bilious—bitter mouth, yellow-white tongue, dull brow-band ache, sallow skin, right hypochondrial weight. Meals are a gamble: rich, fatty, late, or alcoholic foods provoke nausea and greenish vomiting; yet long fasting is no friend, for it precipitates the sick-headache of arrested bile. The bowels tell the tale: clay-coloured, putty-like stools in torpor; or a turn to green, bilious stools when the organism finally “lets go.” These stools are not the torrential, painless gushes of Podophyllum, nor the tarry prostration of Leptandra; they are the mechanical register of a biliary tap turned too little or too much. The head and mood follow the liver slavishly: irritability, fretfulness, mental slowness—then clarity after a bilious stool or warm drink; this hinge of relief appears in Mind, Head, Stomach and Rectum and must be explicitly heard (Better after bilious stool; Better warm drinks) [Hale], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke].

Kingdom signature (per Hughes/Hale): a bitter, cholagogue shrub whose Eclectic “euonymin” stirred bile and bowels—transposed homœopathically into a regulator for functional torpor, modest jaundice, gastric catarrh, and spleno-hepatic congestion in damp seasons [Hughes], [Hale]. Miasmatically Psoric–Sycotic: cycles of under/over-secretion, periodic marsh aggravations, a temperament bettered by routine and gentle motion in dry air (Better gentle walking, Better dry climate), yet worse morning and with tight clothing (pressure) over the liver intolerable (Generalities echoes) [Clarke]. Pace: subacute-chronic; reactivity: low, heavy, sluggish; thermal: not extreme, but a clear aversion to cold damp (marsh) that rekindles the intermittent drag of spleen and dull head. Core polarities: stagnation vs flow; heaviness vs lightness after drainage; diet-bound aggravations vs relief by simplicity and warmth.

Micro-comparisons sharpen the choice. When the right scapula stings and a very hot drink is incessantly desired, Chelidonium eclipses Euonymus; when gall-storm and intense jaundice roar, Chionanthus leads; when irascibility and spasm dominate, Nux commands; when the stool is black, tarry, and collapse steals strength, Leptandra; when watery gushes at dawn pour forth, Podophyllum. If, however, the narrative repeats “I feel a band across my brow; my mouth is bitter; my right side heavy; my stool is pale unless bile runs; and I am better after a good bilious stool and warm simple food,” Euonymus deserves first thought. Practically: insist on small, regular, warm meals; forbid fats and alcohol; loosen the belt; walk gently in open air; avoid marsh damp. Potency: low–mid (3x–6x/6C) in sluggish bowels and gastric catarrh; 30C–200C when the keynote clay stool + hepatic band-headache + relief after bilious stool is crystalline; LM/Q for chronic intermittent torpor with marsh periodicity [Hale], [Boericke], [Dewey], [Vithoulkas]. Repetition should mirror the hinges: dose when heaviness and bitter mouth reappear; space as flow normalises. Sequencing often runs: Nux (drugging/spasm) → Euonymus (regulate bile) → China (convalescent flatulence/weakness).

Typical indications: Hepatic torpor with dull right hypochondrial ache; clay-coloured stools or alternation with green bilious diarrhœa; bitter mouth on waking; dull frontal “band” headache; sallow tint; worse rich/fat foods and alcohol; better after a bilious stool, warm simple food, and gentle walking in open air; splenic drag and marsh-weather periodicity in ex-ague subjects [Hale], [Allen], [Clarke], [Hughes], [Boericke]. Potency: 3x–6x (or 6C) t.i.d. in sluggish bowels; 30C for characteristic hepatic headache; 200C single dose in clean keynote cases; LM/Q daily for several weeks in chronic torpor with periodicity [Dewey], [Vithoulkas]. Repetition: in acute bilious turns, dose on return of bitter mouth/brow-band heaviness; in chronic states, taper as stools regain colour and mornings brighten. Adjuncts: warm broths, avoidance of fats/alcohol, early light supper, loose belt, gentle post-prandial walk, dry air when possible [Clarke], [Hughes].
Case pearls:
• “Clay stool + brow band-headache” after pastry and wine; Euon. 6C q6h; next morning bilious stool with relief of head; diet correction maintained [Hale], [Clinical].
• Ex-ague clerk, marsh damp aggravations, spleen drag, bitter mouth; Euon. 30C b.i.d. for a fortnight with dry-air walks—less morning sallow, stools coloured [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Postpartum constipation, pale stools, right-sided heaviness; Euon. 6x t.i.d. + warm fluids—stool bilious by day 3, mood and sleep improved [Boericke], [Clinical].

Typical indications: Hepatic torpor with dull right hypochondrial ache; clay-coloured stools or alternation with green bilious diarrhœa; bitter mouth on waking; dull frontal “band” headache; sallow tint; worse rich/fat foods and alcohol; better after a bilious stool, warm simple food, and gentle walking in open air; splenic drag and marsh-weather periodicity in ex-ague subjects [Hale], [Allen], [Clarke], [Hughes], [Boericke]. Potency: 3x–6x (or 6C) t.i.d. in sluggish bowels; 30C for characteristic hepatic headache; 200C single dose in clean keynote cases; LM/Q daily for several weeks in chronic torpor with periodicity [Dewey], [Vithoulkas]. Repetition: in acute bilious turns, dose on return of bitter mouth/brow-band heaviness; in chronic states, taper as stools regain colour and mornings brighten. Adjuncts: warm broths, avoidance of fats/alcohol, early light supper, loose belt, gentle post-prandial walk, dry air when possible [Clarke], [Hughes].
Case pearls:
• “Clay stool + brow band-headache” after pastry and wine; Euon. 6C q6h; next morning bilious stool with relief of head; diet correction maintained [Hale], [Clinical].
• Ex-ague clerk, marsh damp aggravations, spleen drag, bitter mouth; Euon. 30C b.i.d. for a fortnight with dry-air walks—less morning sallow, stools coloured [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Postpartum constipation, pale stools, right-sided heaviness; Euon. 6x t.i.d. + warm fluids—stool bilious by day 3, mood and sleep improved [Boericke], [Clinical].

Mind

• Irritability, “liverish,” better after stool — functional affect change with drainage [Kent], [Clarke].
• Aversion to tight clothing about waist — hepatic pressure-sensitivity [Clarke].
• Anxiety from business/anger aggravating biliousness — trigger rubric [Kent], [Hale].
• Mental slowness in morning with bitter mouth — hepatic fog [Allen].
• Better in open air and after gentle walking — portal drainage aid [Clarke].
• Apathy alternating with fretfulness, relieved by warm food — dietary hinge [Hale].

Head

• Headache, frontal band, morning, with bitter taste — hepatic cephalalgia [Allen], [Hale].
• Headache better after bilious stool or flow of bile — master hinge [Clarke].
• Headache worse rich/fat foods; after late supper — dietary modality [Hale].
• Heaviness of eyelids with brow pain — portal signature [Clarke].
• Headache with sallow face and coated tongue — biliary link [Boericke].
• Loosening clothing around waist eases head pressure — abdominal–head reflex [Clarke].

Mouth/Stomach

• Taste bitter on waking; tongue yellow-white — hepatic catarrh [Hughes], [Clarke].
• Nausea and vomiting of green bile after rich foods — bilious storm [Hale], [Allen].
• Eructations, offensive, after alcohol or pastry — aggravating foods [Hughes].
• Desire for warm drinks; warm food ameliorates — modality [Boericke].
• Heartburn less than Nux; dyspepsia from “stopped bile” — differential note [Farrington].
• Worse morning, before breakfast; better after gentle walking — routine hinges [Clarke].

Abdomen/Rectum

• Right hypochondrium, dull ache; worse pressure/tight clothes; better lying on left — hepatic weight [Clarke].
• Stools, clay-coloured; constipation from hepatic torpor — keynote [Allen], [Hale].
• Stools, green, bilious, alternating with pale — alternation rubric [Hughes].
• Splenic drag in damp weather (ex-ague) — meteorologic periodicity [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Borborygmi with portal congestion; better after flatus/stool — drainage relief [Allen].
• Hæmorrhoids secondary; not bleeding as keynote — differential (vs Hamamelis) [Clarke].

Urinary/Skin

• Urine scant, high-coloured, during hepatic torpor — portal–renal tie [Hughes].
• Urine increases as bile flows; head clearer — systemic hinge [Clarke].
• Jaundice, mild; sallow skin with pruritus if bile obstructed — integumentary sign [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Bile pigment in urine with icterus — confirmatory [Clarke].
• Morning sweat slight on forehead with head heaviness — minor marker [Clarke].
• Complexion muddy; clears with restoration of bile — prognostic rubric [Hale].

Generalities/Fever

• Worse cold damp, marsh weather; periodic aggravation — intermittent echo [Hughes].
• Better open air and gentle motion after nausea subsides — practical rubric [Clarke].
• Worse morning; better after evacuation — daily rhythm [Allen].
• Food: fats, pastry, alcohol aggravate — dietary law [Hale].
• Loosening clothing ameliorates oppression — mechanical cue [Clarke].
• Weakness after rich meals; relief after warm light food — convalescent hint [Hughes].

Allen, T. F. — Encyclopædia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): proving fragments and clinical notes—hepatic cephalalgia, clay stools, bilious vomiting, morning bitter mouth.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1901): clinical keynotes—liver torpor, jaundice tendency, gastric catarrh, dietary modalities.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): miasmatic colouring; comparisons with Chelidonium, Nux, Lycopodium in hepatic states.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): substance background, Eclectic history, hepatic–portal indications, modalities (after stool, warm drinks, open air).
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homœopathic Therapeutics (1901): dosing strategies in bilious dyspepsia; sequencing with Nux, China; marsh periodicity remarks.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): differentials—Chelidonium, Chionanthus, Podophyllum, Leptandra, Iris, Sanguinaria.
Hale, E. M. — New Remedies (various eds., late 19th c.): extensive Eclectic–homœopathic experience with Euonymus/Euonymin; cholagogue action; case confirmations.
Hering, C. — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879): confirmations in bilious cephalalgia, pale stools, hepatic heaviness.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1870): pharmacology and clinical sphere—portal–hepatic drainage, antiperiodic notes, dietary relations.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905): temperament and organ-remedy comparisons (Nux, Lycopodium, Chelidonium).
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homœopathic Therapeutics (1899): general remarks on bilious headaches and hepatic remedies (contextual comparisons).
Vithoulkas, G. — Materia Medica Viva (1991–93): potency and repetition guidance in chronic functional hepatic states (applied methodologically).