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Dog’s Mercury

Scientific Names


• Mercurialis perennis L.

Common Names

Dog’s cole
Perennial mercury
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Parts Usually Used

The entire plant
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Dog’s mercury is a perennial plant; the round, furrowed, glabrous, branched stem bears opposite, dark green, ovate, serrate, hairy leaves. The flowers are light green and axillary, the male in spikes, the female solitary or in 2’s and 3’s. Flowering time is April and May.

Another variety: Mercury herb (M. annua) is an annual species of mercury with a square stem and light green leaves. It is used like dog’s mercury and is similarly poisonous.
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Where Found

Grows in waste places in the eastern United States; naturalized from Europe, where it grows especially in shady mountain woods.
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Medicinal Properties

Emetic, purgative
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Uses

The fresh plant is sometimes used as a laxative. A homeopathic tincture is used for rheumatism and stomach problems.
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Warning

The fresh plant is poisonous, and the poison is believed to be cumulative in effect. Thorough drying or boiling seems to destroy the poisonous activity.

Do not use without medical supervision.
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Bibliography

The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Culpeper's Complete Herbal & English Physician, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)

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