Angewandte Botanik. 603 



has been proposed as an indelible; it is, however, soluble in 

 ether. Toxicodendrol is a very prominent substance in this latex, 

 contained in long ducts which traverse the internal tissues of the 

 plant, especiall}^ in the leptome, frequentl}^ also in the pith. Taken 

 internally the drug appears to be possessed b}^ narcotic irritant 

 properties, causing vomiting, drowsiness, Stupor, dilated pupils, 

 delirium, and fever. The tincture has been used in treating sub- 

 acute and chronic rheumatism. 



For the violent dermatitis produced by this plant numerous 

 specifics have been suggested, of which the one recommended by 

 Pfaff is very good, consisting in washing the eruptions with an 

 alcoholic Solution of lead-acetate. However a more simple and 

 much safer remedy is recommended by the writer, namely to rube 

 the skin with the common herb: Hedeonia pulegioides, Penny royal, 

 either the fresh plant or an alcoholic extract. Moreover the various 

 species of Pycnanthenmm have proved very good, but penny royal 

 is the best. 



Various stages, including the seedling, are described and 

 figured, and the internal structure is very interesting. Two types 

 of roots are possessed by this plant: aerial, attachment, and subter- 

 ranean, nutritive, their structure, however is identical. Resiniferous 

 ducts were observed in the primary as well as in the secondary 

 leptome; the aerial roots remain active only in one season. In the 

 mature stem the ducts occur also in the pith, but not in all the 

 internodes, and not in the stem of the seedling during the first j^^ear. 

 A bifacial structure is characteristic of the leaf; the stomata lack 

 subsidiary cells. The palisade tissue and the pneumatic tissue con- 

 tain large, roundish cells with rhombic crystals of Calciumoxalate. 

 A steloid structure was found in the midrib, almost from base to 

 apex, being composed of a circular band of several, collateral 

 mestome-strands, surrounded by a stereomatic pericycle. The lateral 

 veins, on the other hand, contain only Single mestome-strands. 



Theo Holm. 



Holm, T., Medicinal plants of North America. 39. Euphorbia 

 coroUata L. (Merck's Report. 19. p. 126—128, fig. 1— 11. May 1910.) 



Euphorbia coroUata L. was formealy recognized by the U. S. 

 Pharmacopoeia, and it was the large root that yielded the drug, but 

 being too harsh and uncertain in its action for practical use, it is 

 now hardly ever used. In respect to its medicinal properties it re- 

 sembles E. Ipecacuanha L. (see Merck's Report for May 1909.), though 

 the latter is said to be somewhat milder. According to Rafinesque, 

 however, E. coroUata is deemed the most efificient of all the species 

 of Euphorbia, and considered equivalent to the ofificinal Ipecac. The 

 plant is described and figured; among the anatomical characteris- 

 tics the following may be recorded. We notice in the mature root, the 

 primary, a thick coating of homogeneous cork of pericambial origin, 

 inside of which is a broad secondary cortex filled with starch. and 

 traversed by laticiferous ducts in all directions; very broad paren- 

 chymatic ra5^s, also starch-bearing, extend from the old stele to the 

 periphery. The leptome is sparingly represented, while the hadrome 

 forms deep, narrow rays of wide, reticulated vessels surrounded 

 by stereome. The stem has no cork, but the thickwalled epidermis 

 persists. A hypodermal, continuous collenchyma of about 5 layers 

 surrounds the cortex proper, which contains many ducts. There is 



