Angewandte Botanik. 59 



Von sämtlichen Pflanzen gibt Verf nach dem lateinischen, die 

 Namen der Eingeborenen, die Mitteilungen, welche Rumphius 

 über die genannte Pflanze macht, Angabe der von der Pflanze ge- 

 lieferten Produkte, ihr Handelswert, ihre Bedeutung in der Medizin 

 usw. Das Buch enthält eine reiche Literaturzusammenstellung sämt- 

 licher indischer Nutzpflanzen. M. J. Sirks (Haarlem). 



Holm, T., Medicinal plants ofNorth America. 7 5. Hydrasiis 

 Canadensis L. (Merck's Report. XXII. p. 202—204. f. 1—14. New 

 York, Aug. 1913.) 



The drug '' Hydrastis^^ is the dried rhizome and roots of H. 

 Canadensis L.; it contains berberine and canadine, but the peculiar 

 odor of the rhizome may depend on the presence of some volatile 

 principle, which has not yet been isolated. The plant is described 

 and figured. During the flrst season the seedling has no other leaves 

 than the cotyledons, and in the second year a single palmately 

 lobed leaf arises from the plumule; the plant reaches maturitj^ in 

 the 3d or 4th year. The secondary roots have a broad pith, but the 

 increase in thickness is slight. In the rhizome is no endodermis 

 and no pericycle; the mestome-strands constitute a Single band with 

 rays of thinwalled parenchyma, but without interfascicular cambium. 

 The stem above ground does not show any endodermis either, but 

 arches of stereome cover the leptome, and towards apex this ste- 

 reome becomes a closed sheath; the mestome-strands are arranged 

 in a circular-band with some few inside, and these central Strands 

 are more or less lepto-centric. The leafstructure is dorsiventral, 

 and illustrates the typical structure of a sciaphilous plant i. e. with 

 no distinct palisade tissue, with the mechanical tissues poorly 

 developed, but with a large water-storagetissue in the thick ribs, 

 the median as well as the lateral. Six separate mestome-strands 

 constitute the midnb; they form an open arch, and each has a few 

 stereids on the leptome side. In regard to the berberine, this is 

 contained in the exodermis, the endodermes, as well as in the 

 parenchyma of the roots; in the rhizome this substance occurs in 

 the parenchymatic tissues, so also in the stem above ground. 



Theo Holm. 



Holm, T., Medicinal plants ofNorth America. 76. Rhamnus 

 Purshiana DC. (Merck's Report. XXII. p. 232-235. f. 1-16. New 

 York, Sept. 1913.) 



'^Cascara sagrada'^ is the drug yielded by Rhamnus Purshiana 

 DC, and consists of the dried bark, collected at least one year before 

 being used. The nature of the active constituents of the drug is not 

 known, but the drug may contain the glucoside cascarin, called 

 also purshianin and the neutral principle chrysarobin, beside emo- 

 din. The plant is figured, and several anatomical drawings illustrate 

 the text. Characteristic of the root-structure is the occurrence of 

 several concentric bands of stereome located in secondary paren- 

 chj^ma around the stele; the cork is well represented, and is of 

 pericambial origin. In regard to the young stem mucilage-cells of 

 large lumen abound in the cortex, of which the peripheral strata 

 are coUenchymatic. Mucilage-cells and aggregated crystals of cal- 

 cium-oxalate occur in the pith. The stele consists of a circular band 

 of collateral mestome-strands supported bj^ isolated groups of thin- 



