166 A COMPENDIUM OF 
five-sepalled; fruit, a blue-black drupe, flattened 
and oblong. The bark of the stem is used in 
medicine, and occursin commerce in thin, irreg- 
ular pieces or quills. Externally it is of a pur- 
ple-brown color and somewhat warty; internally 
smooth, and several shades lighter in color. 
The fracture is abrupt. The bark has little or 
no odor, but has a bitter, astringent taste. Vi- 
burnum contains Zannin, sugar, resin, valerianic 
acid, also the citrates, malates and oxalates of 
lime and potassium, besides a yellow, bitter prin- 
ciple. Black haw, although an old remedy, is 
Tecognized as a valuable nervine, astringent, 
anti-spasmodic and tonic; an oxcytocic in hem- 
orrhage of the uterus. The fluid extract is offi- 
cinal, the dose of which is two fluid drachms, 
Xanthoxylum, Prickly Ash, Xanthoxylum 
Fraxineum.—Natural order Rutacee, This 
perennial shrub is a native of North America, 
and attains a height of 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 me- 
ters), with alternate branches armed with 
prickles; the leaves are pinnatifid and alternate 
in their arrangement; the leaflets are in four or 
flve pairs, ovate, serrated, sessile and acute in 
their character; flowers in umbels, very small 
and inclined to a green color; both the male and 
female flowers are perfect in construction, with 
five stamens and two or more pistils. The bark, 
_ as found in commerce, is usually in fragments 
or quills about one twenty-fifth of an inch (1 
millimeter) thick, of a dark color externally, 
presenting many white spots and fissures; in- 
ternally lighter in color, smooth and finely stri- 
_ ated. The bark is light in weight and very 
brittle; odor scarcely perceptible; taste bitter, 
