394 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1885. 



witli seven or eight etroug nerves on each side, 

 t rmiiiating in au arc before reaching the margin 

 of ipitf, shining gi'een below, pale green above, 005 

 to 0-20 m. long; petiole short (0-005 to 0020 ni.) 

 twisted; and rose coloured. Stipu.es intermediate to 

 the leaves, short, obtuse or slightly acuminate at 

 the summit, minutely ciliate and of a purple-brown 

 colour. Calyx tubes coherent ; calyx-teeth 4 or 5, 

 provided with filiform clavatn nppendages, caducous, 

 and disappearing rapidly on the development of the 

 corolla. Corolla white or yellowish-white, funnel- 

 shaped, much narrowed at the base, slightly fleshy, 

 4 to 6 lobed, and with imbricate estivation. The 

 corolla is caducous, and has an agreeable odour of 

 orange-flowers or honeysuckle. The stamens are in- 

 serted in the throat of the corolla, and have a 

 very short filameut supporting an elongated anther 

 dehiscent longitudinally. Disk, none, or inconspicuous. 

 Style brown, filiform, longer than the corolla-tube, 

 supporting a snow-white stigma, thicker than itself. 

 Ovary buried in the syncarpium with two cells formed 

 by septa that never unite completely. Syncarpic 

 fruit 0(i2m. to O'OSni. in diameter, globular, with small 

 parietal cells separated by membranous septa, reddish- 

 black to brown when mature, with a fleshy core 

 occupying one-fourth of the diameter of the fruit. 

 Seeds small, whitish, ovoid, smooth. Old plants are 

 said to produce a gum, a specimen of which is in 

 the museum at Kew. 



The Sarcna'phalns is distributed widely in Africa, 

 from Senegal to the Gaboon, especially in Senegambia, 

 Dakar, Casamance, UioNiuicz, Iles-de-I,aos, Eio Pungo, 

 Sierra Leone, TTpper (Juinea, Monrovia, and the Niger. 

 In Sierra I.eone the natives call the fruit the peach 

 or fig of the country. At Dakar it is sold commonly 

 in the marltets, l)cing obtained from a neighhouring 

 locality called Hann, where the plant grows spont- 

 aneously in abundance. The tree flowers in May, 

 June and .Tuly, and the fruit is ripe in October. 

 According to Schweiufurth the fruit may be oom- 

 parrd to n strawberry, but its odour is rather that 

 of the apple. Eaten in excess it acts as an emetic. 

 The plant prefers the neighbourhood of the sea-coast, 

 but it is also met with in the interior. SChweinfurth 

 .says it occurs in the Nile region, and also that it 

 is cultivated in the north of (luinea. 



The bark being the only part of the plant employed 

 in medicine, the authors have submitted it to a close 

 examination, -and give a number of histological details, 

 from which the following are taken : — 



rrimuri/ Burl;. — A section of a young branch shows 

 a villous epiderm, with short lymphatic, not very 

 numerous conical hairs, r.elow this epiderm is a 

 collenchymatous zone, with elements rich in proto- 

 plasmic contents and a great number of them in 

 addition showing reildish-yellow contents. It is in this 

 zone, and in these culls, that the yellow resin 

 considered to be the active principle is thought to 

 be probably partially localized at first. This zone, 

 consisting of only three or four slightly thickened 

 oval cells, passes to a layer of similar cells, but 

 polygonal in form. Immediately below these two, 

 which the authors term the collenchymatoiil and 

 describe minutely, is a lacuuous parenchyma i-omposed 

 of spherical elements with thickened walls, half of 

 the cells being strongly coloured. This layer is in 

 virtue of its size the most important in the primary 

 bark, but no more than a trace of it remains in 

 the definitive bark, llelow it a dense parenchyma 

 prevails, in which the cells are polyhedral. The 

 contents are of the same nature, coloured matter 

 occurring in a certain number of elements. Next 

 comes an intermediary zone, closely approximating 

 to the liber, which may be considered as liber paren- 

 chyma, and which is composed of very small elements, 

 interrupted by numerous large, closely i)acked, ovoid 

 elements full of yellow colouring matter. A soft 

 liber finishes the cortical series. 



Secondary and Vrjinithu: Unrl:. — In the adult bark 

 of the stem and old braiiches is found a suberous 

 zone, which extends to the sclerous elements and is 

 compcsed of brownish cells with sinuous walls. This 



suber is produced by the formation in the secondary 

 parenchyma of a generative zone, which occurs next 

 in order, but which becomes effaced in old barks 

 The secondary parenchyma constituting the remainder 

 of the bark is formed of cells with somewh.at thickened 

 sinuous walls, colourless and without contents, except 

 some shining granules of a proteic nature. Throughout 

 this tissue sclerous cells are distributed abundantly, 

 either singly or in groups varying from one to fourteen. 

 The sclerous elements are of varying lengths, have 

 their walls thickened and strongly coloured yellow, 

 and do not at all resemble Ihe fibres of the wood or 

 Mber. 



To sum up : doundakiS bark, from whatever source, 

 presents first a suber layer, and secondly a cellulous 

 parenchyma with sclerous elements. The layers in 

 the primary bark, referred to as the lacunous paren- 

 chyma, the dense parenchyma, the intermediate 

 zone and the soft liber, disappear with the primitive 

 epidermis. It is thought probable that these primary 

 layers, at first much reduced by compression due to 

 the secondary development of cellular parenchyma, 

 become atrophied or crushed against the wood, and 

 remain adherent to it when the bark is removed. 

 The authors distinguish between two forms of this 

 drug, dilTering in aspect, if not in chemical compos- 

 ition and structure ; one of these comes from Boke 

 (Rio Nunez) and the other from Sierra Leone. 



The Sierra Leone bark, from adult branches, is 

 externally greyi.sh and fissured, but has a general 

 smooth appear.^nce on the surface, with here and 

 there small hard excrescences of a darker colour. As. 

 the branches become older the fissures multiply and 

 the suber cracks in pl-ites; the colour moreover 

 deepens, so that the blackish excrescences, which also 

 become multiplied, are lost in the genera! yellow 

 colour ijredominaut in the bark ; some plates of grey 

 suber are, however, still noticeable. The very old 

 barks are rougher still ; the fissures multiply in every 

 direction, especially around the black excrescences, 

 which become larger, and the underlying yellow 

 cellular parenchyma becomes exposed to view by the 

 removal of the suberous plates, which assume a russet- 

 grey appearance and fall into a reddish powder. 

 The interior of the bark is of a yellow-ochre colour 

 and the surface is striated longitu<linally. The cellular 

 parenchyma, which constitutes the greater part of the 

 bark, separates easily in thin flakes imiform thick- 

 ness. The taste of this bark is freely bitter, resembhng 

 that of quinine, or perhajis better comparable to that 

 of quassia amara. It is localized in the yellow tissue 

 of the parenchyma with sclerous elements. The 

 suber, easily separable in square flakes, owes its 

 astringency to the tannin it contains ; it has no 

 bitteruess. 



The Boke bark derived from full grown branches 

 resembles the preceding externally, but in that taken 

 from branches and stems, the suber rapidly assumes 

 an ochrey colour, and becomes spongy and pulverulent; 

 it is much smoother than the Sierra Leone bark, and 

 free from the blackish excrescences. The internal 

 surface is a deeper yellow, but it has the same lam- 

 ellar fibrous structure. The suber is less astringent, 

 as it contains less tannin; the cellular tissue has a 

 clearer, more decided and less ochreous yellow colour ; 

 the taste is rather more bitter. There is the same 

 anatomical structure in the two barks. 



The douudake barks frequently arrive from the 

 coast of Africa mixed with barks from the .^forhnia 

 citrijolia and another species of Vorhula which the 

 authors suggest might, if it proves to be a ntw species, 

 be named J/. Doundali-. These barks resemble doini- 

 dakc bark in many respects, and are said to be used 

 by the natives for the same purposes ; but they 

 may easily be distinguished by a histological examin- 

 ation. 



As a result of an earlier examination of douiulakf 

 bark, Messrs. Bochefontaine, Feris and Marcus had 

 announced that thry had succeedi'il in isolating 

 au alkaloidal substance crystallizing in rhombnlL,>,lric 

 form, and soluble in water and in alcohol. Thi,s body, 

 which they named '' doundakine," was desevibed as 



