IC RANUNCULACEiE. 



J 



History— The plant was first made known by Plukenet in 1696 as 

 L kristophoriana Canadensis racemosa. It was recommended in 1743 

 by Golden ' and named in 1749 by Linnaeus in his Materia Meclica as 

 AcUca mcemis longissimis. In 1823 it was introduced into medical 

 practice in America by Garden; it began to be used in EuQ-land about 

 the year ISGO." • *= 



Description— The drug consists of a very short, knotty, branching 

 rhizome, \ an inch or more thick, having, in one direction,"'the remains 

 of several stout aerial stems, and in the other, numerous brittle, wiry 

 roots, ^ to yV of an inch in diameter, emitting rootlets still smaller. 

 The rhizome is of somewhat flattened cylindrical form, distinctly 

 marked at intervals with the scars of fallen leaves. A transverse 

 section exhibits in the centre a horny whitish pith, round which are a 

 number of ratlier coarse, irregular woody rays, and outside them a hard, 

 thickish bark. The larger roots when broken display a thick cortical 

 Liyer, the space within which contains converging wedges of open 

 woody ti.ssue 3 to 5 in number forming a star or cross,— a beautiful and 

 characteiistic structure easilj^ observed with a lens. The drug is of a 

 dark blackish brown ; it has a bitter, rather acrid and astrincrent taste, 

 and a heavy narcotic smell. 



is afforded 



o 



M 



ri 



by the rootlets, which on a transverse section display a central wood} 

 column, traveriied usually by 4 wide medullary rays and often enclos- 

 iug- a ])ifc]j. The woody column is surrounded by a parenchymatous 

 layer separated horn the cortical portion by one row of densely packed 

 small cells constituting a boundary analogous to the nucleus-sheath 

 (Kernscheide) met with in many roots of monocotyledons, as for instance 

 in sarsaparilla, Tiie parenchyme of cimieifuga root contains small 

 starch granules. The structure of the di'ug is, on the whole, the same 

 as that of the closely allied European Actctja spicata L. 



Chemical Composition — Tilghmann^ in 1834 analysed the drug, 

 obtaining from it gum, sugar, resin, starch and tannic acid, but no 

 peculiar principal.. 



Conard"* extracted from it a neutral crystalline substance of in- 

 tensely acrid ta&ite, soluble in dilute alcohol, chloroform, or ether, but 

 not in benzol, oil of turpentine, or bisulphide of carbon. The composi- 

 tion of this body has not been ascertained. The same chemist showed 

 the drug not to afford a volatile principle, even in its fresh state. 



The American practitioners called Eclectics prepare with Black 

 Stiahe-Toot in the same manner as they piepare podophyllin, an impure 

 resin which they term Gimicifagin or Macrotin. The drug yields, 

 according to Parrish, Sf per cent, of this substance, which is sold in the 

 form of scales or as a dark brown powder. 



Uses — Cimieifuga usually prescribed in the form of tincture (called 



Tiiictura AcMxa racemosce) has been emploj^ed chiefly in rheumatic 



affections. It is also used in dropsy, the early stages of phthisis, and 



. iu chronic bronchial disease. A strong tincture has been lately reconi- 



^ AciaSoc, Re'j. Sdent.Upml 174:-i. 131. * Am. Jouhl of P/iarvi, xliil {?87I) 151; 



2Bentley, Pharm. Joum. ii. {1861) 4C0, Phurm. Journ. April 29, 1871. 866. 

 ^ Quoted by Bentley. 



