PAREIRA BRAVA. 25 



loaded with fine crystals of oxalate of calcium, whilst all the other 

 cells contain very large starch granules, attaining as much as 90 mkm. 

 The short fracture of the root is due to the absence of a proper ligneous 

 or liber tissue. 



mical Comp 



of calumb 



likewise^ its medicinal properties, are duo to three distinct substances, 

 Golumbin, Berherine, and Columhic Acid. 



r 



crystall 



Wittstock 



slightly soluble in cold alcohol or ether, but dissolving more freely in 



those liquids when boiling. It is soluble in aqueous alkalis and in acetic 

 acid. 



The presence of Berherine in calumba was ascertained in 1848 by 



Bodeker, who showed that the yellow cell- walls of the root owe their 



colour to it and (as we may add) to Columhic Acid, another substance 



discovered by the same chemist in the following year. Columbic Acid 



IS yellow, aniorphous, nearly insoluble in cold water, but dissolving in 



alcohol and in alkaline solutions. It tastes somewhat less bitter than 



columbin. Bodeker surmises that it may exist in combination with the 

 berherine. 



^ Bodeker has pointed out a connection between the three bitter prin- 

 ciples of calumba. If we suppose a molecule of ammonia, NH', to be 



H 



H^'NO^ columbic acid C-'^H 



and water 3H'0. 



■^}i^<^iig the more usual constituents of plants, calumba contains (in 

 addition to starch) pectin, gum, and nitrate of potassium, but no tannic 

 acid. It yields when incinerated 6 per cent, of ash. 



Commerce — Calumba root is shipped to Europe and India from 



Mozambique and Zanzibar, and exported from Bombay and otlier 

 ■Indian ports. 



Uses — It is much employed as a mild tonic, chiefly in the form of 

 tmcture or of aqueous infusion. 



PAREIRA BRAVA. 



^odix Pareine ; Pareira Brava^; F. Racine de Butiia on de Pareim- 



Brava; G. GrieswurzeL 



•p. ^otanical Origin — Chondodendron tomentosum Ruiz et Pav. (non 



Itchier) (Coccidus Chondodendron DC, Botryopsis platyphylla Miers'). 



It IS a lofty climbing shrub with long woody stems, and leav^es as 



JJI." ]i^® ^ ^^.^^ ^" length. The latter are of variable form, but mostly 



-' cordate at 



j^^«oaaiy ovate, rounded or pointed at the extremity, slightly 



^^+K ^' ^"^ having long petioles. They are smooth on the upper side ; 

 on the under covered between the veins with a fine close tomentum of 



in^^^^'^*^^^!u^^^^^^^^^"^"''^'™» signify- in Martius' Flor. Bras, fasc. 38. tab, 48. 



French /%7 K^^^'» against a wall (in The Cissampelos Abutiia of Vellozo's Flora 



apor fi^' ^^^*^*^v«» ^ild. Flumlnensis, torn. x. tab. 140 appears to 



lis the same 2>I**^"t. 



