30 



MENISPERMACE^. 



stems 



are devoid of 



bitterness and appear to be wholly inert. Tliey are in the form of sticks 

 or truncheons, mostly cylindrical. Cut traversely, they display the 

 same structure as the sort last described, with a well-defined pith The 

 %vood IS light m weight, of a dull tint, and disposed to split. Tlie bark, 



which nonsiftfa nf f-rtrr. 7oTT^^r> -Tr, ^^„:i„ JI„i_ 1 \ ^ 



Stems of Chojidode 



detached 

 tomentosimi R. et P. — These have 



Pm 



The 



drug consists of truncheons about ll feet in length, of a rather rough 

 and knotty stem, from 1 to 4 inches thick.^ The larger pieces, which 

 are sometimes hollow with age, display, when cut traversely, a small 

 number (o— 9) nearly concentric woody zones. The youngest pieces 

 have the bark dotted over with small dark warts. 



Tlie wood is inodorous, but has a bitterish taste like the root, of 

 which it IS probably an efficient representative. Some pieces have 

 portions ot root springing from them, and detached roots occur here 

 and there among the bits of stem. The structure and development of 

 the latter has been elaborately examined and figured by Moss,' and 

 also by Lanessan,'' in the French translation of our book. 



4. White 



Aublet. — Mr 



Pareira B 



Stem 



s 



/< 



send to one of us (H.) a specimen of the root and leaves ' of this plant, 

 marked Parreira Brava grande. The former we have identified with 

 a drug received from Rio de Janeiro as Ahutua Unha de Vaca, i.e. Cow- 



f Ahutua 



Aublet 





• •+ I 17 -I ■^uaia rujtiscens was, in tne luuu ua *"- 



Visit to J^ rench Guiana, shipped from that colony to Europe as Pareira 

 Brava Blanc (White Pareira Brava). 



This name is well applicable to the drug before us, which consists of 

 short pieces of a root, I an inch to 3 inches thick, covered with a rough 

 blackish bark, and also of bits of stem having a pale, striated, corky 

 bark. Cut transversely, the j-oot displays a series of concentric zones of 

 white amylaceous cellular tissue, each beautifully marked with naiTOW 

 wedge-shaped medullary rays of dark, porous tissue. The wood of the 

 stem is harder than that of the root, the medullary rays are closer 

 together and broader, and there is a distinct pith. 



The wood, neither of root nor stem, has any taste or smell. A 

 decoction of the root is turned bright blue by iodine. 



5. Yellow Pareira Brava~Thh drug, of which a quantity i^as in 

 the hands of a London drug-broker in 1873, is, we presume, the Pareira 

 Brava jaune of Aublet— the bitter tasting stem of his " Ah id a amarc 

 folio levi cordiformi ligno flavescente,"— a plant of Guiana unknown "^ 

 recent botanists. That which wp hct^ra coor, ^or^^^cfc r.f r^r^rfmns of 



to 

 a 



I J wnicn we have seen consists of portions ui » 



hard woody stem, from 1 to 5 or 6 inches in diameter, covered with a 



T/iarm. Jonrn. vi. (1876) 702. 



* nistolre deti Drogues tVorigine r^r'^' ■ 



^ 45 jiackages containing about 20 cwt 

 were offered for sale hy Messrs. Lewis aiui 

 Peat, drug-brokers, 11 Sept. 1873, but 

 there had been earlier importations, 

 _ - From these knots, which are at regular 

 intervals, and soraetimes very protuberant 

 it would appear that the panicles of flower- 

 arise year after year. 



'ogucs 



i. {Paris, 1878) 72. 



*I have compared these leaves 



with 



Aublet's own specimen in 

 Museum. — D. K. „ 



^ULst. des Plantes de la Gulane /'■«' 



fOMC, i. (177o) 618. tab. 250. 



