FOLIA PILOCARPI. 



113 



FOLIA PILOCARPI. 



Folia Jaborandi. 



Botanical Origin 



pennatifolm 



Iranched shrub, attaining about 10 feet in height. It is distributed 

 through the eastern provinces of Brazil. 



Pilocarpus Selloamis^ Engler, occurring in Southern Brazil and Para- 



tifoli 



History— Piso* recommended an infusion made 



and Jaborandi. Plumier,^ who also mentioned v.^^v., .^^^^ — ™* — --^ 

 name of Jaborandi two plants of the order Piperacese. The introduc- 

 tion of the leaves of Pilocarpus j^e'yinatifoliits into medical use is due to 

 Dr. Coutinho of Pernambuco, 1S74, The plant has been cultivated in 

 European greenhouses since about the year 1847 ; we have repeatedly 

 seen it flowering at Strassbursr. ^ *" ' ^^hr- _i i j.t,„ £ ^^ 



187 



outinho to belong to P. iminatifolius, 

 which had been described" in 1852 by Lemaire. Holmes (1875) in 

 examining the drug as imported from Pernambuco came to the same 

 conclusion. 



Description— The leaves of the species under examination are long- 

 stalked, imparipennate, the opposite leaflets in 2 to 5, in cultivated 

 plants most commonly in 2 pairs, the terminal one longer stalked, while 

 the others are provided with a petiole attaining 1| inch in length or 

 remaining much shorter. The whole leaf is frequently 1 1 feet long, 

 ^e leaflets being often as much as 5 inches long by 2 inches wide. 

 The latter are entire oblong, tapering or rounded at the base, tapering 

 or obtuse or even emarginate at the apex. The leaflets are coria- 

 . with a slightly revolute margin and a prominent midrib 

 'f ow. In transmitted licrht they show very numerous pellucid oil 

 glands. o ^ 



The taste of the leaves of Pilocarpus is at first bitterish and 

 aromatic; they subsequently produce a tingling sensation in the 

 «^outh and an abundant flow of saliva. 



Microscopic Structure ^—The oil glands consist of large cells of 

 the same structure as those occurring generally in the leaves of Rutaceae, 

 Aurantiacea), MjTrtacese. In Pilocarpus they are largely distributed m 

 ^he tissue covered on both sides of the leaf by the epidermis ; the oil 

 cells are also abundantly met with in the petiole and in the bark of the 

 ^ms and branches. 



ceous, 



ai: 

 It 



Chemical Composition— The active principle of Jaborandi is the 

 ^wid Pilocarpine, C-'H^N'O* +40H', discovered in 1875 by Hardy, 

 [s an amorphous soft mass, but yielding crystallized salts, among 

 'ch the hydrochlorate and the nitrate are now more frequently 



'•874it„j!^o^°S^6'" in Flora Brasil. fasc. Go 

 fl ilaire ipf ^^^^^'^arpus panciflorus St. 

 1S24 iX l'^ BrasiUoR meridionaUs, i. 



"•milar. 



appears also to be very 



s Lib. iv. cap. 57, 59, and v. cap. 19, 



p 310, of tlie work quoted iii the appendix. 



■* Description des Plantes de VAiMriqiie, 

 1G93. 58. PI. Ixxr. and Ixxvi. 



s Stiles, Pharm. J. vii. (1877) 629; also 

 Lanessan's French translation of the riMr- 

 macograpJda, i. (1878) 253. 



H 



