RADIX JALAPJS. 44:j 



The root coiisiste of stout, woody, cylindrical pieces, ol'ten sjjirally 

 twisted, 2 to 3 inches in dianieter, covered with a rough, furroA^-ed, 

 greyish-broA\-n_ bark. They are internally pale brown, tougji and resin- 

 ous, with a faint odour and taste resembling- jalap. A good sample 

 yielded us 5i per cent, of resin ; Kingzett and Farries (1877) showed 

 the root to be devoid of an alkaloid. 



RADIX JALAPS. 



Tuber Jalapcu ; Jalap, Vera Cruz Jalap; R Racine de Jalap; 



G. Jalape. 



Botanical Origin — Iponicea Purga Hayne (Convolvulus Piinja. 

 Wencleroth, Exogonium Purga Bentham), a tuberous-rooted plant, 

 throAving out herbaceous, twining stems, clothed with cordate-acuminate 

 yaarply auricled leaves, and bearing elegant salver-shaped, deep pink 

 flowers. It grows naturally on the eastern declivities of the Mexican 

 Andes, at an elevation above the sea of 5000 to 8000 feet, especially about 

 Chiconquiaco and the adjacent villages, and also around San Salvador 

 on the eastern slope of the Cofre de Perote. In these localities where 

 ram tails almost daily, and where the diurnal temperature varies from 

 lo to 2-i^ C. (00° to 75" F.), the plant occurs in shady woods, flourishing 

 m a deep rich vegetable soil. 



The jalap grows freely in the south of England, if planted in a 

 sheltered border, but its tiowers are produced so late in autumn that 

 they rarely expand, and the tubers, Avhich develope in some abundance, 

 are liable to be destroyed in winter vmless protected from frost. 



The plant has been introduced on the Neilgherry Hills in the south 

 of India ; it succeeds there remarkably well,^ and might be extensively 

 propagated if there were any adequate inducement. 



History — The use as a purgative of the tuber of a convolvulaceous 

 plant of Mexico, was made known by the early Spanish voyagers ; and 

 so highly was the new drug esteemed that large quantities of it reached 

 Europe during the IGth century. 



Monardes, writing in 1505, says the new drug was called Rtiyharho 

 rfe laa Indias or Riiyharlo de Mcchoacan, the latter name being given in 



allusi 

 Soi 



Michoacan 



tlie 

 en of 



ooiue writers have advanced the opinion that uiechoacan root was 

 modern jalap, but in this we do not concur, for the description give 

 iiiechoacan and the place of its production do not apply well to jalap. 

 i5;>th drugs were moreover well known about IGIO ; they were perfectly 

 distinguished by Colin, an apothecary of Lyons (KJlO), who mentions 

 jalap (" mcine de lalap ") as then newly brought to France." They were 

 however often confounded, or at least only distinguislicd by then- differ- 

 ence of tint. Tin " " " 



into transverse 



us jalap, which at that period used to be imported cut 

 slices/ was termed, from its darker colour, Blach 



Thug at Ootac.imu„,l, Mr. BrouL^hton, =« Monardes, ](ht. r^« Me(hcame„><, tn-i<l. 



■" :v ettev to one of us (1.-) .Tauuarv 1S70), par Colin, ed. 2. IG.-lhe tirst cfh- 



^I'eaks of receiving " a cluster of tni)eis " tion of this work seems to he unknown. 



; e'glnng over 9 Jb., a.ul remarks that the ' Hill, IHdory of th" Mat. Mr,l. Lond. 



plant grows as easily as yam. 1751. 549. 



