SEMEN TIGLII. 



oho 



SEMEN TIGLIL 



Semen Grotonis ; Cwton Seeds; R Graines de Tilly on des Moliujars, 



Petits Pignons dPnde; G. Purgirkdrner, Granatin 



Botanical Origin 



^cinalcY^Xoiz. 



a small tree, 15 to 20 feet high, indigenous to the Malabar Coast and 

 Tavoy, cultivated in gardens in many parts of the East, from Mauritius 

 to the India Archipelago. The tree has small inconspicuous flowers, 

 and brown, capsular, three-celled fruits, each cell containing one seed. 

 The leaves have a disao^reeable smell and nauseous taste. 



History — In Europe, the seeds and wood of the tree were first 

 described in 1578 by Christoval Acosta— the former, with a figure of 

 the plant, appearing under the name of Pinones de Maluco.^ The plant 

 was also described and figured by Rheede (1679)' and Eumpliius (n^tS).* 

 The seeds, which were officinal in the 17th century, but had become 

 obsolete, were recommended 'about 1812 by English medical officci-s in 

 India,^ and the expressed oil by Perry, Frost, Conwell and others about 

 1821-2-i. The oil then in use was imported from India, and was often 

 of doubtful purity, so that some druggists felt it necessary to press the 

 seeds for themselves.*' 



Description— Croton seeds are about half an inch long, by nearly 

 I of an inch broad, ovoid or bluntly oblong, divided longitudinally into 

 two unequal parts, of which the more arched constitutes the dorsal and 

 the flatter the ventral side. From the hilum, a fine raised line (raphe) 

 passes to the other end of the seed, terminating in a darker pomt 

 indicating the chalaza. The surface of the seed is more or less covered 

 with a bright cinnamon-brown coat, which when scraped shows the thm, 

 brittle, black testa filled wnth a whitish, oily kernel, mvested with a 

 delicate seed-coat. The kernel is easily split into two halves consisting 

 of oily albumen, between which lie the large, veined, leafy cotyledons 

 and the radicle. The taste of the seed is at first merely oleaginous, but 

 soon becomes unpleasantly and persistently acrid. 



Microscopic Structure— The testa consists of an outer layer of 

 radially arranged, much elongated and thick-walled cells ; the inner 

 parenchymatous layer contains small vascular bundles ^ llie soit tissue 

 of the albumen is loaded with drops of fatty oil. 1/ this is removed by 

 tteans of ether and weak potash lye, there remain small granules or 

 albuminoid matter, the so-called Akuron, and crystals ot oxalate oi 

 calcium. 



.The principal constituent of croton seeds 

 lis or Oleum TiglU of pharmacy ot 



* Herbarium Amhoinense,iv tab. 42. 

 B Ainslic, Mai. Med.o/Jhndoostan, 1S13. 



i 



^^?TUe oil was very expensive I find by 

 the hooks of Messrs. Allen and Hanburys, 

 that lie seedscost in 1824, 10. and in 182/ 

 YnVver lb. The oil was purchased m 1 S-0 

 by the same house at 8.. to 10.. perounce.- 



D. H. 



euTii 



. Chemical Compos 

 IS the fatty oil, the 01 



J^^S- in Bcntloy and Trimcu's Medic, 

 J'lanta, part 1 (1875). 



~ Jractado, etc., Burgos, 1578. c. 48. 

 ^iter speaking of the virtues of the seeds, 

 le adds—" tambien las buenas mugeres de 

 aqueUas partes, amigas de sus maridos, les 

 'I'l hasta quatro destos per la boca, para 



3 rr^' * ^^^ pobretos al otro mundo " ! 

 ^Jortus Malaharkus, ii. tab. 33. 



