PHARMACOPCIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS. 
the name C. officinalis, Linn., has subsequently been upheld, although 
the official copaiba balsam is now considered as being mainly derived 
from C. Langsdorffii, the species named by Desfontaines in 1821 in 
honor of Mr. Langsdorff, the Rusian consul general at Rio Janeiro, 
from whom the specimens were obtained. This name was erroneously 
spelled “Lansdorffii” by Bentley and Trimen ( 57), who thus perpetu- 
ated what was undoubtedly an error of print in Desfontaines’ original 
memoir. Soon thereafter the recorded species of copaiba increased 
rapidly. In 1826 Hayne (305a) (Arzney-Gewaechse) published and 
described sixteen different species, which, however, all bear resem- 
blances, their distinctive features residing mainly in the form and the 
arrangement of the leaves. Hayne especially endeavors to place the 
species made known by Piso, the difficulty being that this ancient work 
stated that the wood is colored as if with minium. The only species 
that, in the opinion of Hayne, would answer that description is C. 
bijuga, the wood of the branches of which is pale-red, which color 
may appear as red in the trunk of the tree. Hayne also states that 
copaiva is gathered from all species known to the natives, and con- 
cludes that most of the balsam is yielded by C. multijuga in the prov- 
ince of Para, a species, however, which is now questioned. 
According to Flueckiger (239, 240), the following species are the 
principal sources of the copaiba of commerce: 
1. Copaifera officinalis, L. (Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia, Trini- 
dad). 
2. Copaifera guianensis, Desf. (Lower Amazon, lower Rio Negro, 
Cayenne, Surinam). 
3. C. coriacea, Martius (Bahia and Piauhy). 
4. C. Langsdorffii, Desf. (Continental provinces of Brazil). 
The number of known species has steadily increased until now the 
Index Kewensis recognizes twenty-three American and five African 
species. 
The copaiba obtained from the vast territory of the Brazilian con- 
tinent, along the Amazon and its tributaries, is collected in the shipping 
port of Para. Maranhao Island is also a place of export. Other 
shipping ports are Maracaibo and Angustura in Venezuela, Trinidad, 
Demerara (British Guiana), Cartagena (Colombia), and Rio de Ja- 
neiro. 
CORIANDRUM 
Coriandrum sativum is indigenous to the regions of the Mediter- 
ranean and the Caucasus, from which it has spread throughout the 
temperate parts of the whole world, even to the Americas. It was men- 
tioned by early Sanscrit writers and in the Mosaic books, Exodus and 
Numbers, and occurs in the famous Egyptian papyrus Ebers (213). 
Its fruit was used by the Jews and the Romans as a medicine, as w 
as a spice, in very early days. Cato (132) notes its cultivation ; Pliny 
(514) states that it was obtained in very fine quality in Egypt, and it 
is frequently mentioned in the book of Apicius Coelius (24), about 
the third century A. D. It is also included in the list of valuable 
products of Charlemagne. 
$F. 
