~108 



AiiKini; tlu' piontHTs of In(ii;iiia this tree was the choice stick for the rail 

 IciKc, owing to its (lurahility and its l>eing easily split. A boy coiUd make rails 

 of the ithic asii and a woman conld split bine ash stove wood. Hence the bine 

 ash >o<ni disafipeared as a large or even mcdiuni-si/.ed forest tree. As members 

 of tlie original forest, they arc all gone bnt the scrnbs. Unlike many other forest 

 trees, the i>lne ash is making fair headway towards reestablishing itself. It is an 

 aliundant frniter, and we fre(|ncntly find a young tree that has escaped the kind 

 of civilization enforced bv cattle and dean farmers. 



BOTANKAI, rKODlCTS OK THE UmTKK St.\TKS I'll AK>r A«()P<KIA, 1S90. I5v .loHN 



S. Witn.iiT. 



[Akstkact.1 



A large nnmln'rof thcoflicial organic drug»> are plant products. The revisers 

 of the United vStatcs Pharmacopo'ia, 1890 { published in 18U4 and in effect until 

 1904), admit plant products, such as fruits, leaves, stems, underground portions, 

 inspissated juices, resins, gummy exudations, products of <listillation, and other 

 materials of vegetable origin, representing L'.">2 species, 1S() genera, and ?."> natur:il 

 orders. 



Since llic pliarmacopni.-i lisi of drug> i> otlicial, much care is exercised in 

 making admissions to it. Long and general use is usually necessary to demon- 

 strate the <laim of a jilant or any of its products to recognition in this work, 

 which is the guide to druggists of tlu' United States. 



Onlv occasion. illy does an entire plant hecome an official drug, strictly si)eak- 

 ing. that jiart only is oliici;il which is mentioned by the pharmacop'eia; thus we 

 have, under tiic title ('Ai'snr.M : "'riic fruit of Capxicmii faiilifpalinn Blume;" or 

 as under Al.oKs, S()(()TKI.s:k: "The inspissated juice of the leaves of Aloe Perryi 

 Baker." In the former case it is the fruit, and in the latter the inspissated juice, 

 onlv, of the plant mentioned, which is oHiciai. In some cases several parts or 

 products of a plant arc extensively employed in medicine, and may even be gen - 

 erallv recognized in dispensatories and kindred works, though only one of these 

 may l)e official; lor instance, the tnliers and leaves of Aconite ( Aconitum Napdlun 

 L. ) are each ri'cognizcd as medical aycnts, yet the tuber is alone official. 



With this conservatism on the part of the revisers of the ]»harmaco|)u'ia, it is 

 fouml that nearly every official drug is of positive value in medicine, and furtherr 

 that the official list is very much siualler liian any other general organic 

 tlrug list. As before stated, the official list includes products rei>resenting "J.'l- 



