‘RANUNCULACES. BS: 
a as having many knuckle-like joints—pappas oiov pifiov 7 mas Exov 
_ Sorep xovdihovs muxvods. The second kind is as thick as.a* goose- 
. quill, and covered with thin wiry rootlets ; it*often branches at 
_ the crown into two or three heads, which terminate in. tufts 
_ of leaf stalks, crowded together, and not separate as in the 
first kind; the ‘rhizomes of both kinds are contorted, and 
havea ee fracture, the centre is spongy, and the surrounding 
_ portion bright yellow and woody; taste purely bitter. The . 
; ‘first kind corresponds with the description of Coptis. root in: 
_.the Bengal Dispensatory, -The second kind with the descrip- 
4 tion in the Pharmacographia, which appears to refer to Coplts 
> anemonefolia.° (See Pharm. Journ. (3) X., p. 28.) 
Microscopic’ structure.—The bark of the second kind is much 
thé thickest, and is softer and more corky than that of the first ; 
in both kinds bundles of orange-coloured échlerenchy maton. 
ells are present, and the medullary rays contain starch ; the 
dis arranged in distinct wedge-shaped bundles, stund a 
tral tral parenchymatous portion, having a structure similar to 
that of the inner cortex. 
Chemical composition. —Coptis root contains 84 per cent. of . 
- berberine so combined as to be easily soluble in water ; the nature ~ 
has separated from Coptis trifoliata, Salisb. , coptine, a colourless 
pkaloid. Coptine forms with pitoasioaaunn se iodide a erystal- 
line precipitate which dissolves in Sulphuric Acid to a colour- _ 
less liquid, becoming purple-red ‘when heated.. (Sve Atisine.) 
4 Commer ce.—Both kinds of the drug come. to Bombay from _ : 
_ China, via Singapore, i in bulk.- The first sort is worth Rs. 34 
q _per lb.; the second Rs. 2. The first kind is also imported into 
_ the pikias of India from Assam i in small egg-shaped ae | 
THALICTRUM FOLIQL OSU DC. 
_Fig.—Royle Il, t. 51. 
ab .—Temperate Hiinalaya, Khasia Hills. The root: | 
Airs Set — a Gurbiani, Pas 
