414 APOCYNACE 24. 
striated, aril red, fleshy. (FJ. Br. Ind.) All parts of the plant 
abound in a milky juice, which has a bitter taste. 
Chemical com position.—The fresh roots were extracted with 
80 per cent. alcohol. From the alcoholic extract, in addition to 
resins and extractives, a large amount of an alkaloidal principle 
was isolated, soluble in ether, and giving marked precipitates 
with alkalies, chromate of potash, and alkaloidal reagents, but 
no special colour reactions were noted. The taste was bitter, 
and the principle as deposited by spontaneous evaporation of 
an ethereal solution, was in the form of a yellowish brittle 
varnish. 
RAUWOLFIA SERPENTINA, Benth. 
Fig.—Wight Ic. t. 849; Bot. Mag. t. 784; Burm. Fl. 
Zeyl., t. 64. Syn.—Ophtoxylon serpentinum. _ . 
Hab,.—Throughont India. The root. 
Vernacular.— Chota-chand (Hind.), Chandra (Beng.), Harkai 
(Mar.), Patala-~gandhi (Tel.), Chuvanna-avilpori (Mal.), Covan- 
namilpori (Tam.), Sutranabhi (Can.). 
History, Uses, &c.—This shrub is mentioned im 
Sanskrit works under the names of Sarpagandh& and 
Chandrika. The Hindus use the root asa febrifuge, and as 
an antidote to the bites of poisonous reptiles, also in dysentery 
and other painful affections of the intestinal canal. By some it 
is supposed to cause uterine contraction and promote the expul- 
sion of the fostus. Ainslie gives the following account of it :— 
Psjovanna amelpodi i is the name given, on the Malabar Coast 
(Rheede, Mal. vi. 81, t. 47), to a plant, the bitter root of which 
: supposed to have sovereign virtues in cases of snake-bites 
and scorpion-stings ; » itis ordered in decoction, to the extent 
ofa pint in twenty-four hours, and the powder is, applied, 
-externally, to the injured part. The plant is the Radiz mustela 
Os Rurmphius. (Amb. vii. ae t. 16.) The Javanese class. it 
among | give it the name of lak. 
