APOCYNACEA. | 417° 
bitter, but the bitter taste was associated with some astrin- 
gency ; ib was wholly soluble in dilute sulphuric acid, and 
afforded marked indications of the presence of an alkaloid. 
The amylic alcohol extract was of a dark colour, and wholly 
soluble in dilute sulphuric acid, and very bitter: it also gave 
marked alkaloidal reactions. With sulphuric acid, none of the 
extracts afforded crystalline salts, 
The aqueous extract had a bitter taste; it reduced an 
alkaline copper solution on boiling: with ferrocyanide of 
potassium and acetic acid a faint turbidity was produced. The 
residue insoluble in water contained a large amount of starch. 
At present we do not offer any opinion as to whether the 
alkaloidal principles we have referred to in the various extracts 
are identical or not: we are also at present unable to state 
whether these alkaloids are new or merely principles which 
have already been described as occurring in other plants of the 
“same natural order. An analysis of the root of Ophioxylon 
serpenlinum by W. Bettink has been published in Haaxman’s 
Tijdschrift (Jan. 1888), where no alkaloid is reported to have 
been found, but a crystalline body related to juglone. We _ 
feel convinced that the drug examined by Bettink was not 
authenticated. Prof. Hykman has recorded the discovery of 
an alkaloid in an Indian species of Ophiowylon, and later still 
(1890), M. Greshoff has found an alkaloid giving a veratrine 
reaction with Frohde’s reagent, thus substantiating our 
analysis. It is probable that as the root resembles Plumbago 
root, Prof. Bettink’s ophioxylin was only plumbagin.. 
ALLAMANDA CATHARTICA, Linn.’ 
Fig.— Bot. Mag., t. 338. Syn.—A. Aubletii, Rohl. 
Hab.—<America. Cultivated in India and has run wild in 
the tidal backwaters of the Western Coast and at Goa. | 
Vernacular.—Jahari-Sontakka (Mar.), Arasina (Cam). 
History, Uses, &c.—This beautiful climbing shrub is” ] 
_ Very common in gardens, and is said to have been introduce 
11,—63 ae 
