448 ASCLEPIADER. 
nessy, Dispensary, p. 456, Beng. Pharm., p. 279—801), In 
1868, Hemidesmus was made official in the Pharmacopwia of 
India. Lastly, in 1874, it was described by Fliickiger and 
‘Hanbury in the Pharmacographia. 
Description.—The drug is found in commerce in India 
in the form of little bundles, which consist of the entire roots 
of one or more plants, often several feet long, tied up with 
a portion of the stem. : 
The root is cylindrical, sovinias, from 745 to 7% of an inch 
an diameter, seldom branched. The bik is transversely 
¢eracked and fissured longitudinally, of a dark brown colour, 
sometimes with a slight violet hue when viewed in a strong 
light; the wood is yellow and porous. The fresh or freshly- 
‘dried root has a fine odour of tonka bean or melilot, and a 
sweet but slightly acrid taste. 
Microscopic structure-—According to Flickiger and Han- 
bury, all the proper cortical tissue shows a uniform paren- 
chyme, not distinctly separated into liber, medullary rays and 
mesophlezm. On making a longitudinal section, however, 
one can observe some elongated laticiferous vessels filled with 
thecolourless concrete milky juice. In a transverse section, they 
are seen to be irregularly scattered through the bark, chiefly 
in its inner layers, yet even here in not very considerable 
number. They are frequently 80 mkm. in diameter and not 
branched. 
The wood is traversed by. small medullary rays, which are 
obvious only in the longitudinal section. The parenchymatous 
tissue of the root is loaded with large ovoid starch granules. 
: Tanuic matters do not occur to any considerable amount 
except in the outermost suberous lay er. 
Chemical composition.—The aroma and _ taste of the drug is 
_ due to the presence:of coumarin (see Vol. I., p. 406), which 
can be obtained in part by: boiling the root with esi! 
Crystals a : 
‘ 7 periaee me < 
~ i 
