42 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



FURTHER EXPERIMENTS ON TARAXACUM ROOT, WITH 

 A VIEW OF ASCERTAINING ITS VARIED CHEMICAL 

 COMPOSITION AT DIFFERENT SEASONS. 



By L. E. SAYRE, University of Kansas. 



It will be remembered that at the last meeting of the Academy of Science 

 a paper was read on the above subject which endeavored to show that tar- 

 axacum root varied at different seasons of the year, not only in the amount of 

 moisture it contained but also in the amount of other important constituents. 

 In the last report special attention was given to the percentage of solids and 

 reducible sugars. During the past year I have given the subject further at- 

 tention, and have been able to extract other principles from the root. "While 

 I have advanced the investigation to a slight extent, I do not as yet consider 

 the work completed by any means, and have not to my entire satisfaction 

 been able to devise a process of analysis which shall fully and satisfactorily 

 answer the questions which arise in connection with the subject. The 

 method of examination has been as follows: 



1. Treatment of the Fresh Root for Moisture and Extractive. — (a) Moisture: 

 A known weight of the fresh root, chopped fine and spread in thin layer, was 

 heated in a hot-air oven until it ceased to lose weight. The loss in weight 

 was then computed, (b) Extractive: Another weighed portion was extracted 

 with water 9 and alcohol 1 part. The dregs were then washed with warm 

 water. The resulting mixed solutions were evaporated, and finally heated in 

 a hot-air oven until the extract ceased to lose weight. 



2. Treatment of Air-Dry Root for Taraxacin, Inulin, Reducing Sugars, 

 and Levulin. — (a) Taraxacin: Ten grammes of the very finely powdered air- 

 dry root was introduced into an extraction apparatus and percolated by con- 

 tinuous displacement with chloroform for eight hours. This chloroformic 

 extractive, after the evaporation of the chloroform, was treated with distilled 

 water and filtered. The precipitated resin was well washed upon the filter; 

 the aqueous solution evaporated to dryness and the residue weighed and 

 estimated as taraxacin. (b) Reducing^feugars: The residue (dregs) from (a) 

 were treated with alcohol in a continuous extraction apparatus for eight 

 hours; the alcoholic extractive treated with water and the solution quanti- 

 tatively estimated for sugar by Fehling's solution, (c) Inulin: The residue 

 from (b) was treated with warm water until exhausted; the aqueous solution 

 was concentrated and to the resulting evaporate was added three volumes 

 of alcohol. The crude inulin was collected on a filter, dried at 100 degrees C, 

 and weighed, (d) Levulin: The alcoholic filtrate from the inulin was evapo- 

 rated to drive off the alcohol, and the dense residue dissolved in water. The 

 solution, acidulated with HCi, was boiled for six hours, thus converting the 

 levulin into reducing sugar. The sugar was estimated by Fehling's solution, 

 and calculated into levulin. 



The result of this examination of dandelion root collected at different sea- 

 sons may be tabulated as follows: 



With the exception of the month of January, the root was collected in each 

 month from March to February inclusive, and analyses of each sample were 



