SUBSTANCES. REPUTED MEDICINAL. 199 
diameter. The plant climbs like ivy to the top of the tallest trees, 
and when full grown weighs many tons, so that a good supply of 
the drug is readily obtainable. .The active principle, as dissolved 
out by ether, is a brownish oily fluid, soluble in water to a limited 
extent only, the insoluble portion producing an oily emulsion. It 
has a warm, aromatic, pleasant taste, and a benumbing effect on 
the tongue, when applied to it in minute quantity. (Bancroft.) 
New South Wales and Queensland. 
99. Pittosporum undulatum, Ven/.; N.O , Pittosporee, B.FI. i., 
TI. 
“Native Laurel.” ‘ Mock Orange.” 
I am not aware that this plant is employed medicinally, 
but the following chemical investigation of the bark will be found 
interesting, and may do something towards preparing the way for 
its utilization. 
Pittosporine. Glucoside of the bark and fruits of Der torie 
undulatum. ‘The pulverised bark is extracted with hot alcohol, 
filtered when cold, mixed with an equal bulk of ether, filtered 
again, and evaporated. It is a whitish, loose powder, sweetish at 
first, afterwards bitter and acrid; dissolves in water and alcohol, 
not in ether ; froths with water, gives precipitates with acetate and 
sub-acetate of lead. Separates, by boiling with diluted acids, into 
sugar and a white substance, insoluble in water. (Mueller and 
Rummel, in Wittstein’s Organic Constituents of Plants. 
All the colonies except South and Western Australia. 
100. Plumbago zeylanica, Zznn., N.O., Plumbaginez, B.FI., iv., 
267. 
In India, a tincture of the root-bark has been employed as an 
antiperiodic. Dr. Oswald states that he has employed it in the 
treatment of intermittents with good effect. It acts as a powerful 
sudorific. (Pharm. of India.) It is a common medicine for 
dyspepsia in India. It is also frequently used as a poultice for 
abscesses, &c. 
New South Wales to Northern Australia. | 
