WIXTERGREEX. 341 



native of Xew Andalusia on Mount Tumiriquiri and on the 

 southern declivity of Mount Silla de Caraccas, where it is called 

 Pejoa by the natives ; it is also found in Mexico at Cuesta Grande 

 de Chiconquiaca. It forms a much branched shrub of 4 to 5 feet 

 in height, with aromatic leaves 2 inches in length, glandularly 

 ciliated while young. 



Phalerocarpus serpyllifolia, the "Wild thyme-leaved 

 Snowberry," has the same aromatic taste and smell as GauUheria 

 ■procunibcns and is a native from Canada to Pensyh'ania. It has 

 been observed north-westward of Lake Michigan and abounds where 

 evergreens are predominant, and generally in the northern forests 

 of pines, larches and firs, growing always amidst sphagum. It is 

 a small, creeping plant with roundish-oval leaves and axillary, 

 solitary, nearly sessile flowers. Its aromatic berries are white and 

 produced in considerable quantities. It is synonymous with 

 Vaccinium hispid ulum, Lin. spec, 500 ; Michaux, Flora Boreali 

 Americana, i., p. 228, t. 23 ; GauUheria serpyllifolia, Pursh, Flora 

 Americana Septentrionalis, i., p. 283, t. 13 ; Arhutus jiliformis, de 

 la Marck Encyclopedie methodique, p. 228. 



It is also recorded by Broughton, the Government Quinologist,* 

 that the oil of Androrneda LcchenaultU, another of the Ericacece 

 which grows in inexhaustible abundance on the Xeilgherry 

 Mountains in India, consists almost entirely of methyl salicylate 

 and is almost identical with Canadian oil of wintergreen. 



Salicyl aldehyde, C^ Hg O2, formerly called Salicylol, Scdicyl 

 hydride and Spjyroyl hydride, is contained in small quantity in the 

 flower-buds of SpircBa ulmaria, the "Meadow-sweet," which is 

 a very common plant in England on the banks of streams and in 

 moist pastures and woods. The flower-buds distilled with water 

 give a very small yield, but a larger quantity is obtained when 

 sulphuric acid and potassium dichromate are added, thus showing 

 that the buds contain salicin. To prepare it artificially, 3 

 parts of salicin and the 3 parts of potassium dichromate are 

 intimately mixed, and 24 parts of water poured upon the mixture, 

 which is then well agitated in a retort ; 4J parts of strong 

 sulphuric acid diluted with 12 parts of water is then poured in at 

 once and the agitation is repeated. A slight evolution of gas then 

 takes place, lasting for half to three-quarters of an hour, the liquid 



* Pharm. Journ. [3], ii., p. 281. 



