01 



UN 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY Circular No. 24. 

 H. W. WILEY, Chief of Bureau. 



ANALYSIS OF THE MEXICAN PLANT TECOMA MOLLIS H. B. K. 



By L. F. KEBLER and A. SEIDELL, Drug Laboratory. 



The plant material used for the following analysis was submitted to 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture by Mr. Carl Lumholtz with the 

 information that the inhabitants of certain parts of Mexico use it to a 

 considerable extent in the treatment of disease and it was thought that 

 an examination might reveal the presence of some valuable medicinal 

 constituents which would warrant the suggestion that the plant be in- 

 troduced into some of the Southern States for cultivation. 



IDENTIFICATION OF THE PLANT. 



No common name by which the plant is known locally has been re- 

 ported. On submitting a specimen of the plant consisting of flower, 

 fruit, stems, and leaves to the U. S. National Museum it was identified 

 as Tccoma mollis H. B. K.; family Bignoniacece. The specimen is now 

 in the Herbarium of the U. S. National Museum, where there are several 

 others of this same plant. According to Hemsley 1 this plant is also 

 found in Colombia, Peru, and Chile, and is known by the following 

 synonyms: Tecoma sorbi folia H. B. K., Tecoma stans y velutina D(7., 

 Stenolobium molle, and Bignonia tecomoides DC. A careful examina- 

 tion of the literature dealing with medicinal plants failed to reveal any 

 recorded investigation of this plant under the names enumerated above. 

 It is possible, however, that some observations may have been reported 

 under a local or common name and for this reason have been overlooked. 



ANALYSES BY THE METHODS OF DRAGENDORFF AND PARSONS. 



For this analysis the leaves only were used, being reduced to a No. 

 40 powder. The odor was slightly aromatic and the taste a mild, per- 

 sistent bitter, suggesting the so-called "bitter principles" contained in 

 a number of plants. A preliminary examination indicated the absence 

 of alkaloids and other readily recognizable bodies commonly present in 

 medicinal plants. It was thought, however, that a more careful analysis 

 following the schemes of Dragendorff and of Parsons might disclose the 

 constituent of the plant in which resided the useful qualities that it was 

 supposed to possess. 



Analyses were therefore made simultaneously by these two methods. 

 Twenty grams of the air-dried material were extracted in all cases with 



1 Biologia-Centrali Americana 1882, 2, 496. 



