150 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



Persons interested in this formula and subject will 

 find detail reports as follows: 



American Journal of Pharmacy, 1827, p. 123, (17b). 



American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 1829, 4, 

 p. 530, (17a), and 5, p. 542, (17a). 



GELSEMIUM 



(Gelsemium, Yellow Jasmine or Jessamine) 



First mentioned in 1860, Secondary List. Transferred to 

 Primary List in 1870. Official in all later editions. 



Common Names, Yellow Jessamine, Jessamine, Caro- 

 lina Jessamine, Wild Woodbine, White Poison- Vine, 

 White Jessamine. 



Gelsemium sempervirens is a native of the Southern 

 United States, abounding in the swamps, woods and 

 thickets, from Virginia to Florida. It is a handsome 

 climber, twenty to fifty feet in length, blooming in 

 early spring, its flowers being overpoweringly fragrant. 

 The name, given by Jussieu, was derived from the 

 Italian word Gelsomina, meaning jasmine. But it is 

 not a jessamine, and inasmuch as there is a true jessa- 

 mine with yellow flowers, E. M. Holmes (322), of 

 London, considers it unfortunate that the term yellow 

 jessamine has been applied to it. This common name, 

 however, is now firmly established. Its Italian name, 

 Gelsomina, possibly led Eclectic authors to use the 

 name gelsemirmw (instead of gelseim'wm), a term found 

 abundantly in early Eclectic literature, and not yet 

 altogether displaced. In this connection it may be 

 said that Professor Scudder invariably used the word 

 Gelseminum. 



MEDICAL HISTORY. Barton and his co-laborers did 

 not mention gelsemium, but Rafinesque, 1830, (535), 

 gave it a place, stating that "root and flowers are nar- 



