326 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



STROPHANTHUS (Strophanthus) 



First mentioned in edition of 1890. Official in later editions. 

 1900 and 1910. The official drug, U. S. P., is the seed of Stro- 

 phanthus Kombe or of Strophanthus hispidus. 



The genus Strophanthus, which produces this drug, 

 is chiefly African. It belongs to the Apocynacece, (tribe 

 echitidese of this order), and is distinguished from the 

 other tribes chiefly from having its anthers united, after 

 the manner of the Asclepiadacece. Index Kewensis 

 mentions seventeen species of Strophanthus, Bentham 

 and Hooker eighteen species, Pax (495) twenty-five 

 species, and the number is being rapidly augmented, as 

 the flora of Africa becomes better known. Plants of 

 the genus have usually woody stems, emitting a milky 

 juice when wounded, and are generally twining vines. 

 The seed of commerce is probably collected from various 

 species mcUscriminately, which have been classified and 

 differentiated by Pax, Planchon, (512), Hartwich (304), 

 Holmes (322), Blondel (80) and others. Space will per- 

 mit us to mention only the two species which are ac- 

 knowledged to be the principal source of the drug. 



Strophanthus hispidus, D. C., is one of four species 

 described by De Candolle as early as 1802, and is the 

 species to which the drug was first ascribed. Its habitat 

 is Senegambia and Guinea, and other parts of western 

 Africa. Its stem is a twining, milky shrub, with op- 

 posite, hirsute leaves, hence the name hispidus, bristly, 

 hairy. The seed, which bears a slender style terminat- 

 ing in a plumose pappus consisting of long hairs, is the 

 part used in medicine. Hartwich calls special attention 

 to the fact that the hairs of Strophanthus seed are very 

 sensitive to moisture, spreading horizontally in dry ah*, 

 and becoming erect in moist atmosphere. He suggests 



