138 PLANT ORGANS OR PARTS OF PLANTS. 



Chemistry. — A yellow volatile oil i per cent., a 

 thick oil, turmerol, boiling-point 285° to 290° C, of an 

 aromatic odor, and another less viscid body, the yellow 

 coloring-matter curcumin, crystallizing in shining blue 

 crystals, yellow by transmitted light, form the principal 

 constituents. Fat and starch in some quantity, gum 

 and resin are also present. 



TUBERS— BULBS. 

 SQUILL. 



The bulb of Urginea maritima deprived of its dry 

 membranaceous outer portion and cut into thin slices, 

 the central portions being rejected, of the natural order 

 LiliacecE, a native of the Mediterranean basin, growing in 

 the neighborhood of the sea-coast. Two varieties are 

 known, the white and the red, the former of which is 

 preferred. The bulbs should be collected in summer or 

 autumn, after blossoming but before the leaves have 

 commenced to develop. 



The chief microscopical elements of the powder are 

 crystals, parenchyma tic tissue, epidermal cells with few 

 stomata, and spiral vessels. Starch is absent, though at 

 certain times the vessels contain a few small starch grains. 



The crystals of calcium oxalate are very prominent; 

 they are of the acicular type, and vary greatly in size; 

 some are extremely fine, others large or coarse, at least 

 one millimetre in length. They appear round but are 

 somewhat quadrate, belonging to the quadratic octa- 

 hedral system. These crystals are usually found in all 

 sorts of fragments ; they are rarely found in the sac-like 

 parenchymatic cells in which they are formed. They 

 constitute from 3 to 4 per cent, of the drug. 



The parenchyma is elongated polyhedral and thin- 

 walled, and much contorted, many of the cells contain- 

 ing, in the powder, irregular clumps of mucilaginous 



