PART II 

 DRUG DESCRIPTION 



SECTION I. ORGANIC DRUGS FROM THE VEGE- 

 TABLE KINGDOM, DESCRIBED AND ARRANGED 

 ACCORDING TO FAMILIES. 



CRYPTOGAMS 



(PLANTS PRODUCING SPORES) 



ALGJE 



Structure very various, growing for the most part in water, mostly in stagnant 

 water in warm climates, but some on moist rocks or ground, etc. Entirely cellular, 

 producing fronds. 



i. CHONDRUS. IRISH Moss 



CARRAGEEN 

 The dried plant Chon'drus cris'pus Lyngbye. (Fam. Gigartinaceae.) 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Thallus fleshy, cartilaginous, compressed, divid- 

 ing into short, moniliform filaments. Antheridia or oogonia in superficial 

 spots. Chondrus crispus has four vessels or capsules imbedded in the frond. 

 Cigar tina mamillosa (Chondrus mamillosa) has an oval one raised upon a 

 short stalk, and its frond is slightly channeled toward the base. 



SOURCE. These plants inhabit the rocks on the American and European 

 shores of the Atlantic Ocean. In the spring they are collected on the 

 coast of New England and Ireland, the Massachusetts coast yielding 

 about 15,000 barrels annually. 



DESCRIPTION OF DRUG. Yellowish or white, horny, translucent; many 

 times forked; when softened in water, cartilaginous; shape of the 

 segments varying from wedge-shaped to linear; at the apex emargin- 

 ate or 2-lobed. It has a slight seaweed-like odor, and a mucilaginous, 

 somewhat saline, taste. 



TEST. When one part of chondrus is boiled for about ten minutes with 

 thirty parts of water replacing water lost by evaporation, the solution 

 should form a thick jelly upon cooling. 



When softened in cold water chondrus should become gelatinous 



77 



