TRITICUM 95 



37. TRITICUM. TRITICUM 



COUCH-GRASS 



The dried rhizome of Agropy'ron rep'ens Beauvois. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Creeping; root-stocks slender, numerous. Spikelets 

 4- to 8-flowered, glabrous; glumes 3- to 7-nerved; rachis glabrous; leaves flat. 



HABITAT. Europe; naturalized and grows abundantly in North America. 

 DESCRIPTION OF DRUG. Short, hollow sections from 3 to 6 mm. (^ to 



^ in.) long, and about the thickness and color of a straw; odorless; 



taste sweetish. 



Powder. Microscopical elements of: See Part iv, Chap. I, B. 



CONSTITUENTS. No active constituent has been discovered in couch- 

 grass; it contains glucose, mucilage, malates, triticin (a gummy sub- 

 stance resembling inulin), and inosit. Ash not to exceed 3 per cent. 



Preparation of Triticin. Obtained by exhausting powdered drug with water; 

 neutralize with baryta; concentrate and precipitate with lead subacetate; remove 

 lead; purify with charcoal; neutralize, concentrate, and precipitate with alcohol. 

 It is an amorphous, white powder, inodorous, tasteless, deliquescent, and with 

 is oxidized into oxalic acid. 



ACTION AND USES. Diuretic, demulcent. Dose: % to 3 dr. (2 to 12 



Gm.). 

 OFFICIAL PREPARATION. 



Fluidextractum Tritici .............. Dose: i to 4 fl. dr. (4 to 15 mils). 



38. VETIVERIA. VETIVERT. The fibrous wiry roots of Andropo'gon murica'tus 

 Retzius. Habitat: Eastern India. Tonic and stimulant, but mainly em- 

 ployed as a perfume in sachet powders, etc. 



39. SACCHARUM . SUGAR 



CANE-SUGAR 



The refined sugar obtained from Sac'charum officina'rum Linne", andirom various 

 species or varieties of Sorghum, also from one or more varieties of Be'ta 

 vulga'ris Linn6 (nat. ord. Chenopodiaceae). 



SOURCE AND VARIETIES. The sugar cane is extensively cultivated in 

 Africa, East and West Indies (especially Cuba), Brazil, and Southern 

 United States, particularly Louisiana. The sugar beet is extensively 

 cultivated in France and Spain, and has been introduced with 

 varying success into some parts of the United States. Cane-sugar 

 is also a constituent of the sugar maple; of the carrot and turnip; 

 of cassia pulp, etc. The sugar in fresh fruit is mainly cane-sugar; 

 by the action of the fruit acids, or a ferment, it is generally 

 inverted, becomes uncrystalline, and influences polarized light in 

 the opposite direction from that of cane-sugar, twisting the ray 



