130 ORCHEDACE^ 



light orange-brown color; on the upper side it is closely covered with deeply 

 concave stem-scars about the width of the rhizome, and on the lower side 

 with smooth, simple, wavy rootlets, abruptly descending, varying in length 

 from loo to 500 mm. (4 to 20 in.); cortical parenchyma thick, wood-bundles 

 and nucleus sheath indistinct; fracture of rhizome short, of roots fibrous; 

 odor somewhat valerian -like, diminishing with age; taste sweetish, bitter, 

 somewhat pungent at the last. 



Cypripedium parviflorum has the rhizome bent two or three times, almost 

 at right angles, and is of a brighter orange-brown color; the rootlets are 

 shorter and less wavy. 



CONSTITUENTS. Volatile oil (a trace), a volatile acid, resins, tannin, sugar, starch, 

 and fixed oil. The active principle has not yet been isolated, but the virtues 

 of the drug are supposed to reside in the volatile oil and a bitter principle 

 (probably a glucoside). Ash, not more than 12 per cent. 



ACTION AND LTsEs. Diaphoretic, nerve stimulant, and antispasmodic, less powerful 

 than valerian. It is valuable as a substitute for opium in the treatment of 

 children. Dose: 8 to 30 gr. (0.5 to 2 Gm.). 



85. CORALLORRHIZA ODONTORRHIZA Nuttall. CRAWLEY. CORAL ROOT. 



The rhizome of a parasitic, leafless herb growing throughout the United States 

 east of the Mississippi. "A prompt and powerful diaphoretic, with sedative 

 properties. A combination with blue cohosh is a good emmenagogue." 

 Dose: 15 to 30 gr. (i to 2 Gm.). 



86. SALEP. SALEP. The tubers of Or'chis mas'cula and Orchis morio Linnet 

 Habitat: Europe. Frequently comes in powder. It is a farinaceous, gummy 

 substance, somewhat analogous to tragacanth in composition. Demulcent 

 and nutritive. 



87. VANILLA, N.F. 

 VANILLA 



The full-grown but immature fruit of Vanil'la planifo'lia Andrews, cured in the 

 customary manner. Yielding to dilute alcohol 12 per cent, of extractive. 

 Ash, 6 per cent. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. A fleshy, climbing orchid with long, smooth, 

 dark green stem sending out at the, nodes aerial rootlets which fasten it to 

 the tree or other support. Leaves sessile, fleshy, tough, veinless. Flowers 

 pale yellowish, in loose axillary racemes. Fruit a pod. 



SOURCE AND VARIETIES. Of the genus Vanilla there are some twenty- 

 three species recognized, a few only of which are used and cured as 

 the commercial vanilla, a product of cultivation mainly. The fruit 

 is chiefly cultivated in Mexico and Bourbon, and to a greater or less 

 extent in the West Indies, Java, Mauritius, Ceylon, the Fijis, and 

 Straits Settlements. ' 



COLLECTION AND CURING. The fruits are collected before they are ripe, 

 just as they begin to turn yellow, then placed between woolen blankets 

 in a sweating-box and left there for thirty-six hours, being afterward 

 exposed to the noonday sun just long enough to dry off the perspira- 

 tion which was thus produced. This process is repeated until the 



