204 



PAPAVERACE.E 



185. SANGUINARIA. SANGUINARIA 



BLOOD ROOT 

 The dried rhizome of Sanguina'ria canaden'sis Linn. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. A low perennial, common in rich woods, -.having 

 a thick, prostrate root-stock, surcharged with an orange-red,- acrid juice, and 

 sending up in earliest spring a rounded, palmately lobed leaf and a one- 

 flowered naked scape. Flower white, handsome; sepals 2; petals 8 to 12; 

 stamens about 24; style short; stigma two-grooved; pod oblong, turgid, one- 

 celled. 



HABITAT. Rich woods of North America. 



DESCRIPTION OF DRUG. A horizontal cylindrical rhizome about 50 mm. 

 (2 in.) long and 10 mm. (% in.) thick, slightly tapering and branched; 



FIG. 104. Sanguinaria canadensis Plant and rhizome. 



externally reddish-brown, rough, wrinkled, and annulate; internally 

 spongy, dotted with small resin cells of a ruby color. The color of 

 a cut surface varies from a light to a very dark red, and presents a 

 glossy, dotted appearance; bark thin, with resin cells scattered in the 

 parenchyma; frequently the transverse surface shows either a uni- 

 form dark blood-red color, or a whitish, starchy surface scattered 

 with numerous red dots; odor slight ; taste bitter and acrid ; the pow- 

 der is sternutatory. The infusion of the drug becomes blood-red 

 with sulphuric or hydrochloric acid. 



