OLIBANUM 277 



ACTION AND USES. A stomachic, carminative, and emmenagogue. Used 

 mostly in mouth- washes. Dose: 2.5 to 15 gr. (0.15 to i Gm.), in pills 

 and emulsion. 



OFFICIAL PREPARATIONS. 



Tinctura Myrrhae (20 per cent.), Dose: 10 to 60 TTJJ (0.6 to 4 mils). 



Pilulffi Rhei Composite. 



295. OLIBANUM. FRANKINCENSE. A gum-resin exuding from incisions into 

 the .bark of Boswel'lia carte'rii Birdwood. Habitat: Eastern Africa and 

 Southern Arabia. In tears of various shapes, generally rounded; yellow- 

 ish or pale brown, thickly covered with a white dust; fracture dull, waxy, 

 pale yellowish or reddish; softens when chewed; odor agreeably aromatic, 

 stronger on heating; taste terebinthinate, somewhat bitter, but not un- 

 pleasant. Contains a volatile oil, a gum resembling gum arabic, and a 

 resin, forming with water a pure white emulsion. Rarely used medicinally; 

 mostly used for fragrant fumigations and pastilles, and as an altar incense. 



296. BDELLIUM. A gum-resin obtained from Commi'phora mu'kul Hooker 

 and from C. africana Engler. Habitat: (i) East India; (2) Western Africa, 

 (i) Dusty pieces breaking with a dark brown, conchoidal fracture; translu- 

 cent in thin sections; (2) irregular, dusty tears, breaking with a yellowish 

 to brown-red, waxy, angular fracture. Contains resin, volatile oil, and gum. 

 Odor and taste resemble myrrh. Used for the same purposes. 



297. ELEMI. MANILA ELEMI. An oleoresin exuding from incisions in Cana'- 

 rium commu'ne (?) Linn6. Habitat: Philippine Islands. A soft, unctuous 

 substance, colorless when pure, becoming firmer and yellow with age; of ten 

 contaminated with carbonaceous matter, which renders it grayish or blackish. 

 It has a strong, pleasant odor, like lemon and fennel; taste bitter, disagreeable, 

 and pungent. Contains volatile oil, resin, elemic acid, and breidin, a crys- 

 talline principle, soluble in water. Used in plasters and ointments as a 

 stimulant and irritant. 



MELIACEJE 



Tropical trees, rarely undershrubs, with mostly pinnately compound leaves. 

 The order contains many plants which have acrid, bitter, and astringent prop- 

 erties. None official. 



298. MAREGAMIA ALATA. GOANESE IPECAC. (Root.) Habitat: Western 

 India. Expectorant and emetic. Dose: I to 3 gr. (0.065 to 0.2 Gm.); as 

 an emetic, 5 to 10 gr. (0.3 to 0.6 Gm.). 



299. COCILLANA, N.F. The bark of an undetermined species of Guarea, a large 

 Bolivian tree. Expectorant and emetic properties similar to ipecac. Dose 

 of fluidextract: 10 to 30 njf (0.6 to 2 mils). A popular compound expectorant, 

 syrupy, preparation furnishes a much used remedial agent. 



300. AZEDARACH. MARGOSA BARK. The root-bark of Me'lia azed'arach 



Linne. Habitat: China and India; cultivated in Southern United States. 

 Fibrous pieces about 5 mm. (^- in.) thick, and 50 to 75 mm. (2 to 3 in.) 

 wide. The outer surface is reddish-brown, with irregular, blackish, longi- 

 tudinal ridges. The inner surface is yellowish-white to brown, and striated 

 longitudinally; fracture fibrous; inodorous; taste sweetish, acrid, and bitter. 

 If collected from old roots, the bark must be freed from the corky layer. The 

 active principle is a yellowish-white resin. Azedarach was once extensively 

 used in the Southern States as an anthelmintic. Dose: 15 to 60 gr. (i to 4 

 Gm.), in decoction. 



POLYGALE^E. Milkwort Family 



Plants often with milky juice in roots, low herbs in temperature regions, with 

 leaves mostly simple, entire, dotted, exstipulate. Flowers irregular; sepals 5, 



