

MALVA 303 



342. ALTHJE'A RO'SEA Cevanilles. HOLLYHOCK. (Petals.) Indigenous to 



Western Asia, but cultivated in gardens for its large, purple, ornamental 

 flowers. Petals broadly obovate, notched above and with a claw at base; 

 odor slight; taste sweetish, mucilaginous, and astringent. They contain 

 tannin, mucilage, and a coloring matter. An infusion is occasionally used 

 as a demulcent. 



343. MALVA. MALLOW. The flowers of Mal'va sylves'tris Linn6, an her- 

 baceous plant growing abundantly in Europe. When fresh, of a rose-red 

 or purple color, becoming blue when dried; odor slight; taste sweetish and 

 mucilaginous. Emollient and demulcent. 



MALV.& FOLIA recognized by the N.F. 



344. DERIVATIVES OF THE COTTON PLANT 



Bark, Hairs of Seed, and the Oil of Gossyp'ium herba'ceum Linn6, and other 

 species of Gossypium. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GOSSYPIUM HERBACEUM. Large herbs with 

 alternate leaves, which are more or less palmately-lobed. Flowers are large, 

 showy, more or less yellow or red; pistils 5, united at their base. Stamens 

 numerous, united below and adhering to the petals. Capsule roundish, 

 3- to 5-celled, opening at the top by as many valves. The numerous seeds 

 are glossy, covered with long, woolly hairs, which constitute the cotton. 



HABITAT. Asia and Africa; cultivated in the United States. 



344 a. ROOT BARK. Gossypii Cortex, N.F. COTTON-ROOT BARK. Long 

 bands or curved pieces, sometimes in quills. The outer surface is of a yellow- 

 ish-brown color, dotted with a few small black spots, and, from the abrasion 

 of the thin cork, numbers of orange-brown patches; the inner surface is whitish 

 and has a silky luster; the bast fibers are long and tough, and may easily be 

 separated into papery layers ; inodorous ; taste very slightly acrid and astringent. 



Powder. Light brown. The microscopical elements are: The simple and 

 compound starch grains, the aggregate calcium oxalate crystals, colored resin, 

 and tannin masses; the numerous long, slender, and thick- walled bast fibers 

 (8 to 15 n thick), large cork cells, etc. 



CONSTITUENTS. A yellow resin, fixed oil, tannin (small quantity), sugar, starch, 

 and, in the fresh bark, a yellow chromogen, which becomes red and resinous 

 on exposure to the air. To this change is due the red color of old specimens, 

 and old preparations, of the bark. 



ACTION AND USES. Emmenagogue and oxytocic, stimulating uterine contrac- 

 tions probably by direct action on the uterine center in the spinal cord; said 

 to be as efficient and more safe than ergot. Dose: 15 to 60 gr. (-1 to 4 Gm.). 



344 b. HAIRS OF SEED. Gossypium Purificatum. PURIFIED COTTON. Fine, 

 white, soft filaments, which, under the microscope, appear as hollow, flattened, 

 and twisted bands; unacted upon by ordinary solvents. Ordinary raw cotton 

 contains among other impurities fatty substances, which, when removed by 

 chemical means, such as alkaline or ethereal solvents, changes its character 

 so that the fiber, which formerly was almost impenetrable by aqueous liquids, 

 now becomes so absorbent that it no longer floats on water, but when placed 

 on the surface of that liquid will readily absorb it and sink. 



CONSTITUENTS. Almost pure cellulose; by the action of nitric acid this is con- 

 verted into soluble gun-cotton. 



