348 LOGANIACE^E 



431. FRAXINUS AMERICANA Linnd. (Fraxinus, N.F.) WHITE ASH. (Bark.) 

 Quills- or curved pieces, having an ash-gray periderm and a white inner bark, 

 and breaking with a splintery, coarsely fibrous fracture. Emmenagogue. 

 Dose: about 15 gr. (i Gm.). 



432. FRAXINUS SAMBUCIFOLIA Lambert. BLACK ASH. (Bark.) Habitat: 

 United States. Tonic and astringent. Dose: I to 4 dr. (4 to 15 Gm.). 



433. CHIONANTHUS, N.F. FRINGE-TREE. The root-bark of Chionan'thus 

 virgin'ica Linne\ Habitat: United States. Tonic, aperient, and diuretic. 

 Dose: 15 to 60 gr. (i to 4 Gm.). 



434. LIGUSTRUM. PRIVET. The leaves of Ligus'trum vulga're Linne, a 

 shrub growing wild in the United States and Europe. Astringent; the decoc- 

 tion is used in sore throat, ulcerations of the mouth, stomach, and intestines. 



LOGANIACE^). Logania Family 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with opposite, entire leaves connected by stipules or 

 a stipular line, and with regular 4-5-merous, 4~5-androus flowers, the ovary free 

 from the calyx. Many of the plants belonging to this order are extremely 

 poisonous. 



Synopsis of Drugs from the Loganiacea 



A. Seeds. C. Rhizomes. 



NUX VOMICA, 435. GELSEMIUM, 438. 



*Ignatia, 436. SPIGELIA, 439. 



B. Bark. D. Extractive. 



Hoang-nan, 437. Curara, 440. 



435. NUX VOMICA. Nux VOMICA 

 DOG BUTTON. QUAKER BUTTON 



The dried ripe seed of Strych'nos nux vom'ica Linn yielding, by assay, not less 

 than 2.5 per cent, of alkaloids of Nux Vomica. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. A small tree with a crooked stem resembling 

 a dogwood. Leaves short-petiolate, smooth, oval, mucronately, palmately, 

 3- to 5-nerved. Flowers small, greenish- white, in terminal corymbs; corolla 

 funnel-form. Fruit round, orange-like. 



SOURCE. Indigenous to the coasts of most parts of India, Burmah, Siam, 

 and northern parts of Australia. Large quantities of the drug are 

 brought into the London market from British India. The export 

 from Bombay is considerable. Madras and Calcutta are also 

 shipping points. 



DESCRIPTION OF DRUG. Orbicular disks from 18 to 25 mm. (% to i 

 in.) in diameter, and about 4 mm. Q- in.) thick; flat or slightly 

 convex on one side and concave on the other, with a slightly raised 

 margin on the concave side. On one side is a ridge (raphe) extend- 

 ing from a raised point in the center (hilum) to a point on the edge 

 where the radicle is situated (chalaza). Both surfaces have a grayish 

 or a grayish-green, shiny, silky appearance, due to a large number 

 of silky hairs, closely pressed to the seed and forming a tuft around 

 its edge. Testa thin, fragile, somewhat soft, inclosing two disks of 



