CHIRATA 359 



in thickness, round at base and quadrangular toward the top, jointed, the 

 internodes being from 37 to 100 mm. (i J to 4 in.) in length; branches opposite. 

 Inodorous when dry, but when moistened it has a perceptible odor; taste very 

 bitter, persistent. 



In the Indian bazaars there are a number of species of Ophelia, known by 

 the name of Chiretta, which possess, to a greater or less degree, the bitter 

 properties of that drug. Fluckiger states: "We have frequently examined 

 the chiretta found in the English market, but have never met with any other 

 than the legitimate sort." Bentley noticed, in 1874, tne substitution of O. 

 angustifolia, which he found by far to be less bitter than the true chiretta. 

 J. S. Ward ("Pharm. Jour.," 4th Series, i, 1897) calls attention to a false 

 chirata entering the eastern market. He recognized it as the product of 

 Andrographia paniculata, nat. ord. Acanthraceae, a plant distributed through- 

 out India from Lucknow and Assam to Ceylon, and cultivated in the West 

 Indies a domestic remedy for fevers, debility, etc. Sold by herbalists in 

 the fresh state. 



Powder. Grayish-brown. Characteristic elements: Parenchyma of medulla, 

 slightly lignified with simple pores; sclerenchyma with fibers, long, narrow, and 

 thick- walled; tracheids, numerous; ducts with spiral or scalariform markings; 

 yellowish-brown pollen and stomata present. 



CONSTITUENTS. Chiratin, C2eH48Oi5 (yellow, hygroscopic powder, very bitter), 

 ophelic acid, CisH^oOio (a syrupy liquid.very bitter), resin, coloring matter, 

 bitter extractive, gum, and salts. Water and alcohol extract its virtues. 



ACTION AND USES. Bitter tonic like the other plants of the order Gentianae. 

 Dose: 15 gr. (i Gm.). 



OFFICIAL PREPARATIONS. 



Tinctura Chiratae (10 per cent.) (1890), Dose: }4 to 2 fl. dr. (2 to 8 mils). 

 Fluidextractum Chiratae, 15 igj (i mil). 



444. SABBATIA. CENTAURY. (Centaurium, the dried flowering plant of 

 Centaurium Contanrium, N.P.) Three species of this indigenous herb are 

 more or less used in this country as tonic and antiperiodic. These are Sabba'- 

 tia angular' is Pursh (American centaury), S. paniculata Pursh, and S. Ellio'tti 

 Steudel (quinine flower); the whole plant of the two first-named species 

 is used, the root of the last-named; they probably all contain the same prin- 

 ciple, erythrocentaurin, Cntt-nQ*. Dose: about I dr. (4 Gm.). 



445. MENYANTHES. WATER SHAMROCK. BUCKBEAN (N.F.) The herb of 

 Menyan'thes trifolia'ta Linn, an aquatic plant growing in bogs in the tem- 

 perate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Leaves ternate, rising out of the 

 water on long petioles from a rhizome; leaflets obovate, about 50 mm. (2 in.) 

 long, with entire margin, and smooth, green upper surface, paler beneath. 

 It has no odor, but a very bitter taste, due to a bitter principle, menyanthin, 

 C 33 H 6 4Oi6(?). Bitter tonic, in large doses cathartic. Employed in the prepa- 

 ration: Vinum Aurantii Compositum, N.P. (Elix. Aurantiorum Compositum, 

 Germ. Pharm.). Dose: 15 to 45 gr. (i to 3 Gm.). 



APOCYNACE^. Dogbane Family 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, mostly tropical, with a milky juice which is often 

 drastic or poisonous. Leaves mostly opposite, exstipulate. Flowers regular, 

 5-merous and 5-androus, with the pollen cohering into granular, waxy masses. 

 Fruit a pair of follicles; seeds often comose. 



