364 CONVOLVULACE^E 



the inner one white; odorless; taste bitter, somewhat acrid. Diaphoretic 

 expectorant. Dose: 15 to 60 gr. (i to 4 Gm.). Fl'ext., off. U.S. P. 1890, 

 dose: 15 to 60 itjj (i to 4 mils). 



455. ASCLEPIAS CORNUTI Decaisne. COMMON SILK-WEED or MILK-WEED. 

 (Rhizome.) Cylindrical sections, from 6 to 25 mm. (% to I in.) thick, 

 beset with a few simple rootlets; externally grayish-brown, finely wrinkled, 

 and rough from stem-scars and undeveloped branches. It breaks with a 

 short or splintery fracture, showing a thick bark containing lactiferous 

 vessels, and a yellowish, porous wood in narrow wood- wedges. Odorless; 

 taste bitter and nauseous. Diuretic, alterative, and expectorant; recom- 

 mended in pectoral affections and in dropsy. Dose: 15 to 60 gr. (i to 4 

 Gm.), in decoction. 



456. ASCLEPIAS INCARNATA Linne. SWAMP MILK-WEED. Habitat: North 

 America. An oval or globular, yellowish-brown rhizome, with a tough, 

 white wood, and a central pith; rootlets smooth, light yellowish-brown, 

 brittle; odorless; taste sweetish, bitter, and acrid. It contains an emetic 

 principle, asclepiadin; it is also alterative and cathartic. Dose: 15 to 45 

 gr. (i to 3 Gm.). 



457. ASCLEPIAS CURASSAVICA Linnet BLOOD FLOWER. A West Indian 

 herb used as an emetic, in smaller doses cathartic and vermifuge. Dose 

 of fl'ext.: i to 2 fl. dr. (4 to 8 mils). 



458. HEMIDESMUS. INDIAN SARSAPARILLA. The root of a climbing East 

 Indian plant, Hemides'mus in'dicus R. Brown. Long, cylindrical, slender, 

 and tortuous; externally wrinkled and fissured, dark brown; wood yellowish, 

 separated from the thin bark by a dark, wavy cambium line. Odor sweetish, 

 tonka-like; taste sweetish and acrid. It is used in India as an alterative, 

 and also in Great Britain, where it is official. Dose: 30 to 60 gr. (2 to 4 

 Gm.), in infusion or decoction. 



459. CONDURANGO (N.F.). The bark of Gonolo'bus conduran'go Triana, a 

 South American vine, largely used there as an alterative. It was first intro- 

 duced as a medicine here as a specific in cancer, but experience has shown it to 

 be of no value in that trouble. It is from 2 to 6 mm. (^2 to Y i Q -) thick, 

 the outer surface or periderm ash-gray, with greenish or blackish lichen 

 patches scattered over it; odor slight; taste bitter and acrid. It is given in 

 doses of about 30 gr. (2 Gm.). 



CONVOLVULACE^:. Convolvulus Family 



Chiefly twining or trailing herbs, sometimes with milky juice, with alternate 

 leaves, and regular, 5-androus flowers. 



Tuber. Resin. 



JALAPA, 460. SCAMMONIUM, 462. 



Root. 



Ipomcea, 461 a. 



SCAMMONII RADIX, 462 a. 



460. JALAPA. JALAPA 

 JALAPA 



The dried tuberous root of Exogo'nium pur'ga (Wenderoth) Bentham, yielding, by 

 assay, not less than 7 per cent, of resin. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Stem brownish, smooth. Leaves long-petio- 

 late, cordate-ovate, acuminate, entire, smooth. Peduncles axillary, 2- 

 flowered; corolla crimson or light red, four times the length of the calyx. 



