42O 



COMPOSITE 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Root perennial; leaves radical, runcinate, pin- 

 na tifid or lyrate; scape hollow. Flower-head solitary, many flowered, yellow. 

 After blossoming, and while the fruit is forming, a pappus raises which soon 

 exposes to the wind the naked fruit, which is blown about. 



SOURCE. A plant of very extensive geographical distribution, native to 

 Europe, but very abundant in the Unitjed States, where, in some parts, 

 it is a troublesome weed. 



Dandelion root may be dug from July to September, during which 

 time the juice it contains becomes thicker and more bitter. The 

 roots should be washed and carefully dried, and care should be taken 

 to avoid maggots, which attack the well-dried roots. 



FIG. 247. Cross-section of Taraxacum root. 



DESCRIPTION OF DRUG. The dry root is fleshy, long, and tapering, seldom 

 branching; 5 to 25 mm. (} to i in.) thick at the top, surmounted by 

 several heads. Externally brownish, soon darkening by exposure. 

 In the fall, about November, the root acquires a deep orange color 

 throughout. Internally white, abounding in a bitter, inodorous, 

 milky juice. A cross-section displays a thick, white bark with 

 numerous concentric circles of laticiferous vessels surrounding a 

 yellow woody center. The central column is easily separated from 

 the thick bark, when the former is found to have along its exterior 

 at intervals minute knotty projections; a cross-section of the root at 

 this point shows woody fibers branching from the ligneous cord, pene- 

 trating, and passing through, the bark. Inulin spherules are plainly 

 discernible under the microscope if, before sectioning, the fresh root 

 be macerated in alcohol. The root loses in drying from 78 to 88 per 





