426 



BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



COLCHICI SEMEN. COLCHICUM SEED. The dried, 

 ripe seeds of Colchicuni autumnalc (Fam. Liliaceae), a perennial 

 bulbous plant, native of and growing in moist meadows in South- 

 ern and Middle Europe and Northern Africa (p. 236). The com- 

 mercial supplies come chiefly from England and Germany. 



Description. Hemi-anatropous, ovoid or irregularly glob- 

 ular, more or less beaked, with an easily detachable strophiole, 

 2 to 3 mm. in diameter; externally dark brown, becoming darker 

 with age. minutely pitted, the epidermis detached in irregular 

 patches in older seeds ; frequently agglutinated when fresh, due 

 to the presence of a saccharine exudation ; very hard when dry, 

 tough when damp, internally whitish, endosperm hard, embryo 



^-0 

 -CO 





Fig. 184. Transverse section of flaxseed; E, epidermal cells with small lumen and 

 very thick outer wall showing mucilage lamellae; PY, PC, parenchyma cells; ST, stone 

 cells; P, parenchyma below stone cells; O, obliterated ceils; CO, cells with reddish- 

 brown contents; EX, endosperm. 



0.5 mm. long and situated at end opposite the strophiole ; nearly 

 inodorous ; taste feeble, bitter and somewhat acrid. 



Constituents. Proteins ; fixed oil about 6 per cent. ; a tan- 

 nin-like substance in the seed-coat ; starch grains in the caruncle ; 

 an alkaloid colchicine 0.4 to 0.6 per cent. (0.55 per cent, required 

 by the U.S. P.) ; a resinous principle colchicoresin ; ash about 2.5 

 per cent. (See also Colchici Cormus.) 



LINUM. LINSEED OR FLAXSEED. The seed of Li- 

 nuni usitatissiiintm (Fam. Linacese), an annual, which is culti- 

 vated in nearly all temperate and tropical regions, either for the 

 fiber (flax) or seed (p. 303). 



Description. Anatropous, ovoid or oblong-lanceolate, flat- 

 tened, somewhat less rounded on one side and on one margin, apex 

 acute or beaked, chalazal end rounded, plano-convex in trans- 



