554 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



including' New York and Pennsylvania. The flower-heads are 

 collected, when they are mature or expanded, from wild plants. 



Description. Rounded, conical, 3 to lo mm. broad (Fig. 

 242); peduncle 0.5 to 3.5 cm. long, nearly glabrous; involucre 

 hemispherical, scales twenty to thirty, imbricated, oblanceolate, the 

 middle portion brownish, margin whitish, pubescent ; torus 

 ovoid, becoming conical and hollow, deeply pitted, naked, 3 to 5 

 mm. high, about 1.5 mm., in diameter; ray or ligulate florets 

 (Fig. 242, D), twelve to eighteen, pistillate, about 12 mm. long, 

 corolla white, 3-toothed, 4-veined ; disk or tubular flowers (Fig. 

 242, C), numerous, yellowish, perfect, oblong, small, somewhat 

 glandular, about 2.5 mm. long; akenes somewhat obovoid, about 

 0.5 mm. long ; faintly 3- to 5-ribbed ; pappus none, or forming a 

 membranous crown ; odor distinct ; taste aromatic and bitter. 



Constituents. Volatile oil, about 0.25 per cent., of a viscid 

 consistency and an intense blue color. The color is due to azulene, 

 a principle similar to that found in the volatile oils derived from 

 Absinthium, Achillea (yarrow), Sumbul and Valerian. The 

 flowers are also said to contain a bitter principle anthemic acid, 

 which forms colorless, silky needles soluble in water and alcohol, 

 and anthemidin, which separates from the alcoholic solution in the 

 form of a tasteless crystalline compound. Malic acid and tannin 

 are also present in the drug. The oil when distilled from the 

 involucre soon changes to yellow, finally becoming brown ; while 

 the oil from the flowers alone retains its deep-blue color even 

 when exposed to light for some weeks. 



Adulterants. In Anthcmis arvcnsis the receptacle is solifl 

 and conical and the involucral scales are lanceolate. In Anthemis 

 Cotiila the peduncles are slightly pubescent and the ligulate 

 flowers neutral. 



ANTHEMIS. ROMAN OR ENGLISH CHAMOMILE. 

 The expanded flower-heads of Anthemis nobilis (Fam. Compos- 

 itse), a perennial herb indigenous to Southern and Western 

 Europe and cultivated in Belgium, England, France, Germany, 

 Hungary and the United States, and naturalized from Rhode 

 Island to Michigan and south to Delaware (p. 393). The flowers 

 are collected from cultivated plants, and dried by artificial means, 

 the principal supplies coming from Belgium, France and Saxony. 



