6i2 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



pubescent ; under surface light green, pubescent, midrib and veins 

 prominent; petiole 5 to 12 mm. long; texture coarse, brittle; odor 

 slight; taste astringent. 



Constituents. Volatile oil ; a bitter principle ; tannin, about 

 3 per cent. ; gallic acid, and calcium oxalate. 



The distillate, obtained on distilling either the fresh or dried 

 leaves of Hamamelis with water, contains an aromatic substance 

 that apparently does not exist as such in the leaves. The sub- 

 stance sold as hamamelin is a mixture consisting of an evaporated 

 alcoholic extract of either the leaves or bark, that of the former 

 being greenish-black and more permanent and the latter brownish- 

 black and more or less hygroscopic. 



SALVIA. SAGE. The leaves of Sak'ia officinalis (Fam. 

 Labiatse), a perennial herb (p. 368) indigenous to Southern 

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

 United States, both for use as a drug and as a pot herb. The 

 leaves are collected when the plants are in flower, and carefully 

 dried in the shade. 



Description. Oblong-lanceolate or ovate, 2 to 10 cm. long, 

 I to 2.5 cm. broad; apex acute; base rounded or somewhat heart- 

 shaped, frequently lobed ; margin crenulate ; upper surface gray- 

 ish-green, densely pubescent (Fig. 284, F) when the leaves are 

 young, the older leaves being nearly smooth, midrib and veins 

 depressed ; under surface light grayish-green, midrib prominent, 

 veins of first order diverging at an angle of 55 and running 

 nearly parallel to the margin, minutely reticulate and densely 

 pubescent ; petiole i to 4 cm. l-^ng, upper side grooved, grayish 

 purple ; texture velvety, more or less pliable ; odor aromatic ; taste 

 aromatic and bitter. 



Constituents. Volatile oil 0.5 to 2.5 per cent., containing 

 pinene, cineol, thujon and borneol ; a bitter principle somewhat 

 resembling marrubiin ; resin ; and tannin, or a principle closely 

 resembling it in its astringency and behavior with ferric salts. 



Allied Plants. The oil from r^Tuscatel Sage (Salvia Scla- 

 rca) has an odor of lavender and apparently contains linalyl 

 acetate. 



ERIODICTYON. VERBA SANTA. The dried leaves of 

 En'odicfyon caUfoniicum (Syn. E, glntinosum) (Fam. Hydro- 



