638 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



simple, tapering, about 7 mm. thick near the crown ; externally 

 yellowish-brown, wrinkled, with few rootlets ; internally, bark 

 whitish, about 2 mm. thick, wood yellow, porous, radiate. Stem 

 cylindrical, flattened, quadrangular above, each angle with a decur- 

 rent wing, about i M. long, 4 to 6 mm. thick, yellowish- or pur- 

 plish-brown, longitudinally wrinkled, internodes 3 to 8 cm. long; 

 internally, bark yellowish-brown, very thin, easily separable, wood 

 yellowish, slightly porous, radiate, 0.5 to i mm. thick, pith lemon- 

 yellow, 2 to 3 mm. in diameter, easily separable from the wood, 

 sometimes wanting. Leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate, about 6 

 cm. long, 2.5 cm. in diameter; apex acuminate; base somewhat 

 amplexicaul ; margin entire ; upper and under surfaces brownish- 

 green, midrib prominent and with 3 to 7 parallel lateral veins. 

 Inflorescence a large panicle ; flowers numerous, regular ; calyx 

 about 4 mm. long and with 4 lanceolate divisions ; corolla yellow, 

 rotate, about 10 mm. long, with 4 lanceolate lobes, each with a 

 pair of nectaries near the base ; stamens 4, inserted at the base of 

 the corolla tube ; style slender, with two recurved stigmas ; ovary 

 i-locular, with 2 parietal placentas. Fruit a superior, ovoid, 

 pointed, yellowish-brown, bicarpellary, unilocular capsule. Seeds 

 numerous, anatropous, somewhat oblong, flattened, about 0.5 mm. 

 long, testa reticulate ; embryo small, straight, embedded in the 

 endosperm. Odor slight. Taste extremely bitter. 



Constituents. A bitter glucoside chiratin, w'hich is precip- 

 itated by tannin and yields on hydrolysis two bitter principles : 

 ophelic acid and chiratogenin. the latter being insoluble in water. 

 Ophelic acid is a brown hygroscopic substance which is readily 

 soluble in water and alcohol and heating with Trommer's reagent 

 causes the deposition of yellowish cuprous oxide. The drug also 

 contains resin, tannin and 4 to 8 per cent, of ash. 



Allied Plants. Other species of Szvecrtia, as well as other 

 bitter plants known in India as " chiretta," find their way into the 

 market, but are, however, easilv distinguished from the true drug. 



SCUTELLARIA. SKULLCAP. The dried herb of Scu- 

 tellaria lateriflora (Fam. Labiatae), a perennial herbaceous plant 

 growing in wet places in the United States and Canada. The 

 plant blooms from July to September, when the herb should be 

 collected (p. 368, Fig. 180). 



