64 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



and adhering to the base of the grain, two very small lodicules con- 

 sisting chiefly of unicellular hairs from 0.5 to 1 mm. long. Grain 

 nearly smooth, grooved on one side and with a slight projection at 

 the summit consisting of numerous 1-celled hairs, usually with pollen 

 grains, adhering, embryo on side opposite the groove and forming 

 a slight projection at the base of the grain; endosperm large and 

 consisting chiefly of cells rilled with spheroidal starch grains resem- 

 bling those of wheat, the two to four outer layers of cubical cells 

 containing aleurone grains. The embryo is connected with the 

 endosperm by means of a sheathing membrane (by some regarded 

 as a modified cotyledon), through which it obtains nutriment during 

 germination. On germination the embryo produces about 5 multiple 

 primary rootlets and a stem portion with sheathing green leaves. 



Malt. Grains resembling those of barley, of a yellowish-brown 

 to dark brown color, and with a short fracture; starch grains altered, 

 exhibiting numerous radial and concentric fissures; odor agreeable 

 and taste sweetish. (Fig. 20.) 



Constituents. Barley grains contain from 60 to 68 per cent of 

 starch; 12 to 18 per cent of proteins; about 1.5 per cent of sugar, 

 and 1 to 3 per cent of fixed oil. Two ferments are developed during 

 the process of germination, namely, diastase, which acts on the starch, 

 changing it to dextrin and maltose; and another ferment which acts 

 on the proteins, converting them into peptones. The germinating 

 seeds of barley contain a white crystallizable alkaloid, hordenine, 

 which is slightly toxic. 



Commercial malt contains nearly the same constituents as are 

 found in barley, the starch grains being somewhat altered and 

 converted partly into soluble starch through the action of the fer- 

 ment diastase, a small amount of which is still present in malt after 

 drying. In the preparation of the extract of malt the starch is mostly 

 converted into dextrin and maltose, the proportion of the latter being 

 larger. 



Literature. Mann, " Morphology of the Barley Grain with Ref- 

 erence to its Enzym-Secreting Areas," Bulletin of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture No. 183. 



VETIVER. Radix Iwarancusae, or Cuskus Root. The rhizome 

 and roots of Andropogon squarrosus (Fam. Grammes), a perennial 

 grass indigenous to the East Indies and cultivated in various parts 

 of tropical America, also growing in the vicinity of New Orleans. 

 It easily adapts itself to cultivation in the greenhouse. 



Description. The rhizome is upright, cylindrical, from 10 to 30 

 mm. in length and 5 to 15 mm. in thickness; it is yellowish-white 



