SLEEPY GRASS 65 



and marked with numerous circular scars from the sides of which 

 emanate the long, cylindrical, tortuous roots which are beset with 

 numerous fine branches inter-twining with each other and forming a 

 mat. The roots may attain a length of over 30 cm. and a diameter 

 of 2 mm. and are very tough, fibrous. When fresh they are of a slight 

 yellowish-brown color, becoming when dried reddish-brown. The 

 drug has an aromatic odor and a somewhat bitter taste. The volatile 

 oil resides in the bark, which should be present in the commercial 

 article. 



Inner Structure. See Fig. 22. 



Constituents. From 0.4 to 0.9 per cent of volatile oil; a. large 

 amount of starch; a small amount of resin and a bitter principle. 

 The volatile oil of Vetiver varies in color from dark yellow to dark 

 brown and is the most viscid of all the volatile oils. It is heavier 

 than water, intensive and very persistent in odor, being used pri- 

 marily in finer perfumery for fixing the more volatile odors. 



Adulterants. The commercial article is frequently contaminated 

 with red sand. The root, from which a part of the volatile oil has 

 been extracted, is frequently found in commerce and can be recog- 

 nized by its lighter color. 



Allied Plants. The rhizomes and roots of a number of other 

 species of Andropogon growing in Brazil and Persia have apparently 

 the same properties as the genuine Vetiver. 



STIPA VASEYI. Sleepy Grass. This grass grows throughout the 

 southwestern part of the United States and Mexico and from its 

 property of putting to sleep any animal that has eaten it it has come 

 to be known, especially in Mexico and New Mexico, as " Sleepy 

 Grass." 



Description. The plant is a stout, leafy, densely tufted, perennial 

 grass from 1 to 2 M. high, with broad loose and overlapping lower 

 sheaths, longer than the internodes and bearing broad flat leaves 

 often 6 dm. in length; the upper sheaths are smaller and shorter 

 than their respective internodes, bearing smaller, often involute 

 leaves; the culm is terminated by an erect, dense panicle from 1.5 

 dm. to 4.5 dm. in length; spikelets about 9 mm. in length, the glumes 

 minutely scabrous on the back and acuminate; flowering glume 

 pubescent; awn 15 mm. to 35 mm. in length, twice bent and twisted 

 up to the second bend ; callus densely hairy acute. 



Inner Structure. Consult Farwell, Merck's Report, 1911, p. 271. 



Constituents. Practically nothing is known concerning the active 

 principles upon which its physiological action depends. The drug 

 is best extracted with weak solutions of either acetic or hydrochloric 



