VERATRUM 



81 



Inner Structure. See Figs. 30, 31. Also Meyer, Arch, der 

 Pharm., 1882, p. 80. 



Powder. Grayish-brown to dark brown; strongly sternutatory; 

 starch grains numerous, from 0.003 to 0.020 mm. in diameter, spher- 

 oidal or ellipsoidal, single or 2- to 3-compound, the individual grains 

 having a circular central cleft and often being swollen or otherwise 

 more or less altered; calcium oxalate in raphides, from 0.015 to 0.150 

 mm. in length; fragments with trachea?, the walls being more or less 

 strongly lignified and marked with scalariform or reticulate thicken- 



FIG. 30. Cross-section of rhizome of Veratrum viride; a, section of a root near 

 its origin; b, endodermis; c, one of the wavy fibre vascular bundles in the 

 cortex; d, parenchyma; e, fibro vascular bundle of the central cylinder; /, 

 parenchyma. After Bastin. 



ings, frequently containing a lemon-yellow substance and associated 

 with narrow, slightly lignified, porous, sclerenchymatous fibers; 

 endodermal cells thickened on the inner tangential wall, 'occasional 

 reddish-brown or brownish-black cork fragments. The powders of 

 Veratrum album and Veratrum viride cannot be distinguished one 

 from the other by their microscopic characters, but appear to differ 

 chemically; a mount of V. viride in concentrated sulphuric acid 

 gives a yellowish-red color and that of V. album a dull red color. 



