224 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



swamps of northeastern United States and Canada, extending to 

 Alaska. 



Description. In loose matted masses consisting of a nearly equal 

 mixture of the filiform, orange-colored rhizomes and pressed leaves, 

 having a slight odor and bitter taste. Rhizomes wiry, cylindrical, 

 irregularly curved, from 5 to 20 cm. in length and about 0.3 mm. in 

 thickness, internodes about 15 mm. in length, nodes with a distinct 

 elliptical scar on the upper surface and numerous dark brown hair- 

 like roots on the lower surface. Leaves radial, ternately divided 

 and frequently attached to the upper portion of the rhizome; peti- 

 oles from 2 to 6 cm. in length; leaflets coriaceous, broadly obovate, 

 nearly sessile, about 15 mm. in length; base cuneate; margin 

 obscurely 3-lobed and sharply toothed; upper surface dark green 

 and shining, veins prominent; lower surface light green and veins 

 depressed. Flowers if present, small, whitish or light brown. Fol- 

 licles divergent, membranaceous and enclosing a few small 

 seeds. 



Powder. Yellowish-green; starch grains numerous, mostly 

 single, spheroidal, from 0.003 to 0.010 mm. in diameter; epidermal 

 cells with wavy vertical walls and broadly elliptical stomata; frag- 

 ments of the nerved scales, from the nodes of the rhizome, com- 

 posed of cells with yellowish walls; leaf parenchyma cells containing 

 green plastids; few, simple thick-walled hairs, from the midrib of 

 the leaf, 0.035 mm. to 0.075 mm. in length; elongated epidermal 

 cells from the roots having yellowish walls and filled with reddish 

 contents; fragments of epidermal and sub-epidermal cells from the 

 rhizome, similar to those from the root, but without reddish contents, 

 often filled with yellowish contents; groups of elongated parenchyma, 

 about 0.060 mm. in length and about 0.010 mm. in width, many of 

 the cells being filled with starch grains; trachese with bordered pores 

 or spiral markings about 0.020 mm. in width; occasional narrow, 

 thin-walled, porous sclerenchymatous fibers. An infusion prepared 

 by placing 5 gm. of the powdered drug in 50 c.c. of cold water and 

 allowing to stand for a few minutes with occasional stirring and then 

 filtering gives a golden yellow colored solution. Newcomb. 



Constituents. Two alkaloids, berberine and coptine, the latter 

 being crystalline and becoming purple on the addition of sulphuric 

 acid and warming. Ash, 6 to 8 per cent. 



RADIX COPTIDIS. Coptis Root. The dried rhizome of Coptis 

 anemonsefolia and of several other species of Coptis (Fam. Ranun- 

 culaceae). The drug is official in the Pharmacopoeia of Japan. The 

 rhizome is tuberculate, more or less curved, about 4 cm. in length 



