242 



SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



preferred. It is shipped to Calcutta and Bombay, thence to London, 

 from which it is distributed. 



Description. Nearly spheroidal or ovoid, subreniform, from 

 0.5 to 10 mm. in length; externally grayish- to blackish-brown, 

 wrinkled, the summit and base separated by a narrow and shallow 

 sinus, the former being somewhat acute and the latter marked by a 

 depressed, circular stalk-scar, sometimes marked by a slight ridge 



FIG. 109. Original packages of Columbo (Calumba). 



Parke, Davis & Co. 



After a photograph by 



or a narrow, yellowish, thread-like, fibrous separable band extend- 

 ing over nearly the entire circumference of the fruit; pericarp about 

 1 mm. in thickness, consisting of an outer grayish-brown fibrous 

 layer, and an inner light yellow layer made up of sclerenchymatous 

 fibers which completely surround a single reniform seed; pericarp 

 inodorous and tasteless; seed oily and intensely bitter. 



