ROSE HIPS 307 



fibrovascular bundles with spiral tracheae, and a lower epidermis of 

 rectangular cells filled with a purplish-red cell sap. 



Constituents. Volatile oil in a small amount; a yellow, crystalline 

 glucoside quercitrin, which yields, on decomposition, quercetin; 

 tannin and gallic acids. The coloring principle is soluble in water 

 and alcohol and gives a deep yellowish-red color with acids; a green 

 color changing to brown with alkalies; purple or violet with potas- 

 sium alum or iodin solutions; and a deep blue with ferrous or ferric 

 salts. 



Allied Plants. The petals of Rosa centifolia are collected after 

 th"e expansion of the flowers and dried; they are brownish and not 

 so fragrant as those of Rosa gallica. The flowers of cultivated plants 

 of Rosa damascena yield the commercial volatile oil of rose. 



ROS^J CANINE FKUCTUS. Rose Hips. The fresh fruits of 

 Rosa canina and other allied species of Rosa (Fam. Rosacese), a 

 shrub common throughout Europe and the British Isles. 



Description. Ovoid, from 15 to 20 mm. in length, externally, of a 

 red or scarlet color, smooth and shiny, and having at the summit the 

 5 calyx-teeth, beyond which project the hairy appendages of the 

 achenes; pericarp of a fleshy texture, becoming on maturity, espe- 

 cially after frost, soft and pulpy, the pulp of the sarcocarp being 

 of an orange color and an agreeable, acidulous taste; the hollow recep- 

 tacle bears on its inner surface numerous small, hard achenes, which, 

 as well as the walls of the former, are covered with unicellular, thick- 

 walled hairs. 



Powder. Dark brownish-red; non-glandular hairs of torus uni- 

 cellular, from 0.5 to 2 mm. in length, about 0.035 mm. in width, 

 gradually tapering toward the base as well as the summit, having 

 very thick walls and narrow lumina; parenchyma cells with brown- 

 ish-red masses of plastids; calcium oxalate crystals in rosette aggre- 

 gates from 0.035 to 0.050 mm. in diameter; sclerenchymatous cells 

 and fibers of seed-coat with colorless, rather thick walls and numerous 

 simple and branching pores; an inner epidermis of elongated cells 

 containing a brown pigment; the cells of the embryo with small, 

 nearly spheroidal aleurone grains and considerable oil. 



papillse are wanting. D, transverse section through the base of a petal, the 

 letters as in C. Fragments found in the powder show in addition to the 

 cellular elements of the petals, a glandular hair (E) and non-glandular 

 hairs (F) which occur on the stems and sepals; and pollen grains (G). 

 Re-drawn by Haase from plates of Hans Kramer, in Ber. d. d. pharm. Ges., 

 1907, p. 354. 



