CASSIA FISTULA 321 



pinacese), a tree indigenous to India, and naturalized in tropical 

 Africa, South America and the West Indies. The principal 

 supply of the drug used in this country comes from tropical 

 America. 



Description. (Fig. 144.) Legume nearly straight, indehiscent, 

 cylindrical, 25 to 50 cm. in length, 15 to 20 mm. in diameter; exter- 

 nally reddish-brown, summit acute or acuminate, base rounded, 

 sometimes with a woody pedicel about 15 mm. in length and 4 mm. 

 in diameter, smooth, shiny, transversely striate, on one side with 

 a longitudinal groove (the ventral suture), and on the other a smooth 

 line or slight ridge (the dorsal suture); pericarp hard and woody; 

 internally divided by transverse partitions into numerous compart- 

 ments about 5 mm. in length, each containing a brownish-black 

 pulp and a single seed; seed anatropous, ovoid, compressed, about 

 8 mm. in length, 6 mm. in width, 4 mm. in thickness, light brown, the 

 raphe as a distinct lime on one of the compressed sides, internally 

 light yellow, embryo curved and embedded in the endosperm; odor 

 of pulp distinct, prune-like; taste sweet. 



Constituents. The fruit yields about 30 per cent of pulp, which 

 contains 40 to 60 per cent of sugar. The drug apparently does not 

 owe its laxative properties to any of the anthraquinone derivatives 

 found in senna and related plants. 



Allied Plants. The legumes of related species of Cassia found in 

 tropical America are similar to those of Cassia Fistula, and are also 

 used in medicine. 



The pods of Cassia grandis (C. brasiliana), a tree growing in 

 northern Brazil, Central America and the West Indies, are known 

 as horse cassia. They are nearly cylindrical, attaining a length 

 of 65 cm. and a diameter of 4 cm. ; externally reddish-brown, having 

 a deep longitudinal groove on the ventral surface and a prominent 

 ridge on the dorsal surface; prominently reticulately wrinkled; 

 very woody, divided into transverse segments as in Cassia Fistula 

 and containing in each compartment a large amount of a reddish- 

 brown pulp and a single, broadly elliptical, light pinkish-brown seed. 

 Pulp of a somewhat butyraceous odor and a sweet, acid taste. It 

 contains a large amount of sugar, and small quantities of butyric 

 acid and tannin. 



TAMARINDUS. Tamarind. The preserved pulp of the ripe 

 fruit of Tamarindus indica (Fam. Leguminosae, sub.-fam. Csesal- 

 pinaceae), a tree (Fig. 145) indigenous to tropical Africa and cul- 

 tivated in the West and East Indies, from whence the two chief 

 commercial varieties are obtained. 



