BUCHU 



369 



summit obtuse, somewhat recurved; base acute or cuneate; margin 

 sharply dentate or denticulate and with an oil-secretion cavities at 

 the base of each tooth; upper surface yellowish-green, glabrous; 

 under surface yellowish-green, longitudinally striate; both surfaces 

 papillose; petiole about 1 mm. in length; texture coriaceous; odor 

 and taste distinct, aromatic. 



Long Buchu. Linear-lanceolate, 25 to 40 mm. in length, 4 to 6 

 mm. in breadth; margin sharply serrate and glandular; summit 

 somewhat rounded or truncate. Stems in both Short and Long 

 Buchu about 1 mm. in diameter, yellowish-green or brownish-red, 



FIG. 162. Buchu leaves showing oil cavities which give the leaves a glandular- 

 punctate appearance: 1, Barosma crenata ovalis; 2, B. crenulata latifolia; 

 3, B. betulina; 4, B. serratifolia; 5, Empleurum ensatum; 6, dehiscent fruit 

 of B. crenulata; 7, flower of the same. After Tschirch. 



cylindrical, longitudinally furrowed, with prominent leaf -scars 

 nearly opposite to each other and giving the stems a jointed char- 

 acter. 



Inner Structure. See Fig. 163. 



Powder. Light green; calcium oxalate in rosette aggregates, 

 0.015 to 0.025 mm. in diameter; epidermal cells with irregular 

 masses or sphere-crystals of hesperidin, 0.030 to 0.500 mm. in diam- 

 eter, and with walls modified to mucilage; oil globules numerous. 



Constituents. Short buchu contains about 1.2 to 1.45 per cent 

 of a volatile oil, of which about 30 per cent is the crystalline body 

 diosphenol ; long buchu contains only about one-third as much vola- 

 tile oil and it contains little or no diosphenol; buchu also contains 



