372 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



AURANTII AMARI CORTEX. Bitter Orange Peel. The rind 

 of the unripe fruit of Citrus Aurantium amara (Fam. Rutacese), a 

 tree (Fig. 164) indigenous to northern India and cultivated in the 

 Mediterranean region, the West Indies and the States bordering 

 on the Gulf of Mexico. The fruit is collected before it is ripe, the 

 rind removed and used either in the fresh or dried condition. The 

 commercial article is obtained from Malta, Sicily and Spain. 



Description. Usually cut longitudinally into quarters; ellip- 

 tical, acute at both ends, 4 to 6 cm. in length, 2 to 3 cm. in width, 2 

 to 6 mm. in thickness; externally yellowish or brownish-green, with 

 numerous circular depressions, a scar at one end and occasionally 

 the remains of the calyx; internally light yellowish-brown, wrinkled, 

 with numerous conical projections and numerous large schizo-lysig- 

 enous oil cavities; fracture short, tough, surface porous; odor 

 aromatic; taste aromatic and bitter. 



Occasionally in ribbon-like bands 2 to 12 cm. in length, 5 to 10 

 mm. in width, about 2 mm. in thickness; externally yellowish-brown. 



Powder. Dark yellow or light brown; parenchymatous cells 

 either somewhat collenchymatous or with simple pores, walls 0.010 

 to 0.015 mm. in thickness ; calcium oxalate in monoclinic prisms, 

 0.015 to 0.035 mm. in diameter; tracheae few, spiral, annular or 

 with simple pores, fragments showing large schizo-lysigenous oil 

 cavities. 



Constituents. Volatile oil, resembling that of sweet orange peel 

 but with a superior flavor and a bitter taste; several bitter principles: 

 (a) aurantiamarin (1.5 to 2.5 per cent), an amorphous, bitter glu- 

 coside, to which the bitter taste is chiefly due; (6) aurantiamaric 

 acid (0.1 per cent), a very bitter, green, amorphous, resinous prin- 

 ciple; (c) naringin (aurantin), a yellowish, crystalline, bitter gluco- 

 side; (d) isohesperidin (0.4 to 3 per cent), a slightly bitter glucoside. 

 The drug also contains 5 to 8 per cent of a white, crystalline, taste- 

 less glucoside, hesperidin, which separates in sphere-crystals on 

 placing the fresh fruit in alcohol. Hesperidin is colored reddish- 

 brown with solutions of ferric chloride and on hydrolysis yields a 

 sweet principle hesperetin, which crystallizes in prisms. A fixed oil, 

 resin, and a principle resembling tannin; calcium oxalate, in the 

 form of rhombohedral crystals; and ash about 5 per cent are also 

 present. 



Allied Drugs. The immature fruits of Citrus Aurantium are 

 sometimes collected and are known as orange berries. They are 

 nearly globular; 5 to 20 mm. in diameter, greenish or brownish- 

 black, granular rugose; the internal structure resembles that of 



