374 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



miroedine; an essential oil ; an enzyme which hydrolyzed amygdalin, 

 and a quantity of sugar; benzoic acid; sitosterol; a phytosterol 

 glucoside; a mixture of fatty acids; a yellow, phenolic substance; 

 and a new lactone, casimirolid, which yields a new hydroxyl-acid, 

 designated as casimiroic acid. The reputed hypnotic or toxic prop- 

 erties of the seed could not be confirmed. Power, Jour. Chem. Soc., 

 1911, p. 1993. 



Angustura. CORTEX ANGOSTURA VERSUS, CUSPARLE CORTEX. 

 ANGOSTURA BARK OR CUSPARIA BARK. The bark of Galipea offi- 

 cinalis (Fam. Rutacese), a small tree growing abundantly in the moun- 

 tainous districts of Venezuela. It was formerly used in the prepara- 

 tion of Angostura Bitters, which also contained gentian and a number 

 of aromatic substances, as ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, orange or 

 lemon peel, and caraway or cloves. 



Description. Mostly in quills or in transversely curved pieces, 

 from 5 to 12 cm. in length, 2 to 3 cm. in width, and from 2 to 3 mm. 

 in thickness; externally light yellowish- or grayish-brown, with occa- 

 sional patches of a velvety porous cork; inner surface light brown 

 and finely striate; fracture short, smooth and resinous; transverse 

 surface of middle bark brownish-red, inner bark brownish-yellow 

 with numerous shining resin canals and groups of bast fibers; odor 

 distinct ; taste bitter. 



Inner Structure. Cork cells more or less tabular, compressed 

 and somewhat thickened on the tangential walls; phelloderm cells, 

 thin- walled and of several layers; middle bark of thin-walled, 

 starch-bearing parenchyma, yellowish secretion cavities, from 

 0.060 to 0.130 mm. in diameter and cells containing small, fine acicular 

 crystals of calcium oxalate; stone cells occur in the inner layers of the 

 middle bark; inner bark having numerous characteristic plates of 

 bast fibers, the latter being spindle-shaped, somewhat knotty and 

 with tapering and branching ends; leptome of collapsed sieve tubes 

 showing the porous plates on the longitudinal walls; medullary rays 

 from 1 to 3 cells in width and from 10 to 20 longitudinal rows in height ; 

 secretion cavities possess cellulose walls and contain a yellowish oily 

 secretion and are distributed throughout the inner and middle 

 bark; calcium oxalate in crystal fibers accompanying the bast fibers, 

 the crystals being in the form of rhombohedra; starch grains very 

 small, irregularly spheroidal and occurring in the parenchyma and 

 medullary ray cells. 



Constituents. About 2.4 per cent of alkaloids; (1) cusparine 

 (angustarine) which crystallizes in bitter needles and small tetra- 

 hedrons and forms white salts which are sparingly soluble in water; 



