MARSHMALLOW ROOT 427 



The berries also contain a bitter principle, a violet anthocyanin, 

 chlorophyll, an amorphous sugar, pectin, gum, and yield from 3 to 

 5 per cent of ash. 



Allied Plants. The fruits of Rhamnus cathartica, as well as of 

 R. infectoria (known as French berries) and of R. saxatilis (called 

 Persian berries) have been used as yellow dyes. The fruits of several 

 species growing in China yield a green indigo. 



MALVACEAE, OR MALLOW FAMILY 



A family of about 800 species, widely distributed. The plants 

 are mostly herbs, with simple leaves, regular flowers (having the 

 stamens united into a column, which encloses the styles) and a 

 capsular fruit. They are characterized by the presence of several 

 types of mucilage secretory organs. (A), epidermal cells in which 

 the walls become metamorphosed to mucilage; (B), parenchyma 

 cells in the axis and leaves in which the walls undergo a mucilaginous 

 modification; (C), lysigenous mucilaginous cavities which are some- 

 times differentiated as canals and occur in both the pith and cortex. 

 In the roots of Althaea the walls of the parenchyma cells of the vas- 

 cular bundles are likewise modified to mucilage. Secretory cavities 

 of schizogenous origin and containing a yellowish or yellowish-brown 

 amorphous substance, are found in Gossypium and some other genera. 

 The phloem portion of the vascular bundles is of a characteristic 

 structure in that the wedges of phloem, in cross-section are cone- 

 shaped, having the broad end near the cambium and conversely the 

 broadest portion of the medullary ray wedges near the primary cortex. 

 The phloem is likewise stratified into alternate strands of leptome and 

 tangentially elongated groups of bast fibers (Fig. 189) . The tracheae 

 and wood fibers usually possess either simple or bordered pores, 

 occasionally the tracheae have spiral thickenings. Calcium oxalate is 

 secreted in the form of solitary crystals or rosette aggregates. The 

 non-glandular hairs are usually stellate, but they may be of a number 

 of other forms. The glandular hairs show a number of modifications 

 in the different genera. 



ALTHAEA. Althaea Radix, Althaea Root, Marshmallow Root, 

 Eibischwurzel. The dried root of Althaea officinalis (Fam. Malvaceae) 

 a perennial herb native of central and southern Europe, and natural- 

 ized in the United States, occurring in the marshes from Massachu- 

 setts to Pennsylvania. The commercial supply is obtained from 

 plants cultivated in Germany, France and Holland. The roots are 

 collected from plants of the second year's growth, and the periderm 



