460 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



Constituents. An acrid resin known as mezerein; a crystalline, 

 bitter glucoside daphnin (isomeric with sesculin) occurring in greatest 

 amount in the stem bark during the flowering and fruiting period; 

 volatile and fixed oils; malic acid; several sugars; and starch. 



Allied Drugs. The berry-like fruits of Daphne Mezereum and 

 D. Gnidium are sub-globular, dark brown or brownish-black, about 

 5 mm. in diameter, each with a black seed. The fruits are acrid and 

 pungent and contain 0.38 per cent of coccogonin, a principle which 

 on sublimation gives off an odor of coumarin; 0.22 per cent of an 

 acrid resin; and 31 per cent of a fixed oil, which absorbs oxygen on 

 exposure to air and is in the nature of a drying oil. 



The barks of a number of other plants of this family are used 

 like that of Mezereum, as Daphnopsis Schwartzii of the West Indies, 

 Lasiosiphon eriocephalus of India and Ceylon, and various species 

 of Stellera, Struthiola and Thymelsea. 



LASIOSIPHON MEfssNERfANus (Fam. Thymelseacese), a shrub 

 indigenous to South Africa, where the root is stated to be used as 

 a cure for snake-bite. The chief constituent of the root is an amor- 

 phous, acrid resin, from which only a phvtosterol, C27H4eO, and a 

 mixture of fatty acids could be obtained. Power, Amer. Jour. 

 Pharm., 1911, p. 49. 



PUNICACEJE, OF POMEGRANATE FAMILY 



A small family represented by a single genus, Punica, and of 

 which there are two species. By some authors the plants are included 

 with the Lythraceae with which it has a number of morphological 

 points in common. In the pericycle there are isolated groups of bast 

 fibers, beneath which the cork develops. In the primary cortex 

 occur large stone cells, either single or in small groups. The fibro- 

 vascular bundles are bi-collateral ; bast fibers are wanting in the cor- 

 tex; the tracheae and wood fibers possess simple pores; and calcium 

 oxalate is secreted in the form of rosette aggregates. 



GRANATUM. Pomegranate Bark. The dried bark of the root 

 and stem of Punica Granatum (Fam. Punicacese), a shrub indigenous 

 to northwestern India, and cultivated in the sub-tropical regions 

 throughout the world. The bark of the root is preferred to that of 

 the stem, and by some the drug obtained from wild plants is also 

 preferred. The bark deteriorates with age and should not be used 

 after it is a year or two old. 



STEM BARK. Usually in transversely curved pieces, occasionally 

 in single quills, 2 to 8 cm. in length, 5 to 20 mm. in diameter, bark 



