472 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



chymatous fibers; tracheae with wide lumina, the walls marked 

 by simple and occasionally bordered pores; sclerenchymatous fibers 

 with thick, finely lamellated walls, being in some portions strongly 

 lignified and often accompanied by crystal fibers, having octahedra 

 of calcium oxalate from 0.010 to 0.020 mm. in length; calcium oxalate 

 also occurs in large spheroidal cells of the mesophyll, producing trans- 

 parent dots in the leaves, the crystals varying from 0.015 to 0.040 

 mm. in diameter; stomata broadly elliptical and having the two 

 neighboring cells parallel to the pore. 



In the stem there is developed an outer layer of thin-walled 

 epidermal cells; a strata of six or eight rows of thin-walled cells 

 having a reddish-brown content; primary cortex of six to ten rows 

 of tangentially elongated narrow cells filled with a brownish-black 

 granular content, containing tannin; inner cortex composed of 

 three or more thick, continuous rings of bast fibers, separated by uni- 

 seriate medullary rays, the cells having a blackish-brown tannin- 

 content resembling that in the parenchyma cells of the primary 

 cortex; bast fibers with very thick, lignified walls and possessing 

 very small lumina; leptome in narrow, tangential strands separating 

 the bast fibers; wood wedges having a few large tracheae with very 

 wide lumina, and numerous thick-walled wood fibers, separated by 

 uniseriate medullary rays having very small and narrow cells. 



Constituents. Combretum has not been very carefully inves- 

 tigated. It contains a small quantity of resin and tannic acid and 

 apparently does not contain either an alkaloid or a glucoside. At 

 one time it was thought that it might contain caffeine and to this 

 were ascribed its properties, but this has not been confirmed. 



Uses. The twigs and leaves are cut into pieces about 1 inch in 

 length, the twigs separated from the leaves. The leaves are then 

 roasted, mixed again with the twigs and a decoction made by boiling 

 about 8 or 10 ounces of the mixture in 4 gallons of water, for several 

 hours. The decoction is then strained and used before decomposi- 

 tion takes place. The opium habitue" begins by mixing his ordinary 

 dose of opium with 1 quart of the decoction. Three ounces of the 

 mixture is taken at the same intervals to which he was accustomed 

 to smoke the opium. The quantity of opium is gradually reduced 

 and finally he uses only the decoction of Combretum. It is stated 

 that almost any inert substitute can be used with equal beneficial 

 results. 



Literature. Holmes, Pharm. Jour. (78), p. 77; Stanislaus and 

 Wood, Jour. A. Ph. A., 1912, p. 34. 



