474 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



Description. Rhizome oblique, sub-cylindrical, somewhat flat- 

 tened and more or less branched and tortuous; from 5 to 15 cm. in 

 length and 3 to 7 cm. in thickness; externally light brown, distinctly 

 annulate, having on the upper surface numerous stem-scars from 2 to 3 

 cm. in width, the older scars being deeply concave, and on the lower 

 and lateral portions numerous, somewhat fleshy roots; the latter 

 being terete, from 4 to 7 cm. in length, from 0.5 to 2.5 cm. in thick- 

 ness, having a light- or purplish-brown color, marked by longitudinal 

 furrows and occasional transverse ridges and scaly cork; fracture 

 of cortex short and of the wood short-fibrous; inner surface whitish, 

 spongy, bark thick with numerous oil secretion canals, wood dis- 

 tinctly radiate; odor aromatic; taste pungent and slightly acrid. 



Powder. Light brown; starch grains numerous, single or 2- 

 to 4-compound, the individual grains spheroidal or somewhat poly- 

 hedral, from 0.003 to 0.020 mm. in diameter; calcium oxalate in 

 rosette aggregates from 0.025 to 0.075 mm. in diameter; tracheae 

 with simple pores or scalariform thickenings, occasionally bordered 

 pores; sclerenchymatous fibers of pericycle with thick, strongly 

 lignified, porous walls. 



ARALIA NUDICAULIS. American Wild or Virginian Sarsaparilla. 

 The rhizome of Aralia nudicaulis (Fam. Araliaceae), a nearly 

 prostrate perennial herb, producing a very long rootstock, a solitary 

 pinately 3- to 5-foliate leaf and a naked scape with 2 to 7 umbels of 

 green flowers. The plant is common in moist woodlands of the 

 eastern United States and Canada.' 



Description. The rhizome attains a length of many meters and 

 is from 5 to 15 mm. in thickness; externally grayish-brown, longitudi- 

 nally wrinkled and somewhat annulate; fracture short; internally 

 bark light brown, with numerous large oil secretion canals, wood 

 yellowish, distinctly radiate, pith spongy, whitish; odor and taste 

 aromatic. 



INNER STRUCTURE. See Fig. 204. 



Powder. Light brown; rosette aggregates 01 calcium oxalate 

 from 0.035 to 0.070 mm. in diameter; starch grains numerous, 

 spheroidal, from 0.005 to 0.020 mm. in diameter; tracheae with sca- 

 larifomi thickenings, also simple and bordered pores; wood fibers 

 long, with slightly thickened walls and simple pores; large oil secre- 

 tion canals, and brown cork cells. 



Constituents. The rhizome contains about 0.33 per cent of a 

 volatile oil, which is bitter and pungent; 3 per cent of resin; tannin, 

 starch and rosette aggregates of calcium oxalate. 

 v Literature. Alpers and Murray, Proc. A. Ph. A., 1897, p. 183. 



