CARAWAY 481 



powder in a solution of potassium or sodium hydrate. The following 

 micro-chemical tests may be , useful in determining the presence of 

 coniine, which occurs in the parenchyma and epidermal cells of the 

 fruit: Ammonium vanadinate and sulphuric acid produce a blue 

 color; iodin solution gives a reddish-brown color; and picric acid 

 gives a granular precipitate. 



Constituents. Volatile oil (1 to 3 per cent) consisting of about 80 

 to 90 per cent of anethol (p-propenylanisol), and methyl-chavicol 

 and terpenes; fixed oil 3 to 4 per cent; calcium oxalate; ash about 

 7 per cent. . 



Russian aniseed is used chiefly for the manufacture of the 

 volatile oil. 



Allied Drugs. Illicum or star-anise yields an oil closely resembling 

 that of anise. It contains 80 to 90 per cent of anethol, d-piuene, 

 d-phellandrene, ethyl ether of hydroquinone and possibly safrol 

 (seep. 299). 



Adulterants. Italian aniseed is sometimes contaminated with 

 conium, and the fruits of some of the grasses and rushes as well. 



Pimpernel (or Pimpinella), the roots of Pimpinella Saxifraga and 

 P. magna, is used like anise. It occurs -in fusiform pieces about 8 

 to 10 cm. in length. 4 to 10 mm. in diameter, externally yellowish- 

 brown, fracture short, internally whitish, with numerous yellowish 

 resin canals; the taste is acrid, pungent and aromatic. The drug 

 contains a volatile oil ; an acrid resin ; a tasteless crystalline principle, 

 pimpinellin; about 8 per cent of sugar; starch; and tannin. 



Standard of Purity. Anise, aniseed, is the dried fruit of Pim- 

 pinella anisum L. It contains not more than 9 per cent of total ash, 

 nor more than 1 T 5 ^ per cent of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid. 

 (U. S. Dept. Agric.) 



CARUM. Caraway. The fruit of Carum Carvi (Fam. Umbelli- 

 ferae), a biennial herb indigenous to Europe and Asia, and cultivated 

 in England, Germany, Holland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the 

 United States, being naturalized in the northern United States and 

 parts of Canada. The plants are cut when the fruits are ripe, the 

 latter being separated by threshing. The fruits from plants grown 

 in Holland are preferred. 



Description. Mericarps usually separated; cremocarp oblong, 

 laterally compressed, 4 to 6 mm. in length, 2 to 3 mm. in diameter, 

 externally dark brown, surmounted by a small, somewhat globular 

 stylopodium and 5 minute calyx teeth; primary ribs 10 in number, 

 filiform, yellowish, between each of which are slight, secondary ribs; 

 internally dark brown, mericarps curved, narrowed at both ends, 



