486 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



Powder. Grayish-green or yellowish-brown; calcium oxalate 

 crystals in rosette aggregates, 0.001 to 0.002 mm. in diameter, those 

 in aleurone grains about 0.005 mm. in diameter; parenchyma with 

 chloroplastids and starch grains, 0.002 to 0.004 mm. in diameter; 

 sclerenchymatous fibers long, thin-walled, with numerous simple 

 oblique pores; intermediate fibers with reticulated walls; cells of 

 pericarp nearly isodiametric, yellowish, irregularly thickened, some- 

 what collenchymatous; oil globules numerous. 



Constituents. The most important constituent is the liquid 

 alkaloid coniine (hexa-hydropropyl pyridine), which exists to the 

 extent of 0.5 to .3 per cent; the drug also contains conydrine (oxy- 

 coniine), which crystallizes in plates, is dextro-rotatory and very 

 poisonous; pseudoconydrine (an isomer of conydrine), which crys- 

 tallizes in needles; 7-coniceine, which is a colorless, oily alkaloid 

 with a disagreeable odor, and 18 times more poisonous even than 

 coniine; volatile oil, fixed oil, starch, calcium oxalate, and yields 

 about 6 per cent of ash. 



Coniine is naturally combined in the drug with organic acids, 

 from which it is liberated on treatment with alkalies, and may be 

 readily extracted from the mixture by means of ether. When 

 pure, coniine is a colorless, nearly odorless, liquid and forms a number 

 of crystalline salts. On the addition of concentrated sulphuric acid 

 to coniine the latter is colored blood red and afterwards green. The 

 disagreeable odor in commercial coniine, as well as in conium, is due to 

 the alkaloid coniceine. 



Allied Drugs. The entire fresh plant of Conium maculatum is 

 used in the preparation of Succus Conii. It probably contains the 

 same constituents as the fruit, but in smaller amounts. The root 

 contains 0.018 to 0.047 per cent of total alkaloids; the stems 0.064 

 per cent; the leaves 0.187 per cent and the flowers and flower stalks 

 0.236 per cent. 



Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) is a stout, perennial herb 

 growing in wet meadows throughout the United States and Canada. 

 The stems are streaked with purple, the leaves are pinnately com- 

 pound, the leaflets being oblong-lanceolate and coarsely serrate; 

 the flowers are white, occurring in large compound umbles. The 

 fruit is ovoid, with prominent ribs and six conspicuous vittse. The 

 rhizome is large and fleshy and sometimes mistaken for parsnip. 

 The fruits contain a volatile alkaloid, cicutine, which is said to 

 resemble coniine, and about 1 per cent of a volatile oil resembling 

 oil of cumin. The rhizome, stems and leaves contain a resinous 

 substance, cicutoxin, which is said to be quite poisonous. 



