532 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



of large thick-walled parenchyma; starch grains resembling those in 

 Spigelia. The drug apparently contains a camphoraceous body 

 which forms acicular crystals. 



Phlox Carolina. It has been supposed that among the other 

 adulterants of Spigelia some of the commercial drug is derived from 

 Phlox Carolina or Carolina pink. The latter is a perennial herb, 

 belonging to the Polemoniaceae, and growing in the woods of the 

 southern United States. The rhizome is upright and is merely an 

 extension of the over-ground stem (Fig. 228), comprising from 2 to 4 

 nodes. From each of the nodes arise 2 to 4 comparatively thick roots 

 from 1 to 2 cm. in length, unbranched and producing a large number 

 of fine rootlets, especially near the ends. 



The rhizome is very woody, the xylem occupying one-half of the 

 radius of the section. The fibrovascular bundles are of the collateral 

 type (Fig. 228) and there is a complete absence of intraxylary phloem, 

 which is present in both Spigelia and Ruellia. The nature of the 

 constituents in Phlox Carolina is uncertain, as in the results published 

 there is a question as to the authenticity of the material employed 

 by the several investigators. 



Literature. Greenish, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1891, p. 226; Holm, 

 Ibid., 1906, p. 553; Stockberger, Pharm. Review, 1907; p. 2, Kraemer, 

 Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1910, p. 470. 



GENTIANACE^I, OR GENTIAN FAMILY 



A family of about 600 species of herbs, which are most abundant 

 in temperate regions. The leaves are simple and usually opposite; 

 the flowers are regular, and borne in terminal or axillary cymes; and 

 the fruit is a capsule. The plants of this family invariably contain 

 bitter principles. The primary cortex not infrequently contains 

 collenchyma. A ring of sclerenchymatous tissues may or may not 

 develop in the pericycle. Strands of interxylary phloem occur in 

 Gentiana, Erythrsea and other genera. The walls of the tracheae 

 possess simple pores only. The wood fibers are marked usually by 

 bordered pores. The medullary rays are very narrow and sometimes 

 entirely wanting. The non-glandular hairs are unicellular. In the 

 parenchyma cells throughout Menyanthes occur intercellular 

 branching hairs, having thick walls, which project into the inter- 

 cellular spaces. At the margins of the leaves of Menyanthes there 

 also occur hydathodes, or water storing cells. Calcium oxalate 

 crystals are wanting. 



