CHIRATA 537 



yellowish-brown, wrinkled, with few rootlets; internally, bark whit- 

 ish, about 2 mm: in thickness, wood yellow, porous, radiate. Stem 

 cylindrical, flattened, quadrangular above, each angle with a decur- 

 rent wing, about 1 M. in length, 4 to 6 mm. in thickness, yellowish- 

 or purplish-brown, longitudinally wrinkled, internodes 3 to 8 cm. in 

 length; internally, bark yellowish-brown, very thin, easily separable, 

 wood yellowish, slightly porous, radiate, 0.5 to 1 mm. in thickness, 

 pith lemon-yellow, 2 to 3 mm. in diameter, easily separable from the 

 wood, sometimes wanting. Leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate, about 

 6 cm. in length, 2.5 cm. in diameter; summit acuminate; base some- 

 what amplexicaul; margin entire; upper and under surfaces brown- 

 ish-green, midrib prominent and with 3 to 7 parallel lateral veins. 

 Inflorescence a large panicle ; flowers numerous, regular; calyx about 

 4 mm. in length and with 4 lanceolate divisions; corolla yellow, rotate, 

 about 10 mm. in length, with 4 lanceolate lobes, each with a pair of 

 nectaries near the base; stamens 4, inserted at the base of the corolla 

 tube ; style slender, with two recurved stigmas ; ovary 1-locular, with 

 2 parietal placentas. Fruit a superior, ovoid, pointed, yellowish- 

 brown, bicarpellary, unilocular capsule. Seeds numerous, ana- 

 tropous, somewhat oblong, flattened, about 0.5 mm. in length, testa 

 reticulate; embryo small, straight, embedded in the endosperm. 

 Odor slight; taste extremely bitter. 



Powder. Dark yellow; trachese spiral, scalariform or with sim- 

 ple pores; sclerenchymatous fibers long, narrow, thick- walled, 

 more or less lignified, and with oblique pores; parenchymatous 

 cells of pith large, slightly lignified, and with numerous simple pores; 

 pollen grains oblong or ellipsoidal, very prickly, about 0.035 mm. in 

 diameter; collenchymatous cells with yellowish-brown resin and 

 tannin masses. 



Constituents. A bitter glucoside chiratin, which is precipitated 

 by tannin and yields on hydrolysis two bitter principles; ophelic 

 acid and chiratogenin, the latter being insoluble in water. Ophelic 

 acid is a brown hygroscopic substance which is readily soluble in 

 water and alcohol and on heating with Trommer's reagent causes the 

 deposition of yellowish cuprous oxide. The drug also contains resin, 

 tannin and 4 to 8 per cent of ash. 



Allied Plants. Other species of Sweertia, as well as other bitter 

 plants known in India as " chiretta," find their way into the market, 

 but are, however, easily distinguished from the true drug. 



Centaurium. HERBA CENTAURII MINORIS, CENTAUREA MINORE, 

 LESSER CENTAURY TOPS OR BITTER HERB. The over-ground plant 

 of Centaurium umbellatum (Erythraea Centaurium), an annual 



