SCAMMONY 557 



sharp-angular, colorless fragments, mostly somewhat rectangular 

 and with straight edges, varying from 0.030 to 0.300 mm. in length, 

 insoluble in water or solutions of hydrated chloral and very strongly 

 polarizing with a rich display of colors (fragments of crystals of 

 potassium bitartrate), numerous starch grains of Jalap, readily 

 distinguished without the use of a solution of iodin, usually single, 

 occasionally 2- to 3-compound, and varying from 0.003 to 0.035 mm. 

 in diameter; occasional fragments of laticiferous cells or vessels having 

 yellowish-brown walls, or tracheae with bordered pores, and rosette 

 aggregates of calcium oxalate from 0.010 to 0.035 mm. in diameter 

 occurring in Jalap. 



SCAMMONLE RADIX. Levant Scammony Root. The root of 

 Convolvulus Scammonia (Fam. Convolvulacese), a perennial twining 

 herb indigenous to the countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean. 

 On account of the difficulty in securing the pure resin of scammony, 

 the root of this plant is now largely used as the source of the resin, 

 the latter being the drastic purgative principle. 



Description. Nearly cylindrical, more or less fusiform, occa- 

 sionally in broken pieces; from 10 to 25 cm. in length and 1 to 4.5 

 cm. in thickness; externally grayish to reddish-brown; usually 

 distinctly twisted, deeply longitudinally furrowed, marked by 

 distinct root scars, otherwise nearly smooth except for the lenticels 

 and abraded cork, the upper portion terminated usually by a number 

 of short stem branches; hard and heavy; fracture tough, irregular 

 with projecting wood fibers; internally somewhat mottled, showing 

 yellowish, porous wood-wedges separated by whitish parenchyma 

 containing starch and resin; bark thin; odor slight, resembling that 

 of jalap; taste somewhat sweetish becoming slightly acrid. 



Inner Structure. A thin corky layer consisting of yellowish- 

 brown, thin-walled, lignified cork cells; primary cortex having 

 numerous stone cells occurring singly or in small groups, the walls 

 being moderately thick, porous and not strongly lignified; paren- 

 chyma with numerous starch grains and monoclinic prisms of cal- 

 cium oxalate; fibro vascular bundles numerous, circular or elliptical 

 with a well-developed xylem consisting of wide tracheae surrounded 

 with slightly lignified wood fibers; phloem prominent and in which 

 are included the large resinous laticiferous cells; the parenchyma 

 surrounding the bundles are more or less collapsed and contain either 

 starch grains or calcium oxalate crystals. 



Powder. Light grayish-brown; starch grains, from 0.003 to 

 0.018 mm. in diameter, mostty single, occasionally 2- to 4-com- 

 pound the grains showing occasionally a central cleft; calcium 



