576 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



Literature. Guerin, Kept. Pharm., 1919, 30, p. 49. 



Marjoram. HERBA MAJORAN^E, SWEET OR GARDEN MARJORAM. 



The leaves and flowering tops of Origanum Majorana (Majorana 



hortensis), Fam. Labiatae, an annual herb indigenous to southern 



Europe, northern Africa and western Asia and extensively cultivated 



as a pot or seasoning herb. 



Description. Leaves ovate or broadly elliptical, petiolate; from 

 1 to 4 cm. in length and 0.6 to 20 mm. in width; summit acute or 

 obtuse; base acute, unequal; margin entire or somewhat repand 

 toothed; both surfaces grayish-green, soft-downy, and glandular 

 hairy. Flowers purplish-red, in cylindrical or ellipsoidal spikes, 

 having imbricated bracts of the same color as the flowers. Stems 

 purplish-red, obscurely or distinctly quadrangular, purplish-brown, 

 finely longitudinally striated and hairy; odor distinct; taste aromatic 

 and somewhat pungent. 



Inner Structure. (Fig. 241.) Non-glandular hairs, uniseriate, 

 composed of 2 to 7 cells, the lower being broad, the upper narrow 

 and frequently curved, the walls being thick, strongly papillose. 

 Glandular hairs of 2 kinds: (a), having a 2- to 4-celled stalk and a 

 1- to 2-celled head; (6), with a 1-celled stalk and an 8- to 12-celled 

 glandular head, the latter containing a light yellowish oily content 

 and being about 0.015 mm. in diameter. Epidermal cells of the 

 upper surface somewhat polygonal, having unequal porous 

 walls. Epidermal cells of lower surface having undulate walls 

 with unequal porous thickenings, and broadly elliptical stomata, 

 the latter having the two subsidiary cells transverse to the 

 pore. 



Standard of Purity. Marjoram is the dried leaves, with or with- 

 out a small proportion of the flowering tops of the Majorana hor- 

 tensis Moensch. (U. S. Dept. Agric.) 



Adulterations. The leaves of Tanner's sumac, Coriaria myrti- 

 folia (Fam. Coriariacese) have been substituted. These are readily 

 distinguished (see Fig. 241). 



Constituents. From 0.7 to 0.9 per cent of a greenish or yellowish- 

 green volatile oil, consisting of about 85 per cent of a mixture of 

 borneol and camphor. Marjoram also contains a tannin, which is 

 colored green with ferric salts; and ash from 12 to 19 per cent, of 

 which from 2 to 2.5 per cent consists of sand. 



Literature. Nestler, Arch. Chem. Mikros., 1913, Heft 1 and 2; 

 Hanausek and Winton, Microscopy of Technical Products, 1907, 

 p. 300; Kraemer, Pacific Pharm., 1917, 11, p. 13; Beringer, Amer. 

 Jour. Pharm., 1918, 90, p. 555; Collin, Ibid., p. 823. 



