STRAMONIUM 603 



Duboisia Leichardtii also contains a large amount of alkaloids, 

 resembling those of Duboisia. Pituri or Australian tobacco is the 

 leaf of Duboisia Hopwoodii, and is used in Australia like tobacco. 

 It contains 2.5 per cent of a liquid alkaloid piturine, which has a 

 pungent odor and taste, and closely resembles ni'cotine. 



Literature. Miller, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1913, p. 295; Carr, 

 Ibid., 1913, p. 487; Newcomb, Ibid., 1914, p. 531, and 1915, p. 1; 

 The Chemistry of the Duboisias, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1918, 90, 

 p. 34; Mueller, Jour. A. Ph. A, 1918, 7, p. 127; Koch, Amer. Jour. 

 Pharm., 1919, 91, p. 68. 



STRAMONIUM. Stramonium Leaves. The leaves and flowering 

 tops of Datura Stramonium (Fam. Solanacese), commonly known 

 as Jimson Weed or Jamestown Weed, an annual herb (Figs. 242 and 

 264), probably indigenous to the region of the Caspian Sea, natural- 

 ized in waste places in Europe and North America, and cultivated in 

 France, Germany and Hungary. The leaves and tops are collected 

 when the plant is in flower, and are carefully dried and preserved, 

 the chief portion of the commercial supply being obtained from 

 cultivated plants. 



Description. Usually in irregular, matted fragments. Stem 

 cylindrical, flattened, longitudinally furrowed and wrinkled, 2 to 

 5 mm. in diameter; internodes 1.5 to 2 cm. in length. Leaves ovate 

 (Fig. 242), 6 to 20 cm. in length, 2 to 12 cm. in breadth; summit 

 acuminate; base unequal, one side extending 3 to 12 mm. below the 

 other; margin irregularly sinuate-lobed, the lobes acute; upper 

 surface dark green, nearly glabrous, under surface yellowish-green, 

 glabrous, slightly pubescent on the veins, midrib dark brown, veins 

 of the first order diverging from it at an angle of 45 to 65, dividing 

 near the margin and the main branches passing into the lobes; petiole 

 dark brown, 0.5 to 4.5 cm. long, circular in cross-section; texture 

 fragile. Flowers solitary, pedicel 2 to 10 mm. in length, calyx 5- 

 toothed, about 4 cm. in length, separating transversely near the base 

 at maturity, the upper part falling away; corolla funnel-shaped, 

 yellowish- or purplish-white, about 8 cm. in length, limb plaited, 

 5-lobed; stamens five, included, inserted near the middle of the 

 corolla tube; stigma slightly 2-k>bed. The immature fruit (Fig. 

 242) somewhat conical, 4-valved. Seeds numerous; odor disa- 

 greeable; taste unpleasant, nauseous. 



INNER STRUCTURE. See Fig. 264. 



Powder. (Fig. 265.) Brownish-green or dark green; calcium 

 oxalate usually in rosette aggregates, from 0.010 to 0.020 mm. in 

 diameter, occasionally in prisms, and in the cells near the bi T collateral 



