606 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



nearly colorless cells with distinct, crescent-shaped lamellae in the 

 radial walls and reticulate pores. The cells of the endosperm con- 

 tain considerable oil and more or less numerous aleurone grains, the 

 latter having 1 or 2 crystalloids and a number of globoids. 



Stramonium seeds contain about 25 per cent of fixed oil ; proteins ; 

 about 0.4 per cent of alkaloids, consisting principally of hyoscyamine, 

 together with a small proportion of atropine and scopolamine (hyos- 

 cine) ; ash 2 to 3 per cent. 



The Purple Stramonium (Datura Tatula) which is naturalized 

 in the United States from tropical America resembles D. Stramonium, 

 but the stems and flowers are purplish. The constituents in the two 

 plants are similar. Several other species are also used in medicine, 

 as Datura arborea indigenous to Chile and Peru, and cultivated for 

 its handsome flowers. The leaves contain 0.44 per cent of total alka- 

 loids. 



Adulterant. The drug from Spain and France has been entirely 

 substituted by the leaves of Xanthium macrocarpum (Fam. Com- 

 positse). The leaves are smaller yellowish-green and prickly hairy. 

 There are several types of hairs the one being lignified. (Gue'rin, 

 Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1918, 90, p. 885). 



Literature. Kraemer, Torrey Bot. Club, 1900, p. 37; Miller 

 and Meader, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1912, p. 446. 



CAPSICUM. Cayenne or Chilli Pepper. The dried ripe fruit of 

 one or more species of Capsicum, probably Capsicum fastigiatum, 

 Capsicum frutescens, and Capsicum minimum (Fam. Solanaceae), 

 shrubs indigenous to tropical America, and cultivated in tropical 

 Africa, India, America, and Japan. There are 2 principal varieties, 

 African and Japanese. The AFRICAN CAYENNE or chillies come 

 chiefly from the ports of Mombasa and Zanzibar, British East 

 Africa, and are usually designated in the trade by the name of the 

 port from which shipped. These fruits are usually imported in the 

 whole condition and are ground for use. The JAPANESE CHILLIES 

 come from the port of Kobe, Japan, and are used chiefly in the 

 unground condition for the preparation of the so-called " chilli 

 sauce." 



Description. Oblong, conical, laterally compressed; the African 

 cayenne from 10 to 15 mm. in length and the Japanese from 15 to 44 

 mm. in length, with an inconspicuous 5-toothed calyx and sometimes 

 a slender, straight pedicel about 15 mm. in length ; externally brown- 

 ish-red (African cayenne) or bright red (Japanese cayenne), glabrous, 

 shiny, somewhat translucent, more or less shriveled; summit acute, 

 base somewhat rounded; pericarp coriaceous, thin; inner surface 



