LEPTANDRA 629 



Circ., 1914, p. 517 and p. 607; Hatcher, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1918, 

 90, p. 24; Newcomb and Rogers, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1918, 90 

 p. 580. 



LEPTANDRA. Culver's Root. The dried rhizome and roots of 

 Leptandra virginica (Fam. Scrophulariacese), a perennial herb 

 growing in meadows and moist woods of the eastern and central 

 United States and Canada. The rhizome and roots are collected 

 in autumn from plants of the second year's growth. When fresh the 

 drug has an almond-like odor and a bitter, nauseous taste, which it 

 loses in a measure on drying, and may be kept indefinitely. 



Description. Rhizome horizontal, nearly cylindrical, somewhat 

 branched, 4 to 10 cm. in length, 3 to 8 mm. in diameter; externally 

 light brown to brownish-red; annulate from circular scars of bud- 

 scales, upper surface with conical buds, short stem-remnants or stem- 

 scars, the under and side portions with numerous roots or root-scars; 

 fracture tough; internally, bark dark brown, 0.3 to 1 mm. in thick- 

 ness, wood about 0.5 to 1.5 mm. in thickness, pith light brown or 

 brownish-black; odor slight; taste bitter, slightly acrid. 



Roots from 1 to 4 cm. in length, 0.5 to 1 mm. in diameter, exter- 

 nally smooth; longitudinally wrinkled fracture short; internally, 

 bark brownish-black, wood light brown. 



Inner Structure. (Fig. 278.) Rhizome consisting of an epidermal 

 layer having thin walls, which is replaced in older rhizomes by the 

 products of the phellogen; cortex of starch-bearing parenchyma; a 

 pericycle having a closed ring of several rows of stereids or elongated 

 sclerenchymatous fibers; fibro vascular bundles collateral; radiate 

 strands of phloem consisting of leptome and numerous thin-walled 

 parenchyma; xylem consisting of wedges of thick-walled wood fibers 

 and a few porous tracheae; medullary rays 1 cell in width; primary 

 and secondary hadrome separated by a stratum of thin-walled paren- 

 chyma, the cells of which do not become lignified. 



Roots consisting of epidermal cells having thick, lamellated 

 outer walls; a hypodermis or layer of thin- walled, non-contractile 

 cells; cortex of parenchymatous cells, the outer layers being more 

 or less thick-walled; endodermis of thin-walled cells showing Cas- 

 paryan spots on the radial walls; pericambium of a single layer; 

 stele in lateral roots diarch, having 2 isolated rays of hadrome, and 

 in thicker roots pentarch, having numerous tracheids -and thick- 

 walled libriform. 



Stems resemble the rhizome, but are characterized by the pres- 

 ence of long, uniseriate, non-glandular hairs, and nearly sessile 

 glandular hairs, the latter having a 4-celled summit. 



