386 POWDERED VEGETABLE DRUGS 



119. (Fig. 120.) IRIS FLORENTINA. Florentine Orris. 



Tinct., coarse powder. Fine powder. 



Orris root, white flag, E. Veilchenwurzel, G. Iris de Florence, Fr. 



The peeled rhizomes of Iris florentina L., Iridaceae. 



Very light, brownish, almost cream color. 



Fragrant, recalling violets. 



Bitterish, pungent. 



Parenchyma cells large, thick-walled, loosely united, filled with 

 rather large, simple, oval, irregularly pear-shaped starch granules, 

 narrowed end mostly truncate, hili and stratification indistinct. Some 

 parenchyma cells with large, long, rod-shaped prismatic crj^stals of 

 calcium oxalate. Typically reticulate ducts. No cork tissue. 



Ash 1.5 per cent. 



Adulterated with Iris pallida, I. germanica, I. pseudacorus, and 

 /. foetidissima. The first two are preferred in Germany and Austria. 

 Histologically they resemble Florentine orris. 



