PODOPHYLLUM MAY-APPLE. 81 



undulate or lobed. Fruit a succulent berry as large as a medium-sized 

 plum, smooth, yellowisli-green when ripe, of a mildly acid taste and, to 

 many people, an agreeable flavor. Seeds 12 or more, covering the large 

 lateral placenta, in several rows, each seed enclosed in a pulpy aril, the 

 whole forming a soft mass which fills the cavity of the fruit. 



An herbaceous perennial having a creeping, fibrous-rooted rhizome, 

 1 to 6 feet in length, from which arise in early spring both flowering and 

 flowerless stems about 1 foot in height. The flowerless stem is termi- 

 nated by a single, large, round, 7- to 9-lobed leaf, centrally peltate, the 

 lobes oblong, wedge-shaped, somewhat toothed or lobed at the supex. The 

 flowering stem bifurcates 6 to 8 inches above the ground, and each 

 branch bears at its summit, about 4 inches above the bifurcation, a single 

 one-sided leaf, the stalk fixed near the inner edge, lobed and toothed in a 

 manner similar to the leaves of the barren stems. At the bifurcation 

 is situated a single white flower about 2 inches in diameter, upon a short, 

 curved peduncle. 



The plant blossoms in May and ripens its fruit in August and Sep- 

 tember. 



Habitat. — This is a very common plant in rich, moist soil along the bor- 

 ders of woods and streams from Canada to Florida. Its beautiful foliage, 

 and still more beautiful flowers, render it an object of interest entirely 

 apart from its medicinal importance. It is, moreover, very hardy, and 

 flourishes along the fences of cultivated fields long after many of its more 

 tender natural associates have been exterminated. In view of its medic- 

 inal importance this is indeed gratifying, since it is a fact that many of 

 our valuable indigenous medicinal plants will soon be completely eradi- 

 cated by the progress of the very civilization which has recognized and 

 utilized their virtues. Their natiu-al habitat is the virgin soil of the un- 

 broken forest, and once this is turned by the plow they disappear for- 

 ever. 



Parts Used. — The rhizome and rootlets — United States Pharmacopoeia. 

 The leaves partake of the properties of the root, but are not employed. 

 The fruit, on the contrary, is entirely innocuous, and may be eaten, in any 

 reasonable quantity, with imj^unity. 



Constituents. — Podophyllum has a bitter, acrid taste, somewhat similar to 

 that of other plants of the order. Its active properties reside in a resinous 

 substance which is obtained by precipitation from a concentrated alco- 

 holic tincture by means of water acidulated with hydrochloric acid. This 

 has long been used and sold under the incorrect name podophyllin. It 

 consists of two resins, one soluble in both ether and alcohol, the other 

 in alcohol only, and is a mixture of the active and some of the inert 

 principles of the root. The ultimate composition of these resins is still 

 a matter of dispute among analysts. In addition to the resin, there 

 also exist in the root the ordinary vegetable principles, but, as demon- 



