36 BERBERIDEiE. 



considerable notice in India, and though its efficacy 'per se^ seemed 

 questionable, it was administered with benefit as a tonic and febrifuge.^ 

 But the rusot of the natives being often badly prepared or adulterated, 

 the bark of the root has of late been used in its place, and in consequence 

 of its acknowledged efficacy has been admitted to the Pharniacopma 

 of India. 



Description. — In B. asiatica (the only species we have examined) 

 the roots which are thick and woody, and internally of a bright yellow, 

 are covered with a thin, brittle bark. The bark has a light-brown 

 corky layer, beneath which it appears of a darker and greenish-yellow 

 hue, and composed of coarse fibres running longitudinall3^ The inner 

 surface has a glistening appearance by reason of fine longitudinal 

 striae. The bark is inodorous and very bitter. 



Chemical Composition. — Solly ^ pointed out in 184.3 that the root- 

 bark of the Ceylon barberry [B. aristata] contains the same yellow 

 colouring matter as the barberry of Europe. L. W. Stewart * extracted 

 Berberine in abundance from the barberry of the Nilkhiri Hills and 

 Northern India, and presented specimens of it to one of us in 18(35. 



The root-bark of Berber is vulgaris L. was found by Polex (1836) to 

 contain another alkaloid named Oxyacanthine, which forms with acids 

 colourless cry stall izable salts of bitter taste.* 



Uses. — The root-bark of the Indian barberries administered as a 

 tincture has been found extremely useful in India in the treatment of 

 fevers of all types. It has also been given with advantage in diarrhoea 

 and dyspepsia, and as ^ tonic for general debility. In the collection of 

 the Chinese customs at Paris, in 1878, the root-barks of Berberis 

 Lycium and B. chinensis, from the province of Shen-si, were likewise 

 exhibited (No. 1,823) as a tonic. 



RHIZOMA PODOPHYLLI. 



Radix podophylli; PodophylluTn Boot. 



Botanical Origin — Podophyllum peltatum L., a perennial herb 

 growing in moist shady situations throughout the eastern side of the 

 North American continent from Hudson's Bay to New Orleans and 

 Florida. 



The stem about a foot high, bears a large, solitary, white flower, 

 rising from between two leaves of the size of the hand composed of 

 5 to 7 wedge-shaped divisions, somewhat lobed and toothed at the 

 apex. The yellowish pulpy fruit of the size of a pigeon's egg is 

 slightly acid and is sometimes eaten under the name of May Apple. 

 The leaves partake of the active properties of the root. 



History — The virtues of the rhizome as an anthelminthic and emetic 



names for lycium. given by Ibn Baytar in ^ O'Shaughnessy, Bengal Dispematory 



the 1.3th century are precisely those under (1842) 203—205. 



which rmot is met with in the Indian * Journ. of R. Asiat. Snc. vii. (1843) 74. 



bazaars at the present day. * Pharm. Journ. vii. (1866) 303. 



^ The natives apply it in combination « Gmelin, Ckemlitri/, xvii. (1866) 197. 



with alum and opium. 



