RADIX KRAMERLE. 79 



salts of Dialic acid, yellow colouring matter, and sugar (7 per cent, 

 according to Rebling, 1855). The Virginic Acid said by Quevenne to 

 be contained in it, and the bitter substance Isolusiii mentioned by 

 Peschier, are doubtful bodies. 



Uses — Senega is prescribed as a stimulating expectorant and 

 diuretic, useful in pneumonia, asthma and rheumatism. It is much 

 esteemed in America. 



Adulteration — The drug is not liable to be wilfully falsified, but 

 through careless collecting there is occasionally a slight admixture of 

 other roots. One of these is American Ginseng (Panax quinquefoliuvi 

 L.) a spindle-shaped root which may be found here and there both in 

 senega and serpentaria. The rhizome of Cypripediura pubescens Willd. 

 has also been noticed ; it cannot be confounded with that of Polygala 

 Senega. The same may be said with regard to the rhizome of Cynan- 

 chwm VimeetoxicuTn R. Brown {Asclepias L., Vincetoxicum offi.cinale 

 Monch). 



RADIX KRAMERIiE. 



Radix Mataiihiw, JRhatanhice v. Rathanioi ; Rhatany oi^ Rkatania 

 Root, Pei^vian or Payta Rhatany ; F. Racine de Ratanhia ; G. 

 Ratanhiavmrzel} 



Botanical Origin — Kranierice triandra. Ruiz etPav., a small woody 

 shrub with an upright stem scarcely a foot high and thick decumbent 

 branches 2 to 3 feet long.^ It delights in the barren sandy declivities 

 of the Bolivian and Peruvian Cordilleras at 3000 to 8000 feet above the 

 sea-level, often occurring in great abundance and adorning the ground 

 with its red starlike flowers and silver-grey foliage. 



The root is gathered chiefly to the north, noi-th-east, and east of 

 Lima, as at Caxatambo, Huanuco, Tarma, Jauja, Huarochiri and Canta ; 

 occasionally on the high lands about lake Titicaca. It appears likewise 

 to be collected in the northern pai-t of Peru, since the drug is now 

 frequently shipped from Payta. 



History — Hipolito Ruiz,^ the Spanish botanist, observed in 1784 

 that the women of Huanuco and Lima were in the habit of using for 

 the preservation of their teeth a root which he recognized as that of 

 Krameria triandra, a plant discovered by himself in 1779. On his 

 return to Europe he obtained admission for this root into Spain in 1796, 

 whence it was gradually introduced into other countries of Europe. 



The first supplies which reached England formed part of the cargo 

 of a Spanish prize, and were sold in the London drug sales at the com- 

 mencement of the present century. Some fell into the hands of Dr. 

 Reece who recommended it to the profession.'* 



About 20 years ago there appeared in the European market some 



^ Ruiz and Pavon state that the root is ^ Mem. de la R. Acad. med. de Madrid, 



called at Huanuco ratanhia. The deriva- i. (1797) 349 — 366. 



tion of the word which is of the Quichua * Medicinal and CMrurgical Review, 



language is obscure. Lond., xiii. (1806) ccxlvi. ; also Reece, 



- Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Medicinal Diet, of Domest. Med., 1808. 

 Plants, part 30 (1876). 



