112 RUTACE^. 



with bark yV to xV of ^^ i^ich in thickness. The bark has a soft, dull 

 yellowish, suberous coat, wrinkled longitudinally, beneath which is a 

 very thin layer of a bright yellow colour, and still lower and constitu- 

 ting two-thirds or more of the whole, is the firm, brown middle cortical 

 layer and liber, which is the part chiefly possessing the characteristic 

 pungency and bitterness of the drug. The yellow corky coat is how- 

 ever not devoid of bitterness. The wood is hard, of a pale yellow, and 

 without taste and smell. The pores of the wood, which are rather 

 large, are arranged in concentric order and traversed by numerous 

 narrow medullary rays. 



In a letter which Frappier^ wrote to Guibourt from the island of 

 Reunion where Toddalia aculeata is very common, he states that the 

 roots of the plant are of enormous length (loTigueur incroyable) and 

 rather difficult to get out of the basaltic rock into the fissures of 

 which they penetrate. Mr. J. Home of the Botanical Garden, 

 Mauritius, has sent us a specimen of the root of this plant, the bark 

 of which is of a dusky brown, with the suberous layer but little 

 developed. 



Microscopic Structure — We have examined the root for 

 which we are indebted to Dr. Bidie, and may state that its cortical 

 tissue is remarkable by the number of large cells filled with resin and 

 essential oil ; they are scattered through the whole tissue, the cork 

 excepted. The parenchymatous cells are loaded with small starch 

 granules or with crystals of oxalate of calcium. The vessels of younger 

 roots abound in yellow resin. 



Chemical Composition — None of the constituents of the Toddalia 

 root of India have yet been satisfactorily examined. The bark con- 

 tains an essential oil, which would be better extracted from fresh than 

 from dry material. The tissue of the bark is but little coloured by 

 salts of iron. In the aqueous infusion, tannic acid produces an abun- 

 dant precipitate, probably of an indifferent bitter principle rather than 

 of an alkaloid. We have been unable to detect the presence in the 

 bark of berberine. 



Lopez root was examined in Wittstein's laboratory by Schnitzer ■ 

 who found that the bark contains in addition to the usual substances a 

 large proportion of resin, — a mixture probably of two or three different 

 bodies. The essential oil afforded by the bark had an odour resembling 

 cinnamon and melissa. 



Uses — The drug has been introduced into the Phamiacopceia of 

 India chiefly upon the recommendation of Dr. Bidie of Madras, who 

 considers it of great value as a stimulating tonic. The bark rasped or 

 shaved from the woody root is the only part that should be used. 



* JouiTi. de Phar. v. (1867) 403. mined was the Lopez root sold at that 



^ Wittstein's Vierteljahresschri/t fiir period at Amsterdam. 

 prakt. Pharm. xi. (1862) i. — The drug exa- 



