FOLIA PILOCARPI. 113 



FOLIA PILOCARPI. 



Folia Jaborandi. 



Botanical Origin — Pilocarjms pennatifolms^ Lemaire, a slightly 

 branched shrub, attaining about 10 feet in height. It is distributed 

 through the eastern provinces of Brazil. 



Pilocarpus Selloanus^ Engler, occurring in Southern Brazil and Para- 

 guay, appears to be not considerably different from P. jjennatifolius. 



History — Piso^ recommended an infusion made with Ipecacuanha 

 and Jaborandi. Plumier,* who also mentioned this, figured under the 

 name of Jaborandi two plants of the order Piperaceae. The introduc- 

 tion of the leaves of Pilocarpus p)ennatifolius into medical use is due to 

 Dr. Coutinho of Pernambuco, 1874. The plant has been cultivated in 

 European greenhouses since about the year 1847 ; we have repeatedly 

 seen it flowering at Strassburg. Baillon in 1875 showed the fragmente 

 of Jaborandi as supplied by Coutinho to belong to P. p)€nnatifoliu8, 

 which had been described in 1852 by Lemaire. Holmes (1875) in 

 examining the drug as imported from Pernambuco came to the same 

 conclusion. 



Description — The leaves of the species under examination are long- 

 stalked, imparipennate, the opposite leaflets in 2 to 5, in cultivated 

 plants most commonly in 2 pairs, the terminal one longer stalked, while 

 the others are provided with a petiole attaining 1| inch in length or 

 remaining much shorter. The whole leaf is frequently 1|^ feet long, 

 the leaflets being often as much as 5 inches long by 2 inches wide. 

 The latter are entire oblong, tapering or rounded at the base, tapering 

 or obtuse or even emarginate at the apex. The leaflets are coria- 

 ceous, with a slightly revolute margin and a prominent midrib 

 below. In transmitted light they show very numerous pellucid oil 

 glands. 



The taste of the leaves of Pilocarpus is at first bitterish and 

 aromatic ; they subsequently produce a tingling sensation in the 

 mouth and an abundant flow of saliva. 



Microscopic Structure ^ — The oil glands consist of large cells of 

 the same structure as those occurring generally in the leaves of Rutaceae, 

 Aurantiacese, Myrtaceae. In Pilocarpus they are largely distributed in 

 the tissue covered on both sides of the leaf by the epidermis; the oil 

 cells are also abundantly met with in the petiole and in the bark of the 

 stems and branches. 



Chemical Composition — The active principle of Jaborandi is the 

 alkaloid Pilocarpine, CH'^N-'G' 4- 40H', discovered in 1875 by Hardy. 

 It is an amorphous soft mass, bvit yielding crystallized salts, among 

 which the hydrochlorate and the nitrate are now more frequently 



^ Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. ^ Lib. iv. cap. 57, 59, and v. cap. 19, 



Plants, part 32 (1878). p. 310, of the work quoted in the appendix. 



^ Fig. by Engler in Flora Brasil. fasc. 65 * Description des Plantes de VArairique, 



(1874) tab. 30. Pilocarpus pauciJlo7- us St. 1693. 58. PI. Ixxv. and Ixxvi. 



Hilaire {Flora Brasilice meridionalis, i. ^ Stiles, P/tarm. /. vii. (1877) 629; also 



1824. tab. 17) appears also to be very Lanessan's French translation of the Phar- 



siuiilar. viacograpliia, i. (1878) 253. 



H 



