394 COMPOSITE. 



of the fresh root may be moistened. The root must be allowed to par- 

 tially dry, but only till the milky juice coagulates ; the thin slice then 

 energetically absorbs the colouring matter.^ 



The tissue of the dried root is loaded with inulin, which does not 

 occur in the solid form in the living plant. The woody part of taraxa- 

 cum root is made up of large scalariform vessels accompanied by 

 parenchymatous tissue, the former much prevailing. 



Chemical Composition — The fresh milky juice of dandelion is 

 bitter and neutral, but it soon acquires an acid reaction and reddish 

 brown tint, at the same time coagulating with separation of masses of 

 what has been called by Kromayer (1861), Leontodonium. This chemist, 

 by treating this substance with hot water, obtained a bitter solution 

 yielding an active (?) principle to animal charcoal, from which it was 

 removed by means of boiling spirit of wine. After the evaporation of 

 the alcohol, Kromayer purified the liquid by addition of basic acetate of 

 lead, saturation of the filtered solution with sulphuretted hydrogen 

 and evaporation to dryness. The residue then yielded to ether an 

 acrid resin, and left a colourless amorphous mass of intensely bitter 

 taste, named by Kromayer Taraxacin. Polex (1839) obtained apparently 

 the same principle in warty crystals ; he simply boiled the milky juice 

 with water and allowed the concentrated decoction to evaporate. 



The portion of the " Leontodonium" not dissolved by water, yields to 

 alcohol a crystalline substance, Kromayer's Taraxacerin, C^ff^O. It 

 resembles lactucerin and has in alcoholic solution an acrid taste. How 

 far the medicinal value of dandelion is dependent on the substances thus 

 extracted, is not yet known. 



Dragendorflf (1870) obtained from the root gathered near Dorpat in 

 October and dried at 100^ C, 24 per cent, of Inulin and some sugar. 

 The root collected in March from the same place yielded only 1*74 per 

 cent, of inulin, 17 of uncrystallizable sugar and 18'7 of Levulin. The 

 last-named substance, discovered byDragendorff,has the same composition 

 as inulin, but dissolves in cold water ; the solution tastes sweetish, and 

 is devoid of any rotatory power. Inulin is often to be seen as a glisten- 

 ing powder when extract of taraxacum is dissolved in water. 



T. and H. Smith of Edinburgh (1849) have shown that the juice of 

 the root by a short exposure to the air undergoes a sort of fermentation 

 which results in the abundant formation of Mannite, not a trace of 

 which is obtainable from the perfectly fresh root. Sugar which readily 

 underwent the vinous fermentation was found by the same chemists in 

 considerable quantity. 



The leaves and stalks of dandelion (but not the roots) were found by 

 Marme (1864) to afford the Ino^ite, eH^'0''-f-2 OH^ 



The root collected in the meadows near Bern immediately before 

 flowering, carefully washed and dried at 100° C, yielded us 5"24 per cent, 

 of ash, which we found to consist of carbonates, phosphates, sulphates, 

 and in smaller quantity also of chlorides. 



Uses — Taraxacum is much employed as a mild laxative and tonic, 

 especially in hepatic disorders. 



Adulteration — The roots of Leontodon hisindus L. (Common Hawk- 



* The reader who is not famihar with lington in Pharm. Journ. April 13, 1872. 

 this process may refer to a paper by Pock- 822. 



