RADIX HEMIBESMI. 423 



leum ether, but dissolves readily in water, alcohol, or chloroform ; 

 it has a decidedly alkaline reaction. It would appear that it is a 

 glucoside. 



Dita bark is stated^ to yield 5 per cent, of " ditaine " ; but this pro- 

 bably refers not to the pure alkaloid. 



Uses — The bark has been recommended as a tonic and antiperiodic, 

 being extravagantly praised as a substitute for quinine. 



ASCLEPIADE^. 



RADIX HEMIDESMI. 



Hemidesmus Root, Nunnari Root, Indian Sarsaparilla. 



Botanical Origin — Hemidesmus indicus R. Brown {Periploca 

 indica Willd., Asclepias Pseiido-sarsa Roxb.), a twining shrub, growing 

 throughout the Indian Peninsula and in Ceylon. The leaves are very 

 diverse, being narrow and lanceolate in the lower part of the plant, and 

 broadly ovate in the upper branches.^ 



History — In the ancient Sanskrit literature the plant occurs 

 frequently under the name Sdnvd, and its root under the name of 

 Nanndrl or Aiianta-mul {i.e. endless root) has long been employed in 

 medicine in the southern parts of India.^ Ashbumer in 1831 was the 

 first to call the attention of the profession in Europe to its medicinal 

 value.'* In 1864 it was admitted to a place in the British Pharma- 

 copoeia, but its efficiency is by no means generally acknowledged. 



Description' — The root is in pieces of 6 inches or more in length ; 

 it is cylindrical, tortuous, longitudinally furrowed, from ^ to 3% o^ 3,n 

 inch in thickness, mostly simple or provided with a few thin rootlets 

 emitting slender, branching woody aerial stems, -^ of an inch or less 

 thick. Externally it is dark brown, sometimes with a slight violet-grey 

 hue, which is particularly obvious in the sunshine. The transverse 

 section of the hard root shows a white mealy or brownish or somewhat 

 violet cortical layer, not exceding -jV of ^.n inch in thickness, and a 

 yellowish woody column, separated by a narrow dark undulated cambial 

 line. Neither the wood nor the cortical tissue present a radiate 

 structure in the stout pieces ; in the thinner roots, medullary rays are 

 obvious in the woody part. The extremely thin corky layer easily 

 separates from the bark, which latter is frequently marked transv^ersely 

 by large cracks: The root, whether fresh or dried, has an agreeable 

 odour resembling tonka bean or melilot. The dried root has a sweetish 

 taste with a very slight acidity. The stems are almost tasteless and 

 inodorous. The root found in the English market is often of very bad 

 quality. 



^ Yearbook of Pharm. 1878. 624, from over a.s having a sweet smell of melilot. 



Proc. of the American Pharm. Associa- The plant he says is called in Canarese 



tion, 1877. Duda salt. The figure is reproduced in 



- Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Antoine Colin's translation, but not in that 



Plants, pai-t 6 (1876). of Clusius. 



3 There is an Indian root figured as Palo * Lond. Med. and Phys. Journ. Ixv. 189. 



de Culebra by Acosta {Tractado de las ^ Taken from excellent specimens obli- 



Drofjas . . . de las Indias Orientales, 1578, gingly sent to us from India by Dr. L. W. 



cap. Iv.) which is astonishingly like the Stewart and Mr. Brougbton. 

 drug in question. He describes it more- 



