17 PODOPHYLLUM PELTATUM 



Resina Podophylli of the Pharmacopoeias, which is described below. 

 This rhizome is imported from North America. 



General Characters and Composition. Podophyllum root, as it 

 is commonly termed, consists of the rhizome and rootlets. In 

 commercial specimens the rootlets are frequently altogether 

 absent, but when present they are either attached to the lower 

 surface of the rhizomes, or are mixed in a loose state with them. 

 The rhizome is either simple or branched. In length it varies 

 from about an inch to eight or more inches ; and in thickness 

 from two to four lines. The rhizome has commonly a somewhat 

 flattened appearance, and if not much broken up it presents, at 

 more or less distant intervals, large irregular tuberosities, which 

 are marked above by a depressed scar indicating the point where 

 the aerial stem was attached, and giving off below a variable 

 number of rootlets, or when these are broken off their position is 

 marked by whitish scars. The rhizome has a reddish- or 

 blackish-brown, or reddish-yellow colour, and its surface is 

 smooth or furrowed longitudinally. The rootlets vary in length, 

 and in size they average about that of a common knitting-needle ; 

 they are smooth and somewhat lighter coloured than the 

 rhizomes. Both the rhizome and rootlets are brittle, and their 

 fracture is short, smooth, whitish, and mealy ; their powder is of a 

 yellowish- grey colour. The taste of both rhizome and rootlets is 

 bitterish, acrid, and nauseous; and their odour disagreeable and 

 narcotic, more especially when moistened with warm water. 



The active purgative properties of podophyllum rhizome are due 

 entirely to the resin, which is described below under its official 

 name of Podophylli Kesina. In addition to the resin, podophyllum 

 rhizome also contains, as discovered by F. F. Mayer, of New 

 York, a large proportion of the alkaloid Berberine or Berberia ; 

 and also Saponine, and another colourless alkaloid, which has not 

 been yet further described; as well as an odoriferous 'principle, 

 and some other unimportant substances. 



2. PODOPHYLLI RESINA. Resin of Podophyllum. Resin of May- 

 apple. This resin is largely manufactured in Cincinnati and in 

 other places in the United States of America and elsewhere, 



