187 CONVOLVULUS SCAMMONIA 



the base, obscurely 5-lobed, with a faint notch between the 

 divisions, delicate, smooth, pale yellow, slightly greenish at the 

 base within, convolute and twisted in the bud, and marked on the 

 outside of the folds with a pink tapering line. Stamens 5, 

 inserted close to the base of the corolla, small, erect,, fila- 

 ments tapering, covered with small prominences, anthers linear, 

 2-celled, white. Ovary small, elevated on a thickened gynophore, 

 2 -celled, with 2 ovules in each cell, style very slender, about as 

 long as the stamens, white, stigmas 2, oblong, spreading, papil- 

 lose. Fruit an ovate-globose capsule about J inch long, sur- 

 rounded by the persistent reddish-brown sepals which it scarcely 

 exceeds, capped by the withered style, pericarp thin, parchment- 

 like, splitting vertically into 4 valves. Seeds 4, somewhat 

 irregular in form, angular, testa dark brown, rough with 

 small prominences ; embryo green, cotyledons foliaceous, veined, 

 twice folded on themselves, punctate with scattered pellucid dots, 

 radicle long, slightly curved ; endosperm scanty. 



Habitat. A native of the East, and common in waste places in 

 most parts of Asia Minor, Greece, the Crimea, and Syria, but 

 not extending to the western part of the Mediterranean district ; 

 the stems spread widely over the bushes which are profusely 

 ornamented with the pretty pale sulphur- coloured flowers about 

 the size of those of the common C. arvensis of England. The 

 drug is collected from the wild plant in several parts of Asia 

 Minor and in Syria. 



Scammony has long been cultivated in English gardens, and is 

 included in the catalogue of Gerard' s garden published in 1596. 

 It flowers in the autumn. 



Choisy, in DC. Prod., ix, p. 412 ; Boies., Fl. Orient., iv, p. 108 ; 

 Lindl., Fl. Med., p. 398. 



Official Parts and Names. 1. SCAMMONIJ: RADIX; the dried 

 root : 2. SCAMMONLE RESINA ; a resin prepared from Scammony 

 Root or Scammony : 3. SCAMMONIUM ; a gum-resin, obtained by 

 incision from the living root (B. P.). 1. The dried root 

 (Scammonite Radix) : 2. Grum resin (Scammonium, Scammony) , 



