20 SANGUINAEIA CANADENSIS 



Capsule soft, oblong, pointed at both ends and tipped by the style, 

 1-celled, 2-valved. Seeds numerous, roundish, smooth, with a 

 prominent crest along the raphe ; embryo minute in the base of 

 the fleshy endosperm. 



Habitat. The plant is confined to North America, where it has 

 a wide distribution throughout Canada and the United States, 

 growing on hill- sides and at the borders of woods on a rich soil, 

 and flowering in the early spring before the leaves have expanded. 

 It does well in English gardens, and has been cultivated since 

 before 1680. Dillenius, in his ' Hortus Elthamensis' (t. 252), has 

 figured it with double flowers. 



DC. Sjst., i, p. 89, and Prod., i, p. 121; Hook., Fl. Bor. Am., i, 

 p. 34; A. Gray, Man. Bot. U. S., p. 60; Chapman, Fl. South 

 States, p. 22; LindL, Fl. Med., p. 16. 



Official Part and Name. SANGUINAKIA. The rhizome (U. S. P.). 

 Not official in the British Pharmacopoeia, or the Pharmacopoeia of 

 India. 



General Characters and Composition. This substance is com- 

 monly called Blood-root from its red colour. As seen in commerce 

 in a dried state, sanguinaria is in pieces from one to two or 

 three inches in length, and from a quarter to half an inch or 

 more in thickness ; it is flattened, wrinkled, twisted, more or less 

 contracted, frequently presenting abrupt branches or offsets, and 

 sometimes with, and at 'other times without, slender red rootlets. 

 Its colour is dark reddish-brown externally, and it breaks with a 

 short somewhat uneven waxy fracture, the surface of which at 

 first presents a bright orange-red colour, but by exposure it 

 becomes ultimately dull brown. The colour of the powder is 

 greyish orange-red. Sanguinaria has a faint narcotic odour, 

 which is more perceptible when fresh, and a bitter, persistently 

 acrid taste. 



Sanguinaria is supposed to owe its acrimony and medical 

 properties to a peculiar alkaloid termed sanguinarinaj which was 

 first isolated by Dr. Dana, of New York. This is said to be 

 identical with cheleryihrin, the alkaloid of Celandine (Chelidonium 



