29 POLTGALA SENEGA 



a small 2-celled capsule, partially covered by the persistent calyx- 

 wings, dehiscing loculicidally. Seeds 2, black, hairy, with a white 

 caruncle extending from the hilum along the inner side almost 

 to the other end of the seed ; embryo in the axis of scanty endo- 

 sperm, straight, with flat cotyledons. 



Habitat. A native of North America, extending from the 

 northern parts of Canada, through the Northern United States 

 southward, to North Carolina and Tenessee, found in woods and 

 growing in dry rocky soil. It flowers in May and June, is quite 

 hardy, and was formerly in cultivation in our botanic gardens, 

 but is not now to be met with in those to which we have had 

 access. 



Hook., PI. Bor. Am., i, p. 85 ; Gray, Man. Bot. U. S., p. 122 ; 

 Chapman, PI. South. States, p. 85 ; LindL, Med. Bot., p. 125. 



Official Part and Names. SENEGA RADIX ; the dried root (B. P.). 

 The dried root (Senega Radix) (I. P.). SENEGA; the root 

 (U. S.P.). 



Collection. It is collected for use in the southern and western 

 parts of the United States, whence it is forwarded to Europe 

 and other parts of the world. 



General Characters and Composition. Senega, Seneka, or 

 Seneca root, or as it is sometimes termed Seneka Snake-Hoot, 

 varies in thickness from that of a straw to that of the little finger ; 

 it is tapering, branched, twisted or somewhat spiral, and ter- 

 minated at its upper end in a thick irregular knotty crown or 

 tuberosity, which exhibits traces of numerous wiry aerial stems, 

 and scaly rudimentary leaves. A projecting line or keel- shaped 

 sinewy looking ridge extends along the whole length of the con- 

 cave side of the root. The bark is more or less wrinkled, some- 

 what knotted, transversely cracked so as to be partially annulated, 

 horny, translucent, and varying in colour from light yellowish- 

 grey in the branches and smaller roots to brownish-grey in the 

 larger pieces. The bark surrounds a white central woody column 

 or meditullium, which is about the same thickness as itself. Senega 

 root is brittle, and presents a short fracture ; its odour is peculiar, 



