266 CANNA EDULIS 



Botanical Register, vii, Appendix; Grisebach, PI. Brit. W. 

 Indies, p. 603; Lindl., PL Med., p. 570. 



Official Part and Name. CANNA ; the fecula prepared from the 

 rhizome of an undetermined species of Canna (U. S. P.). It is 

 not official in either the British Pharmacopoeia, or the Pharma- 

 copoeia of India. 



This starch is commonly known under the name of Tous les 

 Mois. It is principally imported from St. Kitts, but nothing is 

 known of its botanical source, except that it is derived from one 

 or more species of Canna. 



Extraction. In order to extract the starch, the rhizomes or 

 tubers are first rasped by means of a machine into a pulp ; and 

 from this pulp the starch is obtained by washing, straining, 

 decantation of the supernatant liquor, and desiccation of the 

 deposited starch. 



General Characters and Composition. Canna starch or Tous les 

 Mois, as seen by the naked eye, is a white powder, having a 

 peculiar satiny or glistening appearance on account of the large 

 size of its constituent granules. The sparkling or glistening 

 appearance of the granules is very obvious when viewed by a 

 magnifying lens. When examined by the compound microscope 

 the granules are seen to be very large, exceeding in this respect 

 all other known starches, being from the 200th to the 300th of an 

 inch in length. They have a somewhat flattened appearance, and 

 an ovate or oblong form ; the hilum, which is not very con- 

 spicuous, is at one end of the granule, and is encircled with 

 numerous, regular, distinct, unequally distant rings. 



Tous les Mois has the same composition as that of other 

 starches. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Tous les Mois has all the properties 

 of starch, and is nutritious and demulcent. It may be used as a 

 demulcent in urinary and bowel complaints. It affords, when 

 boiled with twenty times its weight of water, a more tenacious jelly 

 than that of West Indian Arrow-root or Maranta Starch, and is 

 well adapted to form a wholesome and nutritious food for infants, 



