LILY OF THE VALLEY 83 



ing the amount of aqueous extract yielded by the saffron ; it should 

 not exceed 51 per cent. 



Note. Cape Saffron, now seldom imported, consists of the flowers of a 

 Scrophulariaceous shrub, Lyperia atropurpurea, Bentham, a native of South 

 Africa ; it contains a yellow colouring matter, but could scarcely be mistaken 

 for saffron. 



Cake saffron ('croci placentae,' 'crocus in placenta') commonly consists of 

 safflower florets made into cakes with an adhesive sugary substance. The 

 structure of the florets is easily seen when a little of the drug is soaked in water 



Uses. Although chiefly employed as a colouring agent, saffron has 

 been regarded as stimulant, antispasmodic, and emmenagogue. 



LILY OF THE VALLEY FLOWERS 



(Flores Convallariae) 



Source, &c. The lily of the valley, Convallaria majdlis, Linne 

 (N.O. Liliacece), is a small herbaceous plant, with perennial creeping 

 rhizome, widely distributed over Europe and indigenous in England, 

 where it occurs in woods or thickets, being much more abundant 

 in some countries than in others. 



The plant produces two broadly elliptical leaves and a flowering 

 scape, bearing in the axils of small bracts pedicellate, campanulate 

 flowers, forming a unilateral raceme of fragrant, white drooping 

 flowers. The root, leaves, and flowers have all been used in medicine, 

 but the part now usually employed is the flowers. The entire in- 

 florescence is collected and dried, during which process the white 

 flowers assume a brownish yellow tinge and the fragrant odour almost 

 entirely disappears. 



Description. The drug consists of the slender scape, bearing from 

 three to eight brownish yellow campanulate flowers. The perianth 

 has six, recurved teeth, and bears on its inner surface six large anthers ; 

 the ovary is superior and three-celled. It possesses a slight agreeable 

 odour and bitter taste. 



Constituents. Two crystalline glucosides, convallamarin and con- 

 vallarin have been isolated from the lily of the valley. 



Convallamarin, C 23 H 44 O 12 , has been obtained as a crystalline powder readily 

 soluble in water and in alcohol, but only slightly in ether ; it yields a violet 

 coloration with sulphuric acid and may be hydrolysed into dextrose and con- 

 vallamaretin ; its action is that of a cardiac tonic and diuretic. 



Convallarin, C 34 H 62 O 1]L , crystallises in prisms, soluble in alcohol and slightly 

 soluble in water, the aqueous solution frothing when shaken ; it has a purgative 

 action. According to Robert (1915) an acid and a neutral convallarin exist, 

 both possessing the typical saponin action on blood (see p. 254). 



Use. Lily of the valley flowers are occasionally used as a cardiac 

 tonic in the place of foxglove. 



