122 FRUITS 



and slightly ruminate. The fruit has a somewhat astringent and 

 aromatic taste. 



Constituents. The principal constituent of the fruit is embelic 

 acid which crystallises in golden yellow, lamellar crystals, insoluble 

 in water, but soluble in alcohol and ether and yielding wine-red 

 solutions with alkalies. In addition volatile oil (trace), fixed oil, 

 resin, tannin and an alkaloid, christembine, are present. 



Uses. Both the fruit and the ammonium salt of embelic acid are 

 used as a taenicide. 



Note. The drug is sharply characterised by the bluish violet colour obtained 

 by extracting the powder with ether and shaking the ethereal solution with 

 dilute ammonia. 



CAPSICUM FRUITS 



(Cayenne Pepper, Chillies, Fructus Capsici) 



Source, &c. The capsicum fruit official in the British Pharmacopoeia 

 is derived from Capsicum minimum, Roxburgh (N.O. Solanacece) , a 

 small erect shrub with spreading branches, producing oblong-conical 

 fruits commercially known as chillies, the fruits of C. annuum being 

 termed capsicums. It is apparently a native of Southern India but 

 is cultivated in Eastern and Western Africa, in South America, &c. 

 The plant shows a great disposition to vary and the chillies and 

 capsicums of commerce vary exceedingly in their size shape, and 

 pungency. In Hungary C. tetragonum, Miller, and C. annuum, var. 

 Szegedinense are widely grown, and produce the large fruits with a 

 short peduncle and conspicuous green calyx known as paprika. In 

 Italy and Spain C. grossum, Linne (C. annuum, Linne, var. grossum) 

 is cultivated, but in tropical countries C. minimum and C. frutescens, 

 Linne, are most largely cultivated ; these yield smaller and more 

 pungent fruits, those of C. minimum being alone official. 



The fruits are collected when ripe, and dried. 



Description. The fruits of G. minimum have, when fresh, a scarlet 

 colour which changes on drying to a dull orange red. They are oblong- 

 conical in shape, and obtuse at the apex ; they vary usually from 12 

 to 20 mm. in length, and do not exceed 7 mm. in diameter. They are 

 superior, and not unfrequently remain attached to a small, incon- 

 spicuous, five-toothed, inferior calyx, and straight, slender peduncle, 

 which is as long as, or rather longer than, the fruit itself. The pericarp 

 is somewhat flattened, shrunken, and shrivelled. It is quite glabrous 

 and shining, thin and leathery in texture, and more or less translucent. 



Cut transversely, the fruit is seen to consist of two cells separated 

 by a thin, reddish, membranous dissepiment. Each cell contains 

 from five to ten small, flat, nearly circular, whitish seeds with a 



