FENUGREEK 159 



Mucuna urens, de Candolle (horse-eye beans) ; brownish and 

 rounded. 



Entada scandens, Bentham (garbee beans) ; flattened, discoid, 

 5 cm. in diameter. 



Pentaclelhra macrophylla, Bentham, mussel-shaped ; 7 cm. long, 

 5 cm. wide. 



Uses. Calabar beans are chiefly used as a source of the alkaloid 

 physostigmine, which is much employed to produce contraction of 

 the pupil of the eye. Both the drug and the alkaloid have been 

 employed in tetanus, locomotor ataxy, and as an antidote in cases 

 of strychnine poisoning; large doses produce an increase of blood- 

 pressure, retardation of respiration, and finally death by asphyxia. 



BUTEA SEEDS 



(Butese Semina) 



Source, &c. Butea seeds are the seeds of Butea frondosa, Roxburgh 

 (N.O. Leguminosce) , a tree indigenous to India. 



Description. The seeds are reniform in shape and very flat, from 

 25 to 38 mm. long, 16 to 25 mm. broad, and 1-5 to 2 mm. thick. 

 Seed-coat dark reddish brown, thin, glossy, veined and wrinkled ; 

 hilum near the middle of the concave edge, conspicuous ; cotyledons 

 large, leafy and yellowish. They have a faint odour and slightly 

 acrid and bitter taste. 



Constituents. Butea seeds contain fat (about 18 per cent.), proteids 

 (about 19 per cent.), and sugar. No definite principle of therapeutic 

 activity has been isolated. 



Uses. They are used as an aperient and anthelmintic, and are 

 said to act as a rubefacient when pounded with lemon juice and applied 

 to the skin. 



FENUGREEK SEEDS 



(Semina Foeni-grseci) 



Source, &C. Fenugreek, Trigonella Fcenum-grcecum, Linne (N.O. 

 Leguminosce) , is an annual herb indigenous to the countries bordering 

 on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean and largely cultivated 

 in India, Egypt, and Morocco. It was well known to the ancients, 

 who used the herb as cattle fodder and employed the seeds medicinally. 

 In Egypt the seeds are roasted and eaten, and in India the young 

 shoots form a favourite vegetable. In England the seeds are chiefly 

 used in veterinary practice. They are contained in long, narrow, 

 sickle-shaped pods, from which they are separated, when ripe, by 



