QUINCE 167 



odour resembling that of bitter almonds when they are crushed and 

 mixed with water. 



Uses. Quince seeds have been employed as a demulcent, but are 

 not now much used medicinally in this country. 



STROPHANTHUS SEEDS 



(Semina Strophanthi) 



Source, &C. The official strophanthus seeds are obtained from 

 Strophanthus Kombe, Oliver (N.O. Apocynacece) , a climbing plant of 

 considerable size, indigenous to eastern tropical Africa, near the 

 Nyanza and Tanganyika lakes, the Shire river, &c. An extract 

 prepared from them (and possibly from the seeds of other species 

 of Strophanthus) is used in Africa as an arrow poison. Specimens of 

 this extract were sent to England in 1861-64 and recognised by 

 Sharpey (1862) as a cardiac poison. The seeds were examined by 

 Fraser (1885), who isolated the active principle strophanthin, and 

 subsequently recommended the seeds as a substitute for foxglove 

 leaves. 



The fruit of the plant consists of two follicles about 30 cm. in length 

 and 2-5 cm. in breadth, slightly narrowed at the base and tapering 

 at the apex. Each follicle contains, closely packed together, a large 

 number of seeds provided with long awns. The fruits are collected 

 when ripe, and are sometimes exported after having been freed from 

 their epicarp and fleshy mesocarp. More commonly the seeds, 

 separated from the fruits and deprived of their awns, are sent into 

 commerce, chiefly from Somba, Quilimane, Inhambane, Chinde, and 

 other East African ports. 



Description. These very beautiful seeds are remarkable for the 

 long plumose awn of white silky hairs that is attached to them. The 

 integuments of the seed are prolonged at the apex to a slender brittle 

 extension, which is terminated by a handsome feathery tuft of hairs 

 about 5 cm. long and the same in breadth, the entire seed measuring 

 about 10 cm. in length ; these awns are commonly removed before 

 the seeds are exported. The seeds as seen in commerce measure 

 from 12 to 20 mm. in length and about 4 mm. in breadth. They are 

 of an elongated oval shape, acuminate towards the apex, and narrowed 

 towards the base, which is obtuse. They are flattened and provided 

 on one side with a ridge running from the centre to the apex of the 

 seed, and terminating in a broken point left by the removal of the 

 awn. In colour they vary from greyish green to fawn ; they are 

 covered with satiny appressed hairs that impart to them a conspicuous 

 sheen. 



The seeds break easily ; the transverse section exhibits a white 

 oily kernel consisting of two straight cotyledons surrounded by a 



