SECTION V 



HERBS AND ENTIRE PLANTS 



The drugs that have been grouped together under this term com- 

 prise some consisting of the entire plant (chiretta, carrageen, ergot), 

 others of the plant from which a small portion only has been removed 

 (aconite, lobelia, horehound), and others again that represent only 

 a small part of the plant (Indian hemp, savin). 



The characters utilised in the identification of the herbs are to 

 a great extent the same as those that would be employed by botanists 

 in the identification of the plant, and these characters can usually 

 be observed if the drug be previously boiled for a few minutes in 

 water. The details of the flowers and leaves, and the arrangement 

 of the latter on the stem, are thus of primary importance. Difficulties 

 are not likely to occur, except in the distinction of the drug from other 

 nearly allied species. 



Flowering herbs are commonly gathered when in flower, and dried 

 in the shade. They should then be completely dried, and kept in 

 airtight containers to obviate changes that are likely to ensue as the 

 result of the action of enzymes. Such changes in some cases show 

 themselves by changes in colour, &c., but in others they may affect 

 and modify the active constituents without producing any visible 

 alteration. 



ACONITE HERB 



(Herba Aconiti) 



Source, &C. The aconite, monkshood, or wolfsbane, Aconitum 

 Napellus, Linne (N.O. Ranunculacece) , is a perennial herb growing 

 abundantly on the lower mountain slopes of Central Europe. It 

 is cultivated in England as a garden plant as well as for medicinal 

 use, and is found apparently wild in some localities, having probably 

 escaped from cultivation. The drug has only recently been intro- 

 duced into medicine, but the poisonous properties of aconite have long 

 been known. Both the fresh leaves and flowering tops as well as 

 the dried roots have been used, the latter alone being now official. 



