WILD CHERRY 253 



The commercial drug afforded Power and Moore 0'075 per cent, of 

 hydrocyanic acid. 



Uses. The bark has mild tonic and sedative properties ; it is 

 frequently given for coughs and chest complaints. 



Substitutes. The bark of other North American species of Prunus 

 is occasionally substituted for the official. The latter is well 

 characterised by its short granular fracture and distinctive taste, 

 as well as by the presence of abundant sclerenchymatous cells and 

 absence of bast fibres. Spurious barks may be fibrous or more 

 astringent or almost devoid of taste. Old (trunk) bark is characterised 

 by the numerous depressions on the outer surface and the absence 

 of lenticels. 



QUILLAJA BARK 



(Panama Wood, Soap Bark, Cortex Quillaiae) 



Source, &c. Quillaja bark, or, as it is often called, soap bark, is 

 obtained from Quillaja saponaria, Molina (N.O. Rosacece), a large tree 

 indigenous to Chili and Peru. The bark, which is called ' cullay ' by 

 the natives and has apparently been long used by them for washing 

 silk and wool, was known to Europeans in the early part of the 

 eighteenth century, but was not regularly imported until about 

 1857, when it was sent to France under the name of * Bois de 

 Panama,' the name indicating the route by which it was sent. It 

 is evidently stripped from the trees, freed from the outer dark 

 brownish portion (bark), and dried. The tree has been introduced 

 into India, where it yields a bark identical with the commercial drug. 



Description. Soap bark comes into commerce in large flat pieces 

 about a metre in length and 10 or 15 cm. in breadth ; it is usually 

 about 6 mm. thick, and evidently the produce of trunks of consider- 

 able size. 



The outer surface is usually of a pale brownish or yellowish white 

 colour longitudinally striated and streaked with reddish brown where 

 the outer portion (bark) has been imperfectly removed. Sometimes, 

 from insufficient trimming, the bark is of a uniform dark dull red 

 colour and bears patches of the outer bark still adhering to it. The 

 inner surface is smooth and white or yellowish white. 



The bark breaks with a splintery fracture, and the fractured sur- 

 face exhibits a disposition to separate into thin plates or laminae. 

 Here and there, especially on the freshly fractured laminated 

 surfaces, but also on the smooth inner surface of the bark, minute, 

 glittering, prismatic crystals (calcium oxalate) can be seen with 

 the naked eye, or better with a lens ; sometimes these are present 

 in considerable numbers. 



