QUEBRACHO 269 



caoutchouc), echitin and echitein (both crystalline), and echiretin 

 (amorphous) ; all these constituents appear to be devoid of therapeutic 

 value. 



Alstonia constricta. This bark contains the alkaloids alstonine 

 (chlorogenine) and porphyrine ; also alstonidine and porphyrosine 

 concerning which little definite is known. Porphyrine in acid solution 

 exhibits a blue fluorescence. 



5. The bark is used in India for malaria but is inferior in value 

 to cinchona bark ; it has also been used as a tonic, anthelmintic, and 

 in chronic diarrhoea. 



QUEBRACHO 



(White Quebracho, Quebracha, Aspidosperma) 



Source, &c. The dried bark of Aspidosperma quebracho-bianco, 

 Schlechtendal (N.O. Apocynacece) , a large tree indigenous to the 

 Argentine. 



Description. Nearly flat pieces, 1 to 3 cm. thick ; outer surface, 

 yellowish grey or brownish, deeply fissured, inner surface yellowish 

 brown or reddish brown, distinctly striated. Fracture granular in the 

 outer, lighter portion, splintery in inner darker portion. Transverse 

 section shows numerous whitish dots and striae arranged tangentially. 

 Taste very bitter and slightly aromatic ; no odour. 



Constituents. Quebracho bark contains the alkaloids aspidosper- 

 mine, aspidospermatine, aspidosamine, quebrachine, hypoquebrachine, 

 and quebrachamine ; further starch, tannin, and the sugars inosite 

 and quebrachite. Commercial aspidospermine is usually a mixture of 

 alkaloids. 



Uses. The bark has been used as a tonic and also in dyspnoea ; 

 large doses may cause vomiting. 



Note. This bark must not be confused with quebracho Colorado, the bark 

 of Loxopterygium Lourenzii, Grisebach (N.O. Terebinthacece, Argentine) ; an 

 extract of the wood is largely used in the tanning industries. 



CINNAMON BARK 



(Cortex Cinnamomi) 



Source, &C. The cinnamon tree, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Breyn 

 (N.O. Laurinece), is a small evergreen tree indigenous to and cultivated 

 in Ceylon. 



Cinnamon bark appears to have been collected from wild plants 

 and exported towards the end of the thirteenth century. After the 



