RHATANY 



313 



characterised by their dark purplish brown colour, and by the presence 

 of deep transverse cracks at more or less regular intervals in the bark, 

 which in this variety is never rough or scaly, although transversely 

 fissured and longitudinaUy wrinkled. The transverse section shows 

 a reddish wood and a dark reddish brown bark, which, in this case 



FIG. 157. Peruvian Rhatany root. A, portion of an older root, showing 

 scaly cork ; natural size. B, portion of a younger root, natural size. 



occupies about one-half the radius of a root of medium size. In respect 

 to odour and taste Para rhatany resembles Peruvian. 



The student should carefully compare these two roots, and observe 

 in Peruvian rhatany 



(a) The reddish brown bark, which is scaly in large pieces, 



smoother in the smaller, and free from deep transverse 

 cracks, 



(b) The proportion of bark to wood as exhibited in the transverse 



section ; 



FIG. 158. Para Rhatany. Natural size. 



in Para rhatany 



(a) The dark purplish brown colour of the bark, which is not 



scaly, but exhibits deep transverse cracks, 



(b) The proportion of the bark to wood in the transverse section, 



which is greater than in Peruvian rhatany. 



Large pieces of Indian sarsaparilla (see p. 340) occasionally bear 

 a considerable resemblance to small pieces of Para rhatany, both in 



