342 SUBTERRANEAN ORGANS 



GELSEMIUM RHIZOME 



(Yellow Jasmine Root, Radix Gelsemii) 



Source, &C. The yellow jasmine, Gelsemium nitidum, Michaux (G. 

 sempervirens , Aiton) (N.O. Loganiacece) , is an elegant climbing plant 

 indigenous to the southern United States ; it ascends lofty trees and 

 forms festoons, scenting the atmosphere with its fragrant yellow flowers. 

 It has long been known, but its medicinal use is of recent date. The 

 rhizome and roots should be collected in the autumn. 



This plant should not be confounded with Jasminum nudiflorum, 

 Lindley, a yellow-flowering jasmine commonly cultivated in this 

 country. 



Description. The drug consists of the rhizomes, to which portions 

 of both slender aerial stems and small and large roots are sometimes 

 attached ; usually the rhizomes and larger roots, cut into pieces about 

 15 cm. in length, constitute the commercial drug. 



The rhizomes are generally in nearly straight cylindrical pieces 

 varying from 5 to about 20 mm. in thickness, of a dark purplish brown 

 colour, or at least marked with a more or less distinct network of 

 purplish lines, the intervening spaces being yellowish brown. This 

 difference in colour is due to the fact that the outer cork-cells are filled 

 with a dark reddish brown substance, the inner with a yellowish deposit ; 

 by the growth of the rhizome the outer dark layer is fissured, disclosing 

 the paler inner layer. The rhizomes are hard and woody, and break 

 with an irregular splintery fracture, frequently exhibiting in the bast 

 silky fibres, which, however, are much more conspicuous in the aerial 

 stems. 



The roots are, on the average, rather smaller than the rhizomes ; 

 they may be distinguished by their uniform yellowish brown colour 

 and finely wrinkled surface, and by their rather more sinuous 

 course. 



The aerial stems are usually slender, but may attain 15 mm. in- 

 thickness. They are of a dark purplish brown colour, longitudinally 

 wrinkled or nearly smooth, internally whitish and hollow in the centre. 

 The fractured bark exhibits projecting strands of bast fibres. 



Both rhizome and root exhibit in transverse section a comparatively 

 narrow bark enclosing a large yellowish white wood ; the latter consists 

 of narrow wood-bundles with small vessels alternating with distinct, 

 straight, whitish medullary rays, the section thus assuming an elegant 

 radiate appearance. The section of the rhizome is distinguished from 

 that of the root by the presence of a small pith, which, however, is 

 more evident in the smaller (younger) than in the larger (older) pieces ; 

 it differs also from that of the aerial stem in the arrangement of the 

 fibres in the bark ; in the stem these are grouped into bundles, whilst 



