CLASSIFICATION OF ANGIOSPERMS. 367 



The grains are more or less bell-shaped and 2- or 3-compound, 

 about the size of wheat-starch grains, and in other ways resemble 

 those of tapioca. 



To this family also belongs rather an interesting group of 

 parasitic plants, namely, dodder (Cuscuta). They contain the 

 principle cuscutin, and quite a number have been used in medicine. 



b. HYDROPHYLLACE.E OR WATERLEAF FAMILY. 

 The plants are herbs or shrubs which are indigenous to Western 

 North America. Very few of the plants of this family are of 

 use medicinally, although quite a number are ornamental plants. 



Eriodictyon californicinn (£. glutinosum) or Yerba Santa 

 is a shrub growing in Northern Mexico and California. The 

 leaves are official (p. 612). The flowers are funnel-form, white 

 or purple, occurring in cymes. The fruit is a dehiscent capsule 

 and the seeds are small and few. 



c. BORAGINACE^ OR BORAGE FAMILY.— The plants 

 are mostly herbs with regular blue flowers, occurring in scor- 

 pioid inflorescence. The best examples of the group are the 

 forget-me-not (Myosotis), the roots of several species of which 

 have been used in medicine ; and the garden heliotrope (^Hclio- 

 tropum peruvianum) , the fragrance of the flowers being due to a 

 volatile oil. This plant, as well as other species of Heliotropum, 

 contains a poisonous volatile alkaloid. 



At one time considerable interest attached to alkanet, the root 

 of Alkanna tinctoria of Southern Europe and Asia, on account 

 of the red coloring principle alkannin, which is soluble in alcohol, 

 ether, fixed and ethereal oils, but insoluble in water. Comfrey 

 or SYMPHYTUM is the root of Symphytum officinale and other 

 species of this genus naturalized from Europe in waste places in 

 the United States. It occurs on the market in small, purplish- 

 black, more or less curved pieces, which are quite mucilaginous and 

 astringent to the taste. The drug contains a gluco-alkaloid, con- 

 solidin, and an alkaloid, cynoglossine. It also contains a small 

 amount of dextrin-starch, i.e., one which is not colored blue with 

 iodine, and tannin. The root and herb of hound's tongue (Cyno- 

 glossum officinale) are both used in medicine. The drug contains 

 the powerful alkaloid cynoglossine, which resembles curarine in 

 its action ; and the gluco-alkaloid, consolidin. 



