CLASSIFICATION OF ANGIOSPERMS. 397 



but not the pleasant odor of the plant, and consists of d-thujone 

 (absinthol), thujyl alcohol free and combined with acetic, iso- 

 valerianic and palmitic acids, phellandrene and cadinene. The 

 other constituents of the drug include a bitter glucosidal principle, * 

 ABSiNTHiiN, which forms white prisms and yields on hydrolysis 

 a volatile oil; a resin; starch; tannin; succinic acid, potassium 

 succinate, and about 7 per cent, of ash. The plant is used in the 

 preparation of the French liquor known as Absinthe. 



Artemisia Ciua furnishes the official Santonica (p. 350). 



Other species of Absinthium also yield volatile oils, as the 

 Common mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), which yields from o.i 

 to 0.2 per cent, of an oil containing cineol ; Artemisia Barrelieri, 

 which contains an oil consisting almost entirely of thujone, and 

 said to be used in the preparation of Algerian absinthe. 



Safflower consists of the dried florets of Carthamus tinct- 

 orius, an annual herb which is known only in cultivation. The 

 florets are tubular, yellowish-red, the corolla tube being about 2 

 cm. long and with 5 small, linear lobes ; the stamens are exserted. 

 The ovary with the long, slender style is usually not present in 

 the drug- (Fig. 296, C). Safflower contains a small percentage 

 of a yellow coloring principle (safflower-yellow), which is soluble 

 in water, and 0.3 to 0.6 per cent, of a red coloring principle (car- 

 thamin or carthamic acid), which is insoluble in water but soluble 

 in alcohol, the solution having a purplish-red color. A volatile 

 oil is also present. C^rthamin is used in conjunction with French 

 chalk in the preparation of a roitge. 



Tansy is the dried leaves and tops of Chrysanthemum (Tana- 

 cetum) viilgare (Fig. 75), a perennial herb indigenous to Europe, 

 extensively cultivated and naturalized in the United States. The 

 leaves are large and pinnately divided, and the flowers, both tub- 

 ular and ligulate, are yellow, the heads being in terminal corymbs. 



The plant yields from o.i to 0.3 per cent, of a volatile oil, 

 consisting of thujone, borneol and camphor. 



Elecampane (Inula Helenium) is a large, perennial, densely 

 pubescent herb with alternate leaves and large, solitary terminal 

 heads, consisting of yellow tubular and ligulate florets (Fig. 182). 

 The plant is indigenous to Central Europe and Asia, and nat- 

 uralized in North America from Canada to North Carolina. The 



