CRUDE DRUGS. 



503 



Texas Snakeroot. — Rhizome 5 to 10 mm. long, i to 2 mm. 

 in diameter; roots about 0.3 mm. in diameter, with numerous 

 more or less interlacing rootlets. 



Constituents. — Volatile oil 0.5 to i per cent., the important 

 constituent of which is borneol ; a bitter poisonous principle, aris- 

 tolochin (serpentarin) ; an alkaloidal principle, aristolochine ; sev- 

 eral organic acids ; starch ; ash about 10 per cent. 



End. 



Fig. 221. Ruellia ciliosa, the rhizome and roots of which are a common adulterant 

 of spigelia. A, transverse section of a secondary root: C, cortical parenchyma with one 

 cystolith and a number of stone cells with very thick walls and radiating simple pores; 

 End, endodermis. B, longitudinal section of the same root, showing a single cell with an 

 elongated cystolith, the encrustation being of calcium carbonate. — ^After Holm. 



SPIGELIA.— PINKROOT.— The rhizome and roots of Spi- 

 gelia marilandica (Fam. Loganiaceae), a perennial herb (Fig. 

 172) indigenous to the Southern United States (p. 362). Spi- 

 gelia should be collected in autumn, carefully dried and preserved, 

 and not kept longer than two years. 



Description. — Rhizome horizontal or slightly oblique, more 

 or less branched, 1.5 to 3 cm. long, 2 to 3 mm. in diameter; exter- 

 nally dark brown, slightly annulate from scars of bud-scales, the 

 upper portion with stem-scars or stem-remnants, under and side 

 portions with numerous roots and root-scars ; fracture short ; inter- 



