5IO BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



England, Southern and Middle Europe and Northern Africa 

 (p. 236). The corm is collected in early summer before the 

 flowering period, deprived of the membranous, scaly coat, cut into 

 transverse pieces, and dried at a temperature below 65" C. Tubers 

 that are collected in the fall either during the flowering season 

 or later are considered to be more active. The commercial supply 

 is obtained from England and Germany. 



Description. — Obconical, with a groove on one side, some- 

 times with fragments of the flower-stalk, usually in transverse, 

 reniform sections from 15 to 20 mm. long, about 12 mm. wide and 

 3 to 5 mm. thick ; externally dark brown, longitudinally wrinkled ; 

 fracture short, mealy ; internally light brown, with numerous scat- 

 tered fibrovascular bundles ; odor slight ; taste bitter and acrid. 



Inner Structure. — See Fig. 310. 



Constituents. — A yellowish, amorphous alkaloid, colchi- 

 cine, about 0.4 per cent., which has a peculiar odor, particularly 

 on heating slightly, is soluble in hot water and gives with con- 

 centrated sulphuric acid a )-ellowish solution which is colored 

 deep red on heating. If the sulphuric acid contains a mere trace 

 of nitric acid the solution of the alkaloid becomes yellowish- 

 green, green, bluish-green, blue, violet, wine-red and finally yel- 

 low. The salts of colchicine are quite unstable. The drug also 

 contains the alkaloid colchiceine, which crystallizes in needles 

 and is apparently formed during the extraction of the drug by 

 reason of the decomposition of colchicine. The latter may be 

 formed on the esterification of colchiceine with methyl alcohol. 

 The corm also contains two resins ; a large amount of starch ; ash 

 about 2.5 per cent. 



SCILLA.— SQUILL.— The fleshy scales of the bulb of Urgi- 

 nea uiarifima (Earn. Liliaceae), a perennial herb indigenous to the 

 Mediterranean region. The bulbs are collected late in August, 

 and after the removal of the membranous outer scales and the 

 central portion, the fleshy scales are cut into transverse pieces 

 and dried in sunlight or by artificial heat. The article used in 

 France is collected from bulbs having reddish scales and is 

 obtained from Algeria and Malta (p. 238). 



Description. — In irregular, curved, flat, narrow, somewhat 

 translucent pieces 3 to 5 cm. long, 5 to 8 mm. wide, 2 to 7 mm. 



