590 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



Coumarin is rather widely distributed in nature. Of the 

 plants in which it has been found the following may be men- 

 tioned: Vanilla grass or sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum 

 odoratum) ; Carolina vanilla or dog's tongue {Trilisa odoratis- 

 sima), one of the Compositae ; the yellow melilot (Melilofus 

 ofUcinalis) , a leguminous herb found in waste places in the East- 

 ern United States and in which it occurs free as well as com- 

 bined with melilotic acid; other species of Melilotus, as well as 

 in other genera of the Leguminosse; sweet-scented bed straw 

 {Galium triiiorum), an herb of the Rubiacese growing in the 

 United States; the rhizome of Vitis sessilifolia (Vitacese) of 

 Brazil, and in Prunus Mahaleb (Fam. Rosaceae), of Europe. 



A number af the orchids contain coumarin, and these belong 

 chiefly to the genus Orchis, as Orchis odoratissima, of Europe; 

 O. coriophora, of Europe and the Orient; 0. Simla, of Europe 

 and the Orient; O. militaris, of Europe and Asia; Habenaria 

 conopsea, of Europe and Asia ; Aceras anthropophora, of Europe 

 and Arabia. 



FICUS. — FIG. — The fruit of Ficus Carica (Fam. Moraceae), 

 a tree indigenous to Persia and cultivated in most sub-tropical 

 and tropical countries. The fruit is collected when ripe, par- 

 tially dried in the sun, and tightly packed in boxes (p. 255). 



Description. — Syconium pyriform or obovoid, usually com- 

 pressed, about 6 cm. long and 1.5 cm. in diameter; externally 

 light brown, longitudinally veined, wrinkled, frequently with an 

 efflorescence of grape sugar, apex with a small scaly orifice, base 

 with a scar or stalk about 7 mm. long and 4 mm. thick, and also 

 with a leaf-remnant ; torus hollow, the walls 2 to 3 mm. thick, 

 coriaceous, tough, the inner portion with numerous lanceolate 

 divisions, upon which are borne numerous ovoid, brownish-yellow, 

 glossy akenes about i mm. in diameter, the latter with a reserve 

 layer and a curved embryo; odor distinct, fruit-like; taste sweet. 



Constituents. — Grape sugar 50 to 60 per cent.; about 1.5 

 per cent, of fat in the form of oily globules found in the milk- 

 vessels ; starch in the form of spherical grains ; water a:bout 30 

 per cent, in the partially dried fruit. 



Allied Plants. — Other species of Ficus also yield edible 

 figs, as the mulberry fig tree {F. Sycomorus), of Africa; F. 



