638 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



simple, tapering, about 7 mm. thick near the crown ; externally 

 yellowish-brown, wrinkled, with few rootlets; internally, bark 

 whitish, about 2 mm. thick, wood yellow, porous, radiate. Stem 

 cylindrical, flattened, quadrangular above, each angle with a decur- 

 rent wing, about i M. long, 4 to 6 mm. thick, yellowish- or pur- 

 plish-brown, longitudinally wrinkled, internodes 3 to 8 cm. long; 

 internally, bark yellowish-brown, very thin, easily separable, wood 

 yellowish, slightly porous, radiate, 0.5 to i mm. thick, pith lemon - 

 yellow, 2 to 3 mm. in diameter, easily separable from the wood, 

 sometimes wanting. Leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate, about 6 

 cm. long, 2.5 cm. in diameter; apex acuminate; base somewhat 

 amplexicaul ; margin entire ; upper and under surfaces brownish- 

 green, midrib prominent and with 3 to 7 parallel lateral veins. 

 Inflorescence a large panicle; flowers numerous, regular; calyx 

 about 4 mm. long and with 4 lanceolate divisions ; corolla yellow, 

 rotate, about 10 mm. long, with 4 lanceolate lobes, each with a 

 pair of nectaries near the base ; stamens 4, inserted at the base of 

 the corolla tube ; style slender, with two recurved stigmas ; ovary 

 i-locular, with 2 parietal placentas. Fruit a superior, ovoid, 

 pointed, yellowish-brown, bicarpellary, unilocular capsule. Seeds 

 numerous, anatropous, somewhat oblong, flattened, about 0.5 mm. 

 long, testa reticulate ; embryo small, straight, embedded in the 

 endosperm. Odor slight. Taste extremely bitter. 



Constituents. — A bitter glucoside chiratin, which is precip- 

 itated by tannin and yields on hydrolysis two bitter principles : 

 ophelic acid and chiratogenin, the latter being insoluble in water. 

 Ophelic acid is a brown hygroscopic substance which is readily 

 soluble in water and alcohol and on heating with Trommer's 

 reagent causes the deposition of yellowish cuprous oxide. The 

 drug also contains resin, tannin and 4 to 8 per cent, of ash. 



Allied Plants. — Other species of Sweertia, as well as other 

 bitter plants known in India as " chiretta;" find there way into the 

 market, but are, however, easily distinguished from the true drug. 



SCUTELLARIA.— SKULLCAP.— The dried herb of Scu- 

 tellaria lateriHora (Fam. Labiatae), a perennial herbaceous plant 

 growing in wet places in the United States and Canada. The 

 plant blooms from July to September, when the herb should be 

 collected (p. 368). 



