682 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



chiefly of 1-pinene ; 46 to 50 per cent, of o- and j8-abietinolic acid ; 

 about 2 per cent, of a crystalline resin, abietolic acid ; 10 per cent, 

 of an amorphous resin, abiennic acid; and small quantities of a 

 bitter principle, succinic acid and a coloring principle. 



Venice Turpentine is the product of the European larch 

 (Larix decidua) and occurs as a yellowish or greenish-yellow, 

 nearly transparent, slightly turbid, viscid liquid, with a tere- 

 binthinate odor and a bitter, aromatic taste. It consists of about 

 20 per cent, of a volatile oil, consisting chiefly of pinehe; 60 to 

 64 per cent, of three acid resins, one of which is crystalline ; and 

 about 15 per cent, of an indifferent resin. 



DRUGS DERIVED FROM THE CONIFERS. 



In addition to the volatile oils, resins and allied products 

 obtained from the Coniferse (described under Exudations, pages 

 653-682), the tops and fruits of several of the plants are 

 official in the various pharmacopceias. In the Coniferse the 

 trachese and wood fibers are replaced by tracheids (p. 191). 

 This structure is for the most part characteristic of the Gymno- 

 sperms, and there are very few Angiosperms in which tracheids 

 alone are found, ipecac root being one of the exceptions (Figs. 

 203, 291). The flowers of the Coniferse have open carpels, and 

 the fruits consist of dry cones or of berry-like cones, in which 

 there is partial coalescence of the fleshy scales or carpels (p. 78). 



SAB IN A. — SAVIN. — The young and tender, green branches 

 of Juniperiis Sabina (Fam. Coniferse), an evergreen shrub indig- 

 enous to the mountainous regions of Southern and Central Europe 

 and extending as far as Siberia. The young branches are col- 

 lected in the spring, stripped from the older woody branches and 

 dried. In the preparation of the volatile oil, which is official, 

 they are used in the green state. 



Description. — Branchlets i to 5 cm. long, i to 2 mm. in 

 diameter; covered with closely appressed (except those at the 

 base of the branches or branch-scars), grayish- or brownish-green, 

 rhomboidal, scale-like leaves which are about i mm. long, alter- 

 nate, closely imbricated, thus completely covering the branchlets, 

 and show in cross-section a single large oil-gland directly beneath 



