88 PAPAVEKACE^E. 



pears to have followed antimony and squill into comparative and probably 

 unmerited disuse. 



CHELIDONIUM .—Celandine. 



Chelidonium majus Linne. — Celandine. 



Description. — Calyx : sepals 2, ovate, yellowish, caducous. Corolla : 

 petals 4, sub-orbicular, contracted at the base, yellow, early deciduous. 

 Stamens indefinite in number, hypogynous, shorter than the petals ; an- 

 thers 2-lobed. Ovary elongated, cylindrical, slightly bent, composed of 2 

 carpels separated by an incomplete partition, many-ovuled ; style very short, 

 the 2-lobed stigma apparently sessile upon the ovary. Fruit a dry pod, lin- 

 ear, 2-valved, the valves opening from below 

 upward, becoming detached and leaving the 

 dissepiment persistent upon the stem. 



An herbaceous perennial, with a fusiform 

 root, erect, branching, somewhat hairy stems, 

 1 to 2 feet high, alternate, pinnately divided 

 or bi-pinnatifid leaves, and small flowers in 

 small pedunculate umbels at the summits 

 of the branches. Leaflets 3 to 7, the lobes 

 incised, crenate, petiolulate, or decurrent 

 upon the common petiole, glabrous above, 

 glaucous underneath. The flowers are pro- 

 duced throughout the summer. All parts 

 of the plant are pervaded with an acrid, 

 saffron-colored juice. 



Habitat. — A native of Europe, celandine 

 has become fully naturalized here, growing 

 about old buildings and fences and along roadsides. 



Part Used. — The entire plant — United States Pharmacopoeia. 

 Constituents. — Celandine has a rather unpleasant odor, and a persistent, 

 acrid, bitter taste, which is stronger in the root than in the leaves. The 

 juice possesses the same sensible properties, though to a more intense de- 

 gree. The odor is lost in drying, but the taste remains. An analysis of 

 the plant by Probst yielded a peculiar acid, chelidonic, two alkaline princi- 

 ples, the one, chelerythrine, forming salts with acids, the other, cheledonine, 

 uniting with acids without neutralizing them, and finally a neutral crys- 

 tallizable, bitter principle termed chelidoxanthin. Chelerythrine is said to 

 be an acrid narcotic poison, while cheledonine has been shown to be iden- 

 tical with sanguinarine, the most important constituent of bloodroot. 



Preparations. — There are no official preparations. The expressed juice 

 is very active, and affords a convenient mode of administration when ob- 

 tainable. The dried root or herb may be administered in substance, de- 

 coction, or infusion, or a w T atery extract may be employed. 



Fig. 103. — Chelidonium majus. 



