CEANOTHUS NEW JERSEY TEA. 123 



Parts Used. — Of Rhamnus cathartica, the fruit — not official ; of E. 

 Purshiana, the bark — not official. 



Constituents. — The berries of common buckthorn are pulpy and contain 

 a deep green juice, having a faint unpleasant odor, a bitterish, acrid, nau- 

 seous taste, and possessing active purgative properties. Various analyses 

 have demonstrated the presence of a peculiar principle termed rhamnoca- 

 thartin, to which the berries owe their activity. The bark of the plant is 

 also actively purgative. 



An analysis of the bark of R. Purshiana made by Professor A. B. Prescott 

 yielded a bitter brown resin, a red resin, a light yellow resin, tannic, malic, 

 and oxalic acids, a neutral crystallizable substance, and a volatile oil, but 

 experiments have not been made to ascertain which of these possesses the 

 therapeutic properties of the bark. 



Preparations. — A syrup of buckthorn made from the juice of the ber- 

 ries is official in Britain, France, and Germany. Of R Purshiana there are 

 commercial fluid extracts and elixirs in profusion, but no official prepara- 

 tions. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — All the species of rhamnus thus far sub- 

 jected to experiment possess purgative properties of greater or less activity. 

 In general their action is harsh and violent. Nausea and vomiting, as well 

 as severe griping pains, not unfrequently attend their purgative action. 

 For this reason R. cathartica and R. Frangula {Frangula bark) have never 

 found much favor in this country, and even in Europe they are commonly 

 administered with aromatics and correctives in order to diminish the vio- 

 lence of their action. Some years since R. Purshiana was introduced to 

 professional notice in this country under the absurd and fanciful title of 

 cascara sagrada, and most energetic efforts were made to gain for it an en- 

 tirely unmerited reputation as a remedy for constipation, etc. Even when 

 administered in pleasant-tasting elixirs — of, to the prescriber, unknown 

 composition — its action is not unfrequently attended with nausea and grip- 

 ing. There is little reason for considering it as essentially different from 

 or more valuable than frangula bark or common buckthorn, and hence its 

 popularity, being forced and fictitious, will be short-lived. 



CEANOTHUS.— New Jersey Tea. 



Ceanothus Americanus Linne. — New Jersey Tea, Red Root. 



Description. — Calyx bell-shaped, 5-cleft, the lobes white, incurved ; the 

 lower part with a disk cohering with the ovary, the upper finally sep- 

 arating transversely. Corolla : petals 5, hooded, on slender claws longer 

 than the calyx, white. Stamens exserted ; anthers ovate, 2-celled. Ovary 

 3-celled ; styles 3, united to the middle, diverging above. Fruit bluntly 

 triangular, dry, coriaceous, separating into three carpels when mature. 



A freely branching shrub, 2 to 4 feet high, the younger branches pubes- 



