CORNUS CORNEL DOGWOOD. 161 



Habitat — In wet places, Canada to Georgia and westward. 



Part Used. — The bark of the root of Cornus florida — United States 

 Pharmacopoeia. The bark of all the species is employed, though that of 

 the root is said to be most efficient. 



Constituents. — The bark of the official species has a bitter, astringent, 

 and slightly aromatic taste. Besides the ordinary vegetable principles, it 

 contains a peculiar bitter principle, termed cornin, or comic acid, to which 

 its medicinal virtues are probably, in a great measure, due. Its astringency 

 is due to a small percentage of gallic and tannic acids. The other species 

 of cornus are believed to contain similar principles. 



Preparations. — Extractum cornus fluidum — fluid extract of cornus. — 

 United States Pharmacopoeia. The decoction is also said to be an efficient 

 preparation, though Professor Maisch observed that the bitter principle, 

 when in aqueous solution, is altered and destroyed by exposure to air 

 and heat. The bark is also administered in powder. A commercial ar- 

 ticle occurs, erroneously termed cornin, which is prepared by evaporating 

 an aqueous extract or by precipitating an alcoholic tincture with water ; 

 it is said to be much less efficient than the official fluid extract. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Dogwood is tonic, astringent, and slightly 

 aromatic. It is believed to be the best indigenous substitute for cinchona 

 bark, and in early days was used with considerable success in the treat- 

 ment of miasmatic fevers. As a mild tonic in convalescence, in simple loss 

 of appetite, and in debility of the digestive organs, it is also said to act 

 favorably. 



Division II. — Mono pet alous Exogenous Plants. 



Plants with both calyx and corolla, the latter composed of petals more 

 or less united, and hence termed monopetalous. 



CAPRIFOLIACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Shrubs or small trees — rarely herbs — with op- 

 posite, simple or compound leaves. Calyx-tube adherent to the ovary, its 

 limbs 4- to 5-cleft or lobed. Corolla tubular, urn-shaped or wheel-shaped, 

 equally or unequally 4- to 5-lobed. Stamens as many as the lobes of the 

 corolla — sometimes one less — inserted upon its tube. Ovary 2- to 5-celled ; 

 style filiform, somewhat capitate, sometimes absent, when the 2 to 5 stig- 

 mas are sessile. Fruit a berry, drupe, or pod, 1- to many-seeded. 



An order represented in North America by seven genera, four of which 

 comprise medicinal species. 



