^042 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



above, upper woolly all over. Whorls distant, 2-4-fid. Calyx 

 i-fin., densely woolly, cupular, teeth short, acute ; fruiting 

 closed over the nutlets with the teeth incurved. Corolla re- 

 purple, lips very small, upper short, rounded. Nutlets enclosed 

 in the ovoid or sub-globose calyx, usually 2, turgid, plano-convex, 

 iin. long, grey, granulate. 



Use :— In the Salt Range the bruised stems are applied to 

 the guinea-worm (Stewart). 



1012. Galeopsis Tetrohit, Linn., h.f.b.i., iv. 677. 

 Habitat : — Sikkim Himalaya; Fields at Lachen, altitude 

 ll-12,000ft. 



A hispid annual. Stems l-3ft. ; hairs spreading and de- 

 flexed ; Nodes very hispid, thickened. Leaves l-4in., ovate 

 or ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, coursely serrate. Calyx 

 J-f-in., teeth straight, equalling or exceeding the tube. Corolla 

 f-liin., yellow and purple. 



Use: — This plant deserves investigation. 

 Chemistry.— When the leaves are boiled with 1 per cent, hydro-chloric acid, 

 their lower sides are covered with microscopic crystalline aggregates. 

 Crystals of the same substance, scutellerin, separate when the aquous 

 extract of the leaves in acidified. It is found chiefly in the leaves. 



Scutellarin, C 21 H 20 O 12 , 2| H 2 0, is prepared by extracting the leaves 

 and flowers of the plant with ten times the quantity of water, and acidifying 

 the extract with concentrated hydro-chloric acid, the yield is less than 1 per 

 cent. The acid filtrate from the scutellarin contains cinuamic and f umaric acids. 

 Scutellarin crystallises in pale-yellow needles, which darken at 200°, but 

 do not melt at 310°. Lead acetate gives red precipitate with the alcoholic 

 solution, and ferric chloride an intense green coloration which becomes red 

 on heating. Oxidising agents (chlorine, water, etc.) give an immediate green 

 colour. Alkalis, ammonia and alkali carbonates dissolve it with a deep 

 yellow colour ; these solutions reduce ammoniacal silver intrate and Fehling's 

 solution ; acids re-precipitate scutellarin. Concentrated sulphuric acid 

 dissolves it with a yellow colour. From the solution or suspension in acetic 

 acid, concentrated mineral acids throw down deep yellow or orange, crys- 

 talline salts. The acetyl derivative melts and decomposes at 267.° When 

 fused with potash, p- hydroxy benzoic acid and a substance, which crys- 

 tallises in large plates, are formed. 



Under the action of 30-40 per cent, sulphuric acid, it is converted into 

 scutellarein, C ]5 H 10 Ti 6 , which melts above 300°, dissolves in alkalis with a 

 yellow colour, gives a reddish brown tint with ferric chloride, an emerald- 

 green colour with baryta water, and a yellowish-red precipitate with lead 

 acetate. When fused with potash, scutellarein yields p -hydroxy-benzoic 



