210 F. R. MORRISON. 



THE OCCURRENCE OF RUTIN IN THE LEAVES OF 



THE BORONIA (N.O. RUTACE.E). 



By F. R. Morrison, 



Assistant Chemist, Technological Museum, Sydney. 

 (Communicated by A. H. Penfold, f.c.s.) 



[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, November 2, 1921.'] 



Whilst investigations were being conducted at the Tech- 

 nological Museum, on the essential oils of the Boronias, it 

 was observed that after steam distillation of the oil from 

 the leaves, and on allowing the contents of the vessel to 

 cool, small particles of a yellow substance had made their 

 appearance on the leaves of certain species, and a yellow 

 deposit had also separated from the water at the bottom 

 of the still. 



A preliminary examination showed this material to be 

 possessed of dyeing properties, the colours produced on 

 mordanted cloth being similar to those obtained with rutin 

 or other glucosides of quercetin. The species from which 

 the dye material was obtained for examination were 

 Boronia serrulata (Smith, Trans. 292, t. 5, referred to in 

 Bentham's Fl. Aust. Vol. 1, 323), the well known "Native 

 Rose," and B. thujona (Penfold and Welch), anew species 

 of pinnate leaf Boronia described in the present Proceedings 

 of this Society, (Vol. lv, p. 200). In order to obtain a 

 sufficient quantity of the substance for investigation, and 

 at the same time to gain an idea of the quantity present 

 in the leaves of the respective species, the leaves, after 

 distillation of the oil were dried, stripped from the stalk, 

 finely ground, and boiled with water; the hot liquid filtered 

 through cloth, and the leaves again treated with boiling 



