54 
PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY 
tuted for that of gold chloride, large feathers or plumes of cocaine- 
chloro-platinate will be seen separating. 
Aconitine 1C33H43NO12) is found in various parts of Aconitum 
Napellus. It is particularly abundant in the tuberous root of this 
plant. If sections of aconite root are treated on a glass slide with 
solution of potassium permanganate, a red precipitate of aconitine 
permanganate will appear in the cells containing this alkaloid. 
Colchicine (C22H 2 5N0 6 ).- — -This alkaloid occurs in the corm and 
seeds of Colchicum aulumnale. It is very abundant in the cells 
surrounding the fibro-vascular bundles of the corm. If a section of 
either corm or seed be treated with a mixture of 1 part of H2SO4 
and 3 parts of H2O, the cells containing colchicine will be colored 
yellow. If a crystal of KNO3 then be added the color will change 
to a brownish-violet. 
10. Gluco -alkaloids. — These are compounds intermediate in 
nature between alkaloids and glucosides having characteristics of 
each. To this group belongs solanine (C28H47NO11) which is found 
in Solanum nigrum, Solarium Dulcamara, Solarium carolinense and 
other species of the Solanacece. When sections of those plant parts 
which contain this constituent are mounted in a solution of 1 part 
of ammonium vanadate in 1000 parts of a mixture of 49 parts of 
sulphuric acid with 18 parts of water, the cells containing solanin 
take on a yellow color which changes successively to orange, various 
shades of red, blue-violet, grayish-blue and then disappears. 
n. Asparagine (C4H 8 N 2 + H 2 0 ). — This is an amino compound 
of crystalline nature which occurs widely in the plant kingdom. It 
has been found in certain of the slime molds and fungi, in the roots 
of Althcea officinalis and Atropa belladonna, in young shoots of 
Asparagus, in the seeds of Castanea dentata, in the tubers of Solanum 
tuberosum and varieties of Dahlia, and is known to play an important 
part in metabolism. Stevens claims that proteids are reduced for 
the most part to asparagine during seed germination. 1 If thick sec- 
tions are cut from a plant part containing this substance and 
mounted in alcohol, rhombohedral crystals of asparagin in the form 
of plates will be deposited upon the evaporation of the alcohol. If 
to these a few drops of a saturated solution of asparagine are added 
1 Stevens’ Plant Anatomy, 3d Edit., p. 189. 
