N. O. BERBERIDEAS. 
69 
extent the plant can be cultivated with profit. He has sum- 
marized the following facts from his experiments : — 
(1) that Podophyllum can be grown successfully either from seed or from 
sections of rhizomes of any size down to under J in. in length, 
though perhaps this length should be taken as a minimum ; 
(2l that in either case transplanting can be carried out without danger, 
though in the case of planting rhizome outtings it is preferable to 
plant direct in the forest and not to transplant from nursery 
beds ; 
(8) that the development of rhizomes is extremely slow : in the case of 
plants raised from rhizome cuttings it may possibly take at least 
12 years to produce fair sized marketable rhizomes, while in the 
case of seedling plants the period is likely to be longer. 
Mr. Puran Singli, F.C.S., Chemist at the Forest Research 
Institute, Dehra Dun, in a note on the Resin-value of Podophyl- 
lum Emodi and the best season for collecting it, writes : — 
“The rhizome should apparently be collected in May about the time 
when the plant is in flower and not in tbe autumn as has been suggested. 
The Comparative Value of the Indian and the American Drugs. 
“It has been admitted that the Indian plant is richer in resin as well as 
in Podophyllotoxin than the American. Prom the results of the assay of 
American Podophyllum given by Dunstan and Henry it is calculated that the 
percentage of the active principle in the resin of the American plant ranges 
from 15 29 to 28*74. According to the analysis of a sample of the American 
drug by Umney, the active principle amounts to 22 9 per oent. of the resin. 
In a sample of the Indian drug examined by him, In 1892, he found 25 per cent., 
while in another sample collected after fruiting in 1910, he found 60'3 per 
cent. The percentage of Podophyllotoxin in the Indian resin varies according 
to the season of collection from 25 to 50 per cent., and it is safo to assert 
that an average quality of the Indian plant will contain as a rule twice as 
much of the active principle as the American.” 
Part used : — The root. 
Use : — “ Half a grain of the resin, mixed with a little sugar, 
produced unmistakable cathartic effects in the course of a few 
hours. 51 0 As there is such a great resemblance between the 
Indian and the American species of Podophyllum in their 
botanical and technical characters, and as the former yields 
such a large quantity as 10 to 12 per cent of an active prin- 
ciple, it is desirable that attention be drawn to such a promis- 
ing and useful medicinal agent.” (Dymock and Hooper in 
the Ph J. for Jan. 26th, 1889, p. 585.) 
