160 
PH A RMACOGNOS Y. 
short or fibrous; internally light or dark brown, 
cortex 05 mm. thick, separable from the central cyl- 
inder ; odor faint ; taste bitter, slightly acrid. 
Roots somewhat tortuous, 5 to 6 cm. long, about 03 
to 05 mm. in diameter, rootlets few. 
Constituents. — Two glucosides, one bitter, having a 
physiological action similar to digitalin, and known as 
convallamarin ; the other acrid, somewhat resembling 
saponin, and known as convallarin; a resin is also 
present. 
CYPIIIPEDIUM (Lady’s Slipper). 
The dried rhizome and roots of Cypripedium pubes - 
cens Willdenow (Syn. C. hirsutum Miller), and Cypri- 
pedium parviflorum (Fam. Orchidaceie), perennial herbs 
native in woods and thickets of the Eastern and Cen- 
tral United States and Canada. 
Description. — Rhizome horizontal, somewhat tortu- 
ous and bent, 3 to 7 cm. long, 2 to 4 mm. in diameter; 
externally dark brown, annulate from scars of bud- 
scales, upper surface with numerous large, sometimes 
depressed scars, under and side portions with numer- 
ous roots and few root-scars; fracture short; internally 
light brown, cortex about 0'5 mm. thick, central cylin- 
der somewhat porous, and with numerous circular 
groups of fibro vascular bundles; odor heavy, distinct; 
taste bitter, somewhat pungent. 
Roots 3 to 11 cm. long, 0'5 to 15 mm. in diameter; 
externally light or dark brown, longitudinally wrin- 
kled; fracture somewhat fibrous; internally, cortex 
white, central cylinder yellowish. 
Constituents. — Volatile oil, several resins, a bitter 
glucosidal principle, tannin, starch, calcium oxalate, 
and ash about 6 per cent. 
