A Survey for Alkaloids in Hawaiian Plants. II 
Carl E. Swanholm, 1 Harold St. John, 2 and Paul J. Scheuer 1 
With Part I 3 of this series a systematic survey 
for alkaloids in Hawaiian plants was initiated. 
This paper reports tests on 29 additional species 
as well as tests on different plant parts from 18 
of the species covered by Part I. 
All of the specimens tested were collected 
from living plants on the island of Oahu except 
for one, Curcuma xanthorrhiza. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
Mr. Irwin Lane of the Botany Department, 
University of Hawaii, kindly provided assistance 
in collecting and identifying specimens in the 
field. 
1 Department of Chemistry, University of Hawaii, 
Honolulu. 
2 Department of Botany, University of Hawaii, 
Honolulu. Manuscript received July 30, 1958. 
3 In Pacific Sci. 13(3) : 295-305. 
METHODS 
The testing methods devised for this survey 
have already been described (Swanholm et al., 
1959). The only modification in the testing 
procedure involves the extraction technique. 
EXTRACTION OF PLANT MATERIAL. About 2-5 
grams of the plant material was pulped in a 
Waring blender with 100 ml. water for 5-10 
minutes. The plant slurry was transferred to an 
Erlenmeyer flask and 5 ml. of concentrated hy- 
drochloric acid were added. The slurry was 
digested on a hot plate at about 80° C. for 6-12 
hours. The cooled slurry was filtered through fine 
paper and 0.2 ml. of the filtrate was used in each 
test. 
The information obtained by digesting with 
Prollius’ fluid appeared insufficient to warrant 
its continued use. 
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS IN TABLE 1 
The results of the spot tests are given in the following order and abbreviated form: 
BINOMIAL 
The accepted botanical name. The authority is omitted to conserve space. 
An asterisk (*) indicates introduced species. 
LOCAL NAME 
The Hawaiian or vernacular name, if known. 
LOCALITY 
The nearest town or other prominent map feature. 
DATE COLLECTED 
Date of actual collection in the field. 
DATE TESTED 
Date of actual application of spot tests. 
PLANT PART(s) 
B — bark, Br — branchlet, F — fruit, FI — flower, H — herb or whole plant, 
L — leaf, R — root or underground part, RB — root bark, S — seed, St — -stem, 
W — wood, I — immature, M— -mature. 
ALKALOID REAGENTS 
M — Mayer’s, P — Picric Acid (Hager’s), I — Iodine (Wagner’s), D — Drag- 
endorff’s, S — Sonnenschein’s, T — Silicotungstic Acid. 
PRECIPITATES 
The precipitates from the hydrochloric acid extract are classified on a tr 
(trace), + (light), + + (heavy) basis. A — indicates no precipitation and 
a ? indicates that the test was meaningless. 
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