THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[September 21, 1872. 
230 
tho tall Iris pallida with its pallid blue, and the more 
lowly I. germanica with its deop azure flowers, con¬ 
spicuously gladden the springtide. It is in August that 
the rhizomes are harvested. They are so superficially 
set in the soil as to require little labour in uprooting, 
and, as they are dug up, a sufficient quantity of offshoots 
are selected each with a small portion of rhizome 
attached—a mere fragment suffices. These are set 
aside in the cellar or other convenient damp place, 
and kept until the cooler and more rainy month of 
October sets in, when they are planted in the cleared 
places, and speedily take root. It requires, at the least, 
two years for the plants to form another crop of rhizomes 
sufficient for removal. As soon as the rhizomes are 
taken up, they are deprived of their outer integuments 
either by peeling or scraping, and the denuded wood is 
carefully laid out in the sun, great attention being used 
to. avoid bruising, which discolours the product when 
dried. The odour of the drug developes itself as soon 
as the rhizomes are thoroughly dry, and it is said that it 
continues to improve up to a couple of years, but this 
does not prevent the country people from selling the 
crop at once. Although the iris crop is comparatively 
a side product, it is of sufficient importance to be shared 
by the landowner according to the Tuscan system, which 
provides that the owner of the soil shall find the plant, 
and the contadino, or labourer, his toil,—the profit to 
be divided equally between them. A group of these small 
farms or poderi is overlooked by a fattore, or bailiff, 
on behalf of the owner, all purchase of implements or 
cattle being managed by him; happy is the man on 
whom he smiles, so great is his influence on the farm. 
The severe frosts of last winter, whereby perished 
many thousands of olive-trees, besides other fruit and 
ornamental plants, have given us a clue to the present 
distribution of the orris plants, for on a visit with Mr. 
D. Hanbury, to one of the few spots where the three 
enumerated species flourish without cultivation, we found 
Iris Jlorentina so nipped by the frost that the upper buds 
were entirely rotten, and the plants themselves so back¬ 
ward and puny as to present a lamentable contrast with 
the Iris pallida , w r hose tall, flaunting inflorescence, un¬ 
like the other two species, was quite double the height 
of the leaves. I have remarked that this species is to 
lie seen planted higher up on the mountain side than the 
I. germanica , and this would seem to give it the pre¬ 
ference for hardiness. The white papyraceous bracts 
of the I. pallida are very conspicuous, and offer a dis¬ 
tinctive character in comparison with the I. germanica , 
w T hich has the bracts less developed and of a green colour. 
The bracts of the Florentine orris would seem to have a 
texture between those of the other two, but are not larger 
than those of I. germanica. It is very difficult, perhaps im¬ 
possible, to distinguish the fresh rhizomes of the different 
species, although, as Mr. Hanbury pointed out to me, the 
lobes of Florentine orris root, seem more cylindrical than 
the other species; moreover, it appeared to me, that the 
rhizomes were less forked than with the other species. In 
conclusion, I may state my belief that in some future 
time Iris pallula will become more extensively cultivated, 
as being the most hardy of the three species, and the 
one best suited to resist the cooler air of the mountains, 
or the scorching heat of the lower elevations. 
Mr. Hanbury : I may be allowed just to say that I had 
the pleasure last spring of visiting, partly in company with 
Mr. Groves and partly by myself, many spots in the 
neighbourhood of Florence where these plants were 
growing. I also observed the distribution of the 
plant, and noticed how it was restricted to the neigh¬ 
bourhood of I lorence. On going southward, or on going 
towards Ancona, one was very soon out of the district 
of iris cultivation. In fact, it appears quite confined to 
a comparatively small area of which Florence may be 
taken as the centre. What Mr. Groves says about the 
species is borne out by my own observations. He says that 
these three species are distinct, and that Iris Jlorentina, 
which we have been accustomed to regard as the chief 
source of commercial orris root, is that which affords least 
of it. In fact, orris root may be said to be derived more 
from Iris pallida and Iris germanica than from Iris 
Jlorentina. 
Mr. Haselden : I cannot add anything to the his¬ 
tory of the Iris Jlorentina or Iris germanica ; but I may 
make a few practical observations upon the rhizome 
of the iris which is supplied to us in the course of busi¬ 
ness. The employment of the orris root, as we commonly 
call it, is chiefly in the form of powder for tooth powders. 
Also it is largely employed by chemists and perfumers 
for making tincture and used as an adjunct, or, as it 
were,, a. vehicle for, other perfumes. There is this 
peculiarity about orris root—that, like some other per¬ 
fumes that I may mention, musk, ambergris, and vanilla, 
it is almost impossible to exhaust it of its odour. Orris 
root contains, as far as my experience goes—(I have 
not gone into .the matter very minutely)—a resinous 
gum, a mucilaginous gum, a large amount of starch, and, 
authors say, an essential oil. I have tried, but without 
success, to obtain that essential oil. An oil has been, 
introduced from Germany as the essential oil of orris 
root, and at a very large price, but I am inclined to 
think that it is not the pure essential oil. In order to 
obtain the essential oil of orris root, distillation with 
water, is the process. The difficulty with it is that it 
contains so much mucilage and so much starch that it is 
necessary to keep it constantly stirred before it arrives 
at the boiling-jDoint, at wdiicli point the oil would come 
over. Unless it is kept constantly stirred, before it comes 
to the boiling-point it is almost sure to stick to the 
bottom of the still and become spoilt, or else it boils over. 
By making a tincture of orris root a strong perfume fs 
obtainable by the employment of rectified spirits; but when 
distilled in order to get a colourless tincture, a large- 
amount of the perfume remains behind along with the 
resin. The odour of the distillate is very faint. Water 
extracts a large amount of the perfume ; but it is use¬ 
less except as a substitute for common "water in distilling 
for the oil. Orris root is used very much by fashionable 
people, as a preservative or, rather, as a corrective mas¬ 
ticatory ; and the custom, with those who are particular 
about it, is to have the orris root soaked in water and 
cut into very fine pieces and then dried ; they carry it in 
the pocket, and use it as they require it. But I find 
that it is possible to get the odour of the orris root if 
distilled with some essential oil. I obtain a combination 
of the oil with which it is distilled with a strong odour 
of the orris root at the same time. It appears that some 
essential oils have the power of not only dissolving, but 
of positively extracting, and carrying over in the process 
of distillation, the odour of the orris root. There is, of 
course, a waste of the original oil in the operation, but 
still for any one who is cuiious in the perfume of orris, 
it is really one of the best ways of obtaining it. Ma¬ 
cerate k the orris root well in water, first of all; then 
slice it, and in that way the starch which abounds is less 
troublesome. There is no oil I know of which answers 
the purpose better than that commonly known as oil 
of geranium, the article used to adulterate otto of roses. 
In that way, w r ith care, you may get over the original 
oil of geranium very strongly impregnated with the 
flavour of the orris root. That is the only way in 
w r hich I have been able to obtain anything like oil of 
orris root. There is this peculiarity about orris. Like 
musk, it never seems to lose its odour entirely. 
Mr. Umney : I rise not to make any remarks upon 
Mr. Groves’s paper, but merely to set at rest the doubt 
which. Mr. Haselden seems to have of the existence of 
essential oil of orris root. Having distilled during the 
past eight years several tons of the root, I can assure 
him such a body is to be met with in commerce, very 
much resembling in appearance cacao butter. The 
proportion of essential oil obtained is about one part 
