Jan. ij, 1923 
Poisonous Properties of Bikukulla cucullaria 
7i 
Leaves dark green; scapes 1 to 2 feet high; longer than the leaves; 
flowers deep pink. Mountain rocks and river gorges, southern Appalach¬ 
ian Mountains from Wills Mountain, Allegany County, Md., south to 
North Carolina and Tennessee. 
CHEMICAL EXAMINATION 
As might be expected in a group so nearly related to the poppy family, 
species of Bikukulla have been found to contain alkaloids. Wenzell (7) 3 
in a study of Bikukulla canadensis (Corydalis formosa) reports the 
presence of an alkaloid which he assumed, on very insufficient evidence, 
to be corydaline. Fischer and Soell (j) made an examination of B. 
cucullaria (Dicentra cucullaria) and were able to identify protopine and 
also to isolate minute quantities of two other alkaloids in crystalline 
form, which they characterized only by their melting points and certain 
other physical properties. Battandier (2) discovered protopine in B. 
formosa (DC.) Howell (D. formosa). Heyl (5) made a more thorough 
study of the same plant and observed that protopine was the chief 
alkaloid, besides isolating two others which he differentiated by their 
physical properties. 
Gadamer (4) found protopine in B. spectabilis ( D . spectabilis) , with a 
yield of 1 per cent, and surmised the presence of other alkaloids. Asahina 
(r) obtained a crystalline alkaloid from B. pusilla (Sieb. & Zucc.) Coville 
(D. pusilla ), which he named dicentrine, and also isolated protopine 
from the plant. He made a very complete chemical study of dicentrine 
and concluded that it was identical with one of the unnamed alkaloids 
found by Heyl in B. formosa having a melting point of 169° C. Dicentrine 
was studied from a pharmacological standpoint by Iwakawa (6), who 
found that it produced narcosis when administered to small animals 
in moderate doses, whereas larger quantities caused convulsions, weaken¬ 
ing of the heart, and respiratory paralysis. 
A search of the literature has failed to reveal any publication on the 
constituents of Bikukulla eximia. 
Table I brings out the more essential facts in the preceding summary. 
Table I .—Comparative chemical analyses of species of Bikukulla made by various 
investigators 
bikukulla cucullaria, Fischer and Soell. 
Alkaloids. 
Melting point. 
Solubility. 
Form. 
Color tests: 
Concentrated 
Protopine. 
206° C. 
f Soluble in alcohol.. 
(Soluble in ether.... 
Cryst. pr. 
23 i°C. 
Insoluble in alcohol. 
Soluble in CHC 1 3 . 
Needles, rosettes... 
! Red to Brown. 
Red to violet. 
Red to violet. 
Red to yellow. 
215 0 c. 
►Spluble in alcohol. 
Fine granular. 
H 2 S 0 4 . 
Erdmann’s . . 
Froede’s.... 
Concentrated 
HNO. 
3 Reference is made by number (italic) to “Literature cited,” p. 78. 
20517—23-2 
