72 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXIII, No. 2 
Tabi,E I.— Comparative chemical analyses of species of Bikukulla made by various in¬ 
vestigators —Continue d. 
bikukuixa Formosa, G. Heyl. 
Alkaloids. j Protopine. 
Melting point.| 201 ° to 202 0 C. 
Solubility.j. 
Form.I Needles. 
Color tests : ! 
Concentrated I Yellow. 
h 2 so 4 . I 
Erdmann’s ... .! Yellow to green. ... 
Froede’s.; Violet. 
Concentrated I Colorless. 
HNO. j 
168.5° C.! 142.5 0 C. 
[Soluble in H Br. ! Soluble in H Br. 
< salt. [ salt. 
[insoluble in alcohol.; Soluble in alcohol. 
Yellow needles.j White needles. 
Colorless to red vio- | Colorless, 
let. ; 
Blue.; Weak green. 
Deep blue.j Blue green. 
Colorless to brown. J Brown. 
BIKUKUIXA PUSIIXA, Y. Asahina. 
Alkaloids. 
Melting point. 
Solubility. 
Form. 
Color tests: 
Concentrated H 2 S 0 4 
Erdmann’s. 
Froede’s. 
Concentrated HNO . 
Protopine. 
207° C. 
Soluble in alcohol 
Soluble in ether. . 
Prisms. 
Yellow to blue. .. 
Yellow to violet. . 
Violet to blue. 
Colorless to brown 
Dicentrine. 
168-9° C. 
Soluble in hot al¬ 
cohol. 
.Soluble in CHC 1 3 . 
Prisms. 
Colorless to violet. 
Blue. 
Deep blue. 
Colorless to brown. 
It will be seen from Table I that protopine seems to be the alkaloid 
most common to the members of the genus, and if Asahina’s (1) sup¬ 
position is correct dicentrine is common to Bikukulla formosa and 
B . pusilla and possibly may be contained in others of the group. It 
seems not improbable that the protopine of Heyl (5) and Gadamer(^), 
melting at 201 0 C., may be a different body from that of Fischer (j) and 
Asahina(j), melting at 207° C. Some of the work summarized above 
is very incomplete, with conclusions often based on color reactions, 
which are notoriously deceptive. The physiological action of these 
alkaloids had not been studied, with the exception of protopine, which 
has long been known as one of the opium group, and dicentrine in 
Iwakawa’s(d) report. Neither of these two alkaloids would seem to 
possess sufficiently toxic qualities to account for the symptoms of pois¬ 
oning in animals fed with B. cucullaria (PI. 1, A) and B. canadensis 
(PI. 1, B). 
The material on which the following chemical work was done was 
gathered at Round Bottom, Va., in April, 1921, just previous to the 
flowering stage. The tops and roots of Bikukulla cucullaria , and only 
the roots of B. canadensis were used in the experiments. The tops of 
the B. cucullaria were dried and in good condition, but the roots of 
both plants were contaminated with soil which was removed by sieving 
in a stream of running water. They were then dried, first in the air 
and then in an oven at ioo° C., and ground fine in a mill. 
