THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
fUNE,  1908 
CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION  OF  IPOMCEA  PURPUREA. 
By  Frederick  B.  Power  and  Harold  Rogerson. 
A  Contribution  from  the  Wellcome  Chemical  Research  Laboratories,  London. 
Tpomcea  purpurea,  Roth  (syn.  Ipomoea  conge  sta}  R,  Br.,  Convol- 
vulus purpureus,  Linne,  Pharbitis  hispida,  Choisy),  Fam.  Convolvu- 
lacece,  is  indigenous  to  the  tropical  regions  of  both  hemispheres.  It 
is  largely  cultivated  in  temperate  climates  on  account  of  the  beauty 
of  its  flowers,  being  known  as  the  common  Morning  Glory  (com- 
pare Gray's  "  Manual  of  Botany,"  sixth  edition,  p.  369). 
The  above-mentioned  plant  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  Messrs. 
Burroughs,  Wellcome  &  Co.,  London,  a  few  years  ago  by  Mr.  J. 
Medley  Wood,  A.L.S.,  Director  of  the  Natal  Botanic  Gardens,  Dur- 
ban, South  Africa,  and  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Wood  we  are  in- 
debted for  the  material  employed  in  this  investigation,  which  was 
specially  collected  under  his  supervision  for  the.  purpose. 
The  interest  pertaining  to  this  subject  depends  upon  the  fact  that 
the  stems  and  roots  of  the  respective  plant,  called  by  the  natives  of 
South  Africa  "  i-Jalapa,"  are  used  by  them  as  an  aperient  medi- 
cine, and  are  believed  to  be  as  valuable  for  this  purpose  as  true 
jalap.  It  is,  however,  well  known  that  among  the  300-4OO  species 
of  the  genus  Ipomceay  which  are  distributed  throughout  tropical  and 
temperate  countries,  there  are  many  which  possess  purgative  prop- 
erties similar  to  those  of  jalap,  and  a  number  of  these  plants,  or 
the  resins  obtained  from  them,  have  in  fact  been  employed  to  some 
extent  medicinally  (compare  "  The  National  Standard  Dispensa- 
tory," p.  836;  "United  States  Dispensatory,"  nineteenth  edition, 
p.  675  ;  "  Pharmacographia  Indica,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  527  et  seq.). 
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