460 
Belladonna  and  Scopolia. 
(Am  Jour.  Pharru. 
\     October,  1908. 
recently  that  the  drug  has  come  into  prominence,  the  rhizome  and 
roots  now  being  official  in  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia.  The  habitat 
of  the  plant,  according  to  v.  Wettstein,1  includes  the  region  of  the 
Eastern  Alps,  the  Carpathian  Mountains,  and  the  adjoining  country, 
the  plant  therefore  being  much  more  limited  in  its  range  than  that 
of  Atropa  Belladonna.  The  natural  history  of  the  drugs  derived 
from  Scopolia  carniolica  has  been  given  by  Holmes,3  Maisch  4  and 
Nevinny.5  Greenish  6  has  compared  the  histological  characters  of 
the  rhizome  of  Scopolia  carniolica  with  those  of  the  root  of  Atropa 
Belladonna,  and  Moeller 7  has  made  a  comparative  study  of  the 
leaves  of  these  two  plants. 
Fig.  i  .  .4 ,  longitudinal  section  of  portion  of  rhizome  of  Scopolia  carniolica  showing  reticulate 
tracheae;  B,  longitudinal  section  of  portion  of  the  root  of  Atropa  Belladonna  showing  wood  fibers 
(w)  with  simple,  oblique  pores,  tracheae  (s)  w'th  simple  pores,  tracheae  (t)  with  bordered  pores, 
and  parenchyma  cells  (p)  containing  starch. 
Having  occasion  the  past  summer  to  examine  belladonna  roots 
and  herb,  and  scopolia  rhizome,  roots  and  herb,  and  owing  to  the 
need  of  more  definite  comparative  information  for  identifying  and 
differentiating  these  drugs  in  both  the  crude  and  powdered  con- 
dition by  reason  of  their  frequent  admixture,  it  seemed  to  me  to 
be  desirable  to  present  my  results  at  this  time. 
Belladonna  Root. — The  following  tissues  and  elements  are  found 
in  belladonna  root :  Parenchyma  containing  starch  and  cryptocrys- 
talline  crystals  of  calcium  oxalate,  which  is  by  far  the  most  abun- 
dant tissue  present ;  tracheae,  or  ducts ;  wood  fibers ;  cork,  and 
occasionally  bast  fibers.    The  starch  grains  are  single  or  2-  to  3- 
