556  Peucedanum  Eurycarpum.  {Am'ji™l'£s£rm' 
per  cent,  of  mucilage,  12'62  per  cent,  of  dextrin  and  glucose,  1*30 
per  cent,  cane  sugar,  35*44  per  cent,  cellulose,  12*50  per  cent,  ash,  and 
small  quantities  of  a  bitter  principle. 
This  last  constituent  was  partly  removed  from  the  drug  by  ether,  but 
alcohol  was  found  to  be  the  best  solvent.  On  removing  the  alcohol, 
dissolving  in  water,  agitating  the  aqueous  solution  with  ether  and 
evaporating  the  ethereal  solution  a  semi-crystalline  substance  was  ob- 
tained, which  possessed  a  very  bitter  taste  and  an  acid  reaction.  This 
substance  did  not  reduce  Fehling's  solution  either  before  or  after  boil- 
ing with  acid  and  gave  none  of  the  reactions  of  the  alkaloids. 
These  two  drugs  resemble  each  other  in  composition,  although  it  is 
certain  the  bitter  principles  are  different.  One  is  a  glucoside  while  the 
other  is  probably  an  organic  acid.  No  distinct  evidence  of  tannin  in 
either  plant  was  obtained. 
SOME  INDIAN  FOOD  PLANTS. 
III.    Peucedanum  Eurycarpum,  Coulter  and  Rose. 
By  Henry  Trimble. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy. — No.  61. 
[Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  October  15, 1889.] 
This  food  plant  was,  like  the  preceding,1  furnished  me  by  Dr.  V. 
Harvard,  U.  S.  Army  Surgeon  at  Fort  Abraham  Lincoln,  Dakota, 
together  with  the  following  description. 
"  The  genus  Peucedanum,  as  defined  by  Coulter  and  Pose  in  their 
i  Revision  of  North  American  Umbellifera?,'  is  the  largest  of  that 
order.  Of  the  46  species  therein  described,  9  have  edible  tubers  and 
are  more  or  less  used  by  the  Indians  as  food  plants.  Of  these  9,  the 
species  now  under  consideration  is  not  one  of  the  best,  nor  is  it  proba- 
bly the  worst.  It  is  described  as  follows  :  '  Perennial  herb,  caulescent, 
branching,  a  foot  or  two  high,  more  or  less  pubescent,  frequently  from 
a  much  enlarged  tuberous  root ;  leaves  ternate-pinnately  decompound, 
with  small  linear  cuspidate  segments;  umbel 3 — 12 rayed,  withinvolu- 
cels  of  lanceolate  acuminate  often  united  bractlets;  flowers  white, 
inconspicuous;  fruit  broadly  elliptical,  glabrous,  5  to  9  lines  long,  3  to  4 
lines  broad,  with  wings  as  broad  as  body  or  broader,  and  filiform 
dorsal  and  intermediate  ribs ;  oil  tubes  large,  solitary  in  the  intervals, 
1Am.  Jour.  Phar.,  1888,  p.  593,  and  1889,  p.  4. 
