550 
Nerium  Odorum. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      July,  1881. 
NERIUM  ODORUM,  Aiton. 
By  Henry  G.  Greenish. 
The  sweet-scented  oleander  is  much  cultivated  in  India  for  its  flow- 
ers, which  are  used  in  certain  religious  ceremonies  by  the  Hindus. 
All  parts  of  the  plant,  especially  the  root,  are  recognized  by  the  natives 
as  poisonous  ;  yet  it  is  prescribed  in  leprosy  and  other  diseases.  The 
root  has  a  grayish  wrinkled  bark,  which  is  internally  yellowish-green 
and  covers  a  soft  yellowish-gray  wood.  The  bark  is  composed  of 
about  10  roAvs  of  cork  cells,  followed  by  parenchymatous  tissue,  which 
is  traversed  longitudinally  by  numerous  laticiferous  vessels  and  is  free 
from  bast  fibres.  On  treating  sections  with  iodine  and  zinc  chloride, 
the  parenchymatous  cells  are  colored  blue  and  the  dried  latex  absorbs 
iodine,  assuming  a  yellow  color.  The  wood  consists  of  the  usual  ele- 
ments, wood-cells  and  vessels,  which  are  thin  walled  and  of  small 
diameter,  and  medullary  rays  composed  of  a  single  row  of  parenchy- 
matous cells  loaded  with  starch  grains.  A  sample  of  bark  examined 
was  found  to  be  internally  and  externally  of  a  gray-brown  color, 
bearing  some  resemblance  to  mezereon  bark,  from  whicli,  however,  its 
short  fracture  at  once  distinguished  it ;  the  parenchyma  contained  small 
starch  grains  and  crystals  of  calcium  oxalate,  also  numerous  groups  of 
bast  fibres  arranged  in  a  ring  around  the  wood. 
The  alcoholic  tincture  of  the  bark,  on  being  evaporated,  separated  a 
yellowish  oil  free  from  bitterness ;  the  residue  was  diluted  with  water, 
mixed  with  powdered  bole,  filtered  and  again  evaporated  to  a  small 
buik.  This  liquid  was  treated  with  petroleum  spirit  to  remove  fat, 
and  then  shaken  with  cliloroform,  whereby  an  oily  substance  was 
separated,  which  was  removed,  dried,  powdered,  waslied  with  chloro- 
form and  ether,  and  now  possessed  an  intensely  bitter  taste ;  this 
principle  is  called  neriodorein.  Tlie  chloroformic  solution  on  evapor- 
ation yielded  another  intensely  bitter  principle  called  nerlodorin.  The 
aqueous  liquid  still  possessed  a  bitter  taste,  due  to  the  presence  of 
some  neriodorein. 
Neriodorein  is  a  pale  lemon-yellow  -amorphous  powder,  of  an 
intensely  bitter  taste,  followed  by  a  numbing  sensation  lasting  a  con- 
siderable time.  It  is  insoluble  in  petroleum  spirit,  ether,  benzol, 
chloroform,  carbon  bisulphide,  amyl-alcohol  and  acetic  ether,  but  is 
easily  soluble  in  cold  water  and  in  alcohol ;  if  contaminated  with 
small  quantities  of  neriodorin,  it  becomes  extremely  hygroscopic. 
