ON CORTEX PRUNI VIRGINIANS. 
109 
I had hoped to be able to extend these experiments to the 
Digitalis, and for this purpose set out a number of the plants, but 
an unfortunate occurrence destroyed them while young, and th us 
prevented my doing so. 
ON CORTEX PRUNI VIRGINIANS. 
(Being an Inaugural Essay presented to the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.) 
By Joseph S. Perot, of Philadelphia. 
The tree producing this bark, called by De Candolle, Cerasus 
serotina, by Michaux, Cerasus Virginiana, is to be found through- 
out almost all parts of the United States. It is particularly abun- 
dant and fully developed in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee ; and 
also abounds in Pennsylvania and New J ersey. In some instances 
it rivals in beauty and magnificence the finest productions of the 
American forest ; but, as usually met with,, seldom exceeds 30 or 40 
feet in height, with a trunk from 10 to 12 inches in diameter. 
The general surface of the bark at the first glance appears to be 
smooth, but on closer inspection is found to be rough and black- 
ish, detaching itself in semicircular plates, which adhere for a 
time to the tree, previous to dropping off ; these are several 
inches long, from half an inch to two inches in diameter, and 
become somewhat curved laterally from drying. The foliage, 
though handsome, is thin compared with that of some of our 
other trees ; the leaves are from two to four inches in length, sup- 
ported alternately on petioles, serrate, pointed, and of a green 
color ; the flowers are white and appear in spikes. The inner 
bark is the part employed in medicine. 
Among the indigenous plants of the American Continent, 
there are few whose qualities are more valued or which are more 
extensively resorted to, both in the regular medical, and also in 
domestic practice, than the Prunus Virginiana ; the following 
extract from the Dispensatory of Messrs. Wood and Bache will 
show the reputation in which it is held as a remedial agent. 
" This bark is among the most valuable of our indigenous re- 
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