Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Feb.,  188-i.  j 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
73 
Jasminum  Betchei. — Tall-climbing,  glabrous;  leaves  opposite,  uni- 
foliolate;  leaf-stalks,  together  with  their  stalklets,  rather  short;  leaflets 
large,  roundish-ovate,  acutely  narrowed  at  the  summit,  of  chartaceous 
consistence,  three-nerved  towards  the  base,  thinly  and  distantly  veined ; 
peduncles  mostly  axillary,  bearing  1  to  3  flowers  on  long  pedicels ;  teeth 
of  the  calyx  4  to  5,  deltoid,  minutely  pointed,  much  shorter  than  the 
tube;  corolla  very  long,  pure  white,  divided  not  much  beyond  the 
middle  into  6  to  10  lanceolate-linear  gradually  acuminated  lobes,  its 
tube  narrow,  only  slightly  widened  upwards ;  anthers  elongated,  linear- 
cylindrical,  short-pointed,  on  very  thin  filaments  near  or  above  the 
middle  of  the  tube;  style  deeply  enclosed;  fruit-calyx  not  angular; 
fruitlets  very  large,  1  to  3  seeded;  pericarp  coriaceous,  outside  nearly 
black.  On  the  edges  of  the  forests  in  the  lower  mountain-region  of 
Apia — only  once  found. —  Chem.  and  D^nig.,  Audral.  /SuppL,  August, 
1881,  p.  29. 
The  Fruit  of  Leptomeria  acida,  or  Australia  currant,  according  to 
E.  H.  Rennie,  owes  its  intensely  sour  taste  chiefly  to  malic  acid,  which, 
besides  small  quantities  of  citric  and  tartaric  acids,  is  present  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  40  per  ct.  in  the  residue  obtained  by  neutralizing 
the  juice  with  sodium  carbonate  and  evaporating  to  dryness.  The 
ash  contains  a  considerable  quantity  of  patassium  carbonate  with  mere 
traces  of  calcium  carbonate. — Jour.  Ch.  Soe.,  1881,  p.  1033;  J.  Roy. 
Soc,  N.  8.  W.,  xiv. 
The  bark  of  Persea  Lingue  [Laurus  caustica)  is  described  by  P.  N. 
Arata  as  occurring  in  commerce  in  curved  pieces  10  to  15  cm.  broad 
and  5  to  9  mm.  thick ;  it  has  a  peculiar  aromatic  odor,  the  sp.  grav. 
*896,  a  rugged  outer  surface,  a  dark  orange  color,  lighter  around  the 
irregular  cracks  and  variegated  with  zones  of  white  spots,  and  a 
smooth  inner  surface  with  slight  longitudinal  ridges  and  of  a  color 
like  that  of  the  outer  surface.  The  tree  is  25  to  30  feet  high,  has  a 
stem  about  two  feet  in  circumference,  and  is  widely  diffused  in  Chili 
between  the  provinces  of  Acongaqua  and  Chiloe,  and  in  the  Argentine 
Republic  between  Limay  and  Neuquen.  The  bark  was  found  to  con- 
tain moisture  2'53,  constituents  soluble  in  ether  (resin,  volatile  oil, 
little  tannin)  17*71,  constituents  soluble  in  alcohol  (tannin)  24*63,  con- 
stituents soluble  in  water  (proteids,  gum,  sugar,  etc.)  14'55,  constituents 
soluble  in  hydi-ochloric  acid  (calcium  oxalate,  etc.)  2*63 ;  wood  flbre 
and  loss  37'95  per  cent.  Linguc-tannin  CiyHj^O,,  is  i-eddish  white, 
soluble  in  alcohol,  acetic  ether,  acetone,  methyl  al(H)hol,  slightly  solu- 
