39» 
Botany  and  Materia  Medica. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,18£6. 
The  pure  tannin  gave  reactions  which  indicated  its  close  relation- 
ship with  that  from  oak  bark,  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  ultimate 
analysis. 
Specimens  of  the  cabbage  palm  examined  yielded  the  following 
percentages : 
Ash  in  Abso-   Tannin  in  Ab- 
lutely  Dry       solutely  Dry 
Moisture.       Material.  Material. 
Section  near  ground   10*04  7*8o  179 
Section  near  top   8-35  378  i'54 
The  credit  has  frequently  been  given  to  tannin  for  enabling  the 
wood  of  this  palm  to  withstand  the  attack  of  the  teredo,  but  it  is 
evident  from  these  figures  that  this  property  must  be  attributed  to 
something  else. 
C.  Hartwich,  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  1 896, 
A  New  Aclultera-  P-  29°>  describes  the  macroscopical  and  anat- 
tion  of  Senega.     omical  characters  of  a  new  adulterant  of  sen- 
ega met  in  the  European  market.  The  author 
decides  that  it  is  the  underground  portion  of  Triosteum  perfoliatum, 
L.,  a  North  American  plant,  known  under  the  common  names  of 
fever-root,  wild  coffee  and  horse  gentian,  and  growing  extensively 
terranean  at  a  depth  of  from  2  to  4  feet ;  2  to  13  feet  long,  6  to  8  inches  in 
diameter ;  possessing  ascending  or  erect  branches,  and  fed  by  roots  about  Yz 
inch  in  diameter,  and  penetrating  4  to  10  feet  deeper.  Exceptionally,  in  very 
rich  soil,  the  trunk  will  rise  vertically  even  6  or  8  feet  high.  The  petioles  are 
densely  spiney-serrated,  whence  its  name,  though  in  dense  shade  these  serra- 
tions are  wanting.  In  hummocks  the  foliage  is  of  a  deep  green,  while  in  the 
open  level  woodlands  it  exhibits  a  yellowish  shade,  and  on  the  coast-fringe  it 
is  of  a  distinctly  bluish-green.  The  time  of  blooming  varies  from  April  to  June. 
The  fruit,  when  fully  ripe,  becomes  black  and  glaucous.  The  branching 
spadices,  of  which  there  are  several,  form  large,  pendulous  panicles  in  fruit, 
18  to  24  inches  long,  weighing  6  to  8  pounds.  Four  panicles,  yielding  40 
pounds  of  fruit,  have  been  collected  from  one  plant  at  Ormund.  The  fruit  is 
a  one-seeded  drupe,  oblong-ovoid  in  form,  ^  to  1  inch  in  length  and  about  half 
as  broad.  The  epicarp  is  rather  thick  and  tough,  and  strongly  cutinized.  The 
sarcocarp  is  slightly  fibrous  or  stringy.  The  putamen  is  crustaceous,  thin, 
smooth  and  free  from  the  contained  seed."  Prof.  Coblentz  obtained,  on  distil- 
lation, a  small  amount  of  volatile  oil.  Extracted  with  benzol,  the  fruit  yielded 
a  small  quantity  of  essential  oil,  a  trace  of  an  alkaloid,  an  indifferent  resin,  a 
non-drying  saponifiable  oil  and  a  fat.  The  alcoholic  extract  consisted  largely 
of  glucose  and  the  acidulated  water  extract  of  vegetable  albumin,  dextrin  and 
glucose. 
