Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Feb.,  1885,  / 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
107 
and  fast  hands  much  more.  Each  boll  produces  about  two  pounds 
of  very  lon^  stapled  cotton,  superior  to  the  Sea  Island,  and  at  the 
bottom  of  the  boll  there  are  from  four  to  six  seeds,  resembling  per- 
simmon seed.  This  new  cotton,  therefore,  needs  no  ginning.  Such 
a  plant  w^ould  revolutionize  the  cotton  industry  of  the  South. — Florida 
Times-  Union, 
Epilobium  angustifolium,  Linne. — J.  W.  Chickering,  Jr.,  relates  in 
"  Botanical  Gazette,'^  that  a  tract  of  about  four  thousand  acres  of  cleared 
land  in  Maine,  from  which  the  underbrush  had  been  burned  in  June^ 
was  in  the  following  August  covered  with  the  plant  named  flowering. 
The  plant  is  locally  known  as  fireweed,  which  name  is  usually  applied 
to  Erechthites  hieracifolia,  Rafinesque,  and  in  some  localities  to 
Erigeron  canadense,  Linne.  Senecio  gracilis,  Pursh,  is  also  said  to  be 
called  fireweed  in  some  places. 
Crescentia  Cujete,  Linne. — The  fruit  of  the  calabash  tree  was 
analyzed  by  Dr.  Peckolt,  who  ascertained  the  presence  of  an  aromatic 
compound,  bitter  principle,  two  resins,  tannin,  tartaric  acid,  malic  acid, 
a  dark  blue  coloring  matter,  sugar,  etc.,  and  isolated,  a  new  acid, 
named  crescentic  acid,  which  is  precipitated  by  lead  acetate.  An  alco- 
holic extract  of  the  pulp  acts  as  a  mild  aperient,  in  doses  of  O'l  Gm. 
and  as  a  drastic  without  griping,  in  doses  of  0*5  Gm.  Boiled  with 
water  and  vinegar  the  pulp  is  used  as  an  application  in  erisypelas. — 
Rundschau,  N.  Y.,  August,  1884,  p.  166. 
Bartung  is  a  seed  in  great  repute  in  Persia  for  dysentery.  A  sample 
of  the  seed  received  by  Colonel  Beddome,  F.  L.  S.,  from  Persia,  was 
sowed  at  Kew,  and  according  to  W.  T.  T.  Dyer,  turned  out  to  be 
Plantago  major.  Dr.  Forbes  Watson  in  his  Index  to  Native  and 
Scientific  Names,^'  gives  the  following  identifications  of  bartung  with 
various  species  of  Plantago,  viz.,  PI.  lanceolata,  Lin.  (Irvine),  PL 
major,  Lin.  (Honigberger)  and  PI.  Psyllium,  Lin.  (Birdwood). — Phar, 
Jour,  and  Trans.,  Aug.  9,  1884,  p.  101. 
Under  the  name  of  semences  de  psyllium  (herbe  aux  puces)  the 
French  Codex  recognizes  the  seeds  of  PI.  Psyllium,  Lin.,  and  (?)  of 
PI.  arenaria,  Waldstein  et  Kitaibel.  The  seeds  of  the  latter  are  some- 
what smaller  and  darker  colored  than  those  of  the  preceding  species. 
The  larger  and  lighter  colored  seeds  of  PI.  Cynops,  Lin.,  are  said  to 
be  likewise  used  as  psyllium  seed  or  fleaseed.  The  mucilage  obtained 
from  these  seeds  is  stated  to  be  used  in  Southern  Europe  in  the  finish- 
ing processes  of  muslin. 
