^""'May'^'iSr™"}  Gleanings  in  Ilateria  Medica.  251 
exported  from  West  Africa  under  the  name  of  peach  root.  Heekell 
and  SclilagdenliaufFen  consider  it  valuable  as  an  astringent  and  febri- 
fuge and  as  a  yellow  dye.  The  bark  is  sometimes  mixed  with  the 
bark  of  Morinda  citrifolia,  M.  longiflora,  (r.  Don,  and  M.  Doun- 
dakee,  Heckel,  the  latter  being  regaided  by  Oliver  as  a  variety  of  the 
second  species.  Doundake  bark  from  Sierra  Leone,  Avhen  young,  is 
grayish,  smooth,  somewhat  fissured,  and  has  small,  hard,  distant  excres- 
cences of  a  darker  color ;  older  bark  becomes  more  blackish,  the  cracks 
multiply  and  the  epidermis  falls  off  as  a  reddish  dust;  the  inner  sur- 
face is  ochrey  yellow  and  striated  longitudinally;  the  liber  fibres  sepa- 
rate easily  in  lamellae;  the  bark  has  a  bitter  taste  and  tinges  the  saliva 
yellow,  while  the  corky  layer  is  astringent  only.  Doundake  bark  from 
Boke  (Rio  Nunez)  differs  in  the  absence  of  the  blackish  excrescences, 
the  inner  surface  is  of  a  darker  yellow,  the  outer  layer  is  less  astrin- 
gent and  the  liber  is  more  bitter,  but  the  anatomical  structure  is  iden- 
tical. The  authors  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  the  alkaloidal  principle 
indicated  by  Bochefontaine,  Feris  and  Marcus,  but  have  found  the 
bitterness  to  be  due  to  two  nitrogenous  coloring  principles  of  a  resinoid 
character,  differing  in  their  solubility  in  alcohol  and  water  and  having 
the  formulas  C28HjgNOi3  and  CigH^gNOg ;  the  other  constituents  found 
are  glucose,  traces  of  tannin  and  a  tasteless  jirinciple  soluble  in  potassa. 
The  morindas  yield  a  bitter  and  astringent  bark. — Phar.  Jour,  and 
Trans.,  Jan.  31,  1885,  p.  614;  Compt  Bend.,  C,  69. 
Hedychiwn  spicatuni. — Nat.  ord.  Zingiberacete. — The  plant  is  a  na- 
tive of  the  Himalayas,  and  the  rhizome  is  known  in  Hindoostan  as 
kafur-kachri  or  kajour-kachri ,  and  is  kept  dried  in  slices  which  are  J  to 
f  inch  in  diameter  and  from  J  to  f  inch  in  thickness.  The  transverse 
section  is  white  and  starchy  and  exhibits  a  large  central  portion,  con- 
taining scattered  minute  vascular  bundles,  and  separated  by  a  faint 
line  from  the  cortical  portion.  Externally  the  pieces  are  covered  with 
a  tough,  wrinkled,  reddish-brown  epidermal  layer.  The  taste  is  aro- 
matic and  slightly  pungent  The  odor  may  be  described  as  interme- 
diate between  storax  and  rhubarb. 
A  proximate  analysis,  made  by  John  C.  Thresh,  gave  the  following 
results:  soluble  in  petroleum  ether  5  9,  soluble  in  alcohol  (indifferent 
substance  precipitated  by  tannin,  acid  resin,  etc.)  2-7,  glucoside  or  sugar 
1*0,  mucilage  2'8,  albuminoids  and  organic  acid  1-9,  starch  52-3, 
moisture  13'6,  ash  4*6,  cellulose,  etc.,  15*2  per  cent. 
The  benzin  extract  yielded  colorless,  inodorous,  tabular  crystals 
