330 
Useful  Plants  of  Verbenacece. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       July,  1885. 
ON  SOME  USEFUL  PLANTS  OF  THE  NATURAL  ORDER 
OF  VERBENACEiE. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Head  before  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Associatioti^  June  3,  1885. 
A  comparison  of  the  drugs  recognized  by  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  a 
foreign  country  with  those  admitted  into  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the 
United  States  frequently  reveals  the  fact  that  certain  plants  indigenous 
to  or  commonly  cultivated  in  both  these  countries  may  have  been 
deemed  of  sufficient  importance  for  official  recognition  in  one,  while 
they  are  little  used  in  the  other.  Such  a  comparison  very  naturally 
invites  also  to  a  closer  inquiry  into  the  usefulness  of  other  plants 
which  are  botanically  allied  to  those  yielding  officinal  drugs.  Among 
the  pharmacopoeias  which  have  been  published  during  the  past  few 
years,  those  of  France  (Codex  medicamentarius,  Paris,  1884)  and  of 
Mexico  (Nueva  Farmacopea  Mexicana,  Mexico,  1884),  are  the  most 
comprehensive  in  having  admitted  numerous  drugs  of  vegetable  origin 
which  are  comparatively  unknown  here.  Inquiries  in  the  direction 
pointed  out  before  show  that,  in  many  cases,  these  drugs  are  the  represen- 
tatives of  a  much  larger  number  derived  from  plants  of  the  same  natural 
order  which  were  formerly  employed  in  medicine,  or  are  in  popular 
use  in  their  native  countries  as  medicinal  agents;  and  that  in  the  same 
order  other  plants  are  found  which  are  more  or  less  valuable  in  the 
arts. 
In  laying  before  you  some  of  the  results  of  my  inquiry,  a  natural 
order  has  been  selected  which  has  thus  far  not  yielded  any  drug  pos- 
sessing very  important  medicinal  properties,  but  which,  nevertheless 
seems  to  be  deserving  of  some  attention,  inasmuch  as  a  number  of  the 
plants  are  very  commonly  cultivated  for  ornamental  purposes,  while  a 
limited  number  of  mostly  homely  weeds  are  indigenous  to  our  country. 
The  natural  order  of  verbenacese  comprises  in  the  neighborhood  of 
seven  hundred  species,  which  are  mostly  indigenous  to  tropical  coun- 
tries, only  few  species  being  at  home  in  the  temperate  zones.  The 
tropical  species  are  mostly  trees  or  shrubs,  and  are  frequently  aromatic, 
while  the  species  of  temperate  climes  are  usually  herbaceous  and  not 
fragrant,  at  least  not  to  the  same  degree  as  many  of  those  growing  in 
the  tropics. 
One  of  the  most  important  species  is  the  East  Indian  teak  tree^ 
Tectona  grandis,  Lin.fiL,  wdiich  grows  in  Hindoostan,  Siam  and  the 
