330 
Cascara  Amarga. 
Am.  Jour.  ^Pharm. 
June,  1884. 
CASCARA  AMARGA— HONDURAS  BARK. 
By  F.  A.  Thompson,  Ph.C,  Detroit,  Michigan, 
Cascara  Amarga,  also  known  as  Honduras  Bark,  is  obtained  from  a 
tree  indigenous  to  Mexico.  A  description  of  this  tree  I  am  unable  to 
furnish.  Specimens  of  this  bark  have  been  submitted  to  Dr.  Vasey  of 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington,  for  examination,  result- 
ing in  the  opinion  that  it  belonged  to  the  genus  Picrainnia  (from  picros, 
bitter,  and  thamnos,  shrub),  which  numbers  no  less  than  twenty  species. 
Dr.  Vasey  having  only  two  varieties  in  his  possession  he  was  unable 
to  determine  the  exact  variety.  Picramnia  is  said  by  different  botanists 
to  belong  to  the  natural  order  Anacardiacese. 
The  bark  as  seen  in  commerce,  is  mostly  deprived  of  its  outer  bark 
which  is  from  one  to  three  millimeters  thick,  of  a  brownish-gray  color, 
striated,  and  much  divided  by  numerous  lougitudinal  fissures.  After 
being  immersed  in  water,  it  assumes  a  greenish-yellow  tint.  The  inner 
bark  is  of  a  deep-brown  color,  three  or  four  millimeters  thick,  hard, 
and  firm,  of  a  bitter  taste,  and  on  examination  of  a  transverse  section 
numerous  white  spots  are  to  be  seen,  which  appear  to  be  filled  with 
a  white  insoluble  inert  substance. 
Microscopical  Examination  : — The  outer  or  cork  bark  (ci)  is  composed 
of  twenty-five  or  thirty  rows  of  regular  thick-walled  cells,  filled  with 
red  coloring  matter.  The  middle  bark  is  composed  of  large,  irregular 
parenchyma  cells  (d)  making  up  the  greater  share  of  the  whole  bark. 
Throughout  this  portion  of  the.  bark  are  numerous  sclerenchyma  cells 
(b)  arranged  in  groups  and  also  one  to  three  rows  are  always  found 
close  to  the  outer  bark.  These  sclerenchyma  cells  make  a  prominent 
marking,  as  seen  with  naked  eye,  in  cross-section  fig.  2.  Also  at 
intervals,  are  one  to  three  ranked  series  of  sclerenchymatous  fibres  or 
bast-fibres  (c)  arranged  tangentially,  which  turn  brown  after  treatment 
with  iodine.  The  inner  bark  does  not  differ  very  much  from  the 
middle  except  it  is  divided  by  several  rows  of  medullary  rays  (e)  com- 
posed of  regular  cells. 
Chemical  Examination: — A  portion  of  drug  dried  at  110°  C  until 
constant  weight,  was  found  to  lose  10  per  cent,  as  moisture.  Another 
portion  was  incinerated,  leaving  a  white  ash  amounting  to  4*55  per 
cent. 
