AmFeb.?i?9hiarm'}      Vegetable  Drugs  Used  in  Mexico.  73 
from  the  detached  rootlets,  on  the  upper  side  with  imbricate,  scari- 
ous  brown  scales,  and  the  terminal  bud  surrounded  by  a  tuft  of 
white  hairs;  the  transverse  section  shows  inside  the  dark  cambium 
line  a  circle  of  linear  radiating  fibrovascular  bundles;  wood  white 
mottled  with  reddish;  pith  thin;  inodorous;  taste  astringent.  The 
rootlets  are  deeply  wrinkled  longitudinally.  The  drug  has  astrin- 
gent properties,  and  is  employed  in  the  place  of  comfrey. 
Rosa  Monctezumae,  Red.,  yields  una  de  gato,  the  hips,  which  are 
used  in  the  place  of  those  from  Rosa  canina,  Lin.,  of  Europe. 
Quillaia  Saponaria,  Molina.  The  alcoholic  tincture  of  the  bark  is 
used  for  emulsionizing  oils. 
Sapotacece. — Achras  Sapota,  Linn'e,  s.  Sapota  Achras,  Miller, 
grows  in  the  hot  districts  of  the  republic,  and  is  popularly  known  as 
chicozapote.  The  bark  is  from  5  to  12  mm.  thick,  externally  dark 
gray,  longitudinally  striate,  marked  with  roundish  leaf-scars,  with 
whitish  or  greenish  patches,  and  with  ridges  more  prominent  in  the 
thicker  bark  ;  inner  surface  dark  chestnut-brown  ;  fracture  fibrous  in 
the  inner  layer ;  odor  slight ;  taste  astringent  and  somewhat  bitter. 
Bernon  found  in  the  bark  an  alkaloid,  zapotine,  a  peculiar  acid,  zapo- 
tinic  acid,  and  crystallizable  sugar,  glucose,  starch,  mucilage,  pectin, 
albumin,  resins,  fat,  etc.  Dr.  Berthrand  employed  the  bark  as  a  stimu- 
lant and  antiperiodic. 
To  the  same  plant  is  also  referred  chicle,  reference  being  made  to 
a  thesis  by  A.  Uribe,  on  various  products  of  the  chicozapote,  and  it 
is  stated  that  a  similar  substance  is  prepared  from  the  leaves  and 
stem  of  Asclepias  lanuginosa,  which  grows  in  abundance  in  the  Valley 
of  Mexico.  Chicle  virgen,  which  is  yellowish  and  internally  white 
and  homogeneous,  is  prepared  from  the  fruit  by  allowing  the  juice  to 
ferment  for  a  few  days,  when  the  chicle  is  deposited  and  the  aqueous 
liquid  is  separated.  Chicle  comun  is  procured  from  the  milk  juice 
exuding  from  incisions  made  into  the  bark,  and  hardening  upon 
the  trunk  ;  it  is  externally  reddish  and  internally  rose-colored.  The 
constituents  found  by  Uribe  are  44-8  crystalline  resin  soluble  in 
ether  and  alcohol;  17-2  caoutchouc;  90  sugar;  6-4  gum;  3-2 
starch,  coloring  matters  and  salts,  the  balance  being  water  and  loss. 
Chrysophyllum  glycyphloeum,  Casaretti.  Monesia  has  tonic, 
astringent,  antihaemorrhagic  and  antidysenteric  properties,  the  daily 
dose  being  from  0-3  to  1-5  gm. 
Sapindacece. — Cardiospermum  molle,  Kunth,  indigenous  to  vari- 
