Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1891. 
Sabbatia  Angulans. 
335 
SABBATIA  ANGULARIS. 
By  William  T.  Hankey,  Ph.G. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. — 
No.  90. 
The  American  Centaury  is  a  smooth  biennial  herb,  indigenous  to 
the  Middle  and  Southern  United  States.  Its  stem  is  about  two  feet 
high,  quadrangular,  winged  and  much  branched  above ;  the  leaves 
are  about  one  inch  long,  oblong-ovate,  five-nerved,  entire,  acute  and 
at  the  base  clasping.  The  flowers  are  in  terminal  corymbose  pani- 
cles, having  a  five  or  six-parted  calyx  with  lance-linear  lobes,  a 
wheel-shaped,  pale  or  purplish-red  corolla  about  one  and  one-half 
inches  in  diameter.  The  stamens  number  from  five  to  twelve  and 
are  finally  recurved.  The  capsule  is  oblong  ovate,  mucronate  and 
many  seeded.  The  plant  blooms  in  July  and  should  then  be  col- 
lected. In  the  dry  state  the  drug  is  without  odor,  but  has  a 
persistent  and  purely  bitter  taste.  It  is  employed  mainly  in 
domestic  practice  as  a  simple  tonic. 
An  analysis  of  Sabbatia  angularis  was  made  in  1871  by  J.  F. 
Huneker,  who  announced  the  presence  of  a  neutral  principle — 
Erythrocentaurin  —  but  did  not  succeed  in  isolating  the  bitter 
principle. 
With  this  in  view  I  first  submitted  fifty  grams  of  the  finely 
powdered  drug  to  proximate  analysis  with  the  following  results  : 
Solvents  used.  Substances  obtained.  Per  Cent. 
Petroleum  ether,  Volatile  oil,   *oi 
•     *  Fat,   -91 
Wax,  .  .      ■  •   70 
Caoutchouc,    -37 
  1 -99 
Stronger  ether,  Greenish  Resin,   72 
Erythrocentaurin,   -05 
Undetermined,  .   -12 
  -89 
Absolute  alcohol,  Bitter  principle,   375 
Greenish  resin,   -62 
Glucose,   *43 
Extractive,   1-57  6-37 
Distilled  water,  Mucilage,     .  2*16 
Dextrin,  1-13 
Glucose,  1*25 
Saccharose,   -SS 
Undetermined,  5-56 
  10-98 
