476  Some  Plant  Constituents.  (Am ST.im^' 
SOME  PLANT  CONSTITUENTS. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
No.  94. 
Asmina  triloba  {Papcizv}. — Thomas  M .  Fletcher  examined  the  bark 
of  this  tree  which  in  the  extreme  Southern  States  reaches  a  height 
of  30  to  40  feet.  Further  north  it  is  a  shrub  and  does  not  often 
exceed  10  to  12  feet  in  height. 
The  fruit  is  in  bunches  of  two  to  six  in  each.  When  in  an  unripe 
state  the  fruit  has  a  green  color,  breaking  with  a  short  fracture. 
The  ripe  fruit  is  of  a  light  yellow  color,  nearly  cylindrical,  about 
five  inches  in  length  and  one  and  a  half  to  two  inches  in  diameter,, 
slightly  curved,  containing  a  pulpy  mass  with  thirteen  to  fifteen 
carpels,  each  containing  a  seed  with  a  dark  brown  hard  and  brittle 
testa.  The  fruit  ripens  in  September,  after  having  been  exposed  to 
the  frost.  It  has  a  sweetish  taste  resembling  the  banana,  and  is 
highly  esteemed  by  the  negroes.  The  woody  portion  of  the  tree  is 
white,  very  light  in  weight  and  enclosed  by  a  dark  brown  bark,, 
which  in  older  trees  becomes  an  ashen  color.  The  inner  bark  is  of 
a  tough  fibrous  texture,  white  in  color  when  first  collected,  but 
becoming  gradually  darker  by  exposure. 
Lloyd1  found  an  alkaloid  in  the  seeds  and  a  bitter  extractive  in 
the  bark.  No  evidence  of  the  alkaloid  was  found  in  the  bark  by 
Mr.  Fletcher,  although  various  tests  were  applied  to  detect  one. 
Petroleum  ether  dissolved  3-53  per  cent,  from  the  finely  powdered 
bark  which  consisted  of  a  fixed  oil. 
The  most  important  constituents  found  by  other  solvents  were 
3-43  per  cent,  of  resin,  9-50  per  cent,  of  resin  insoluble  in  ether,  but 
soluble  in  absolute  alcohol,  and  8-00  per  cent,  of  glucose  and  extrac- 
tive soluble  in  distilled  water.  There  were  also  determined  52-16 
per  cent,  of  woody  fibre,  7-38  per  cent,  of  moisture  and  4*20  per  cent, 
of  ash. 
Polygonum  Bistorta. — Paul  Krebs  determined  the  following 
constituents  in  bistort  root  :  Tannin  15-00  per  cent.,  fat  and  wax 
O-io  per  cent.,  resin  0-30  per  cent.,  mucilage  1-32  per  cent.,  dextrin 
192  per  cent.,  glucose  4-88  per  cent.,  albuminoids  1-78  percent.,  and 
insoluble  matter  consisting  of  incrusting  substances,  lignin  and  cellu- 
lose 47-06  per  cent.  There  were  also  found  moisture  9-20  and  ash  4-80 
1  Drugs  and  Medicines  of  North  America,  2,  54. 
