324         Botanical  Origin  of  Pharmacopojial  Drugs.  {AmiS£gSf^ 
agreed  with  Martiny's  description  in  being  of  a  "  highly  laminated 
texture,  splitting  readily  into  thin  plates  like  garden  bast;"  Perrins 
adds  that  this  bark  must  not  be  confounded  with  that  of  X.  Clava- 
Herculis,  Lamarck,  the  latter  species  being  totally  distinct ;  as 
above  shown  it  is  our  Northern  prickly  ash. 
The  distinction  in  these  physical  characters  was  pointed  out  by 
Bridges  (Proceedings,  Am.  Phar.  Assoc.,  1864,  p.  272),  when  he 
established  the  source  of  our  Southern  prickly  ash  bark  from  spe- 
cimens collected  by  Mr.  Wm.  Heyser,  of  Chambersburg,  Pa.  Dr. 
Bridges  also  quoted  from  Spach's  Histoire  Naturelle  a  distinctive 
characteristic  to  be  found  in  the  spines  which  in  the  Caribbean 
species  are  "  short,  in  pairs,  and  dilated  at  the  base,"  while  those  of 
our  southern  species  are  "  very  pointed,  and  strongly  dilated  at  the 
base,  sometimes  attaining  an  inch  in  diameter." 
A  fuller  description  of  the  West  Indian  xanthoxylum  bark  is  given 
by  Guibourt  (Histoire  Naturelle  des  drogues  simples,  iii,  513)  who 
states  that  "the  bark  of  the  clavalier  jaune  (yellow  Hercules  club) 
or  epineux  jaune  des  Antilles  (yellow-thorn)  has  some  resemblance 
to  the  true  augustura  bark,  is  thin,  has  a  similar  odor,  and  a  bitter 
very  disagreeable  taste,  leaving  upon  the  tongue  an  impression  of 
acridity  and  producing  salivation  ;  it  is,  however,  easily  distinguished 
by  its  canary-yellow  color,  by  its  imparting  a  yellow  color  to  the 
saliva,  and  by  the  fibrous  layers  of  the  interior  portion  preventing 
a  smooth  fracture."  By  the  characters  named  this  bark  is  readily 
distinguished  from  our  Southern  prickly  ash.  Its  origin  was  first 
suggested  by  Virey  in  1820  {Jour,  de  Phar.,  vi,  88),  who  described 
it  under  the  name  of  cascanoqui. 
According  to  Grisebach  (loc  cit.)  the  species  in.  question  is  known 
in  the  British  West  Indies  as  prickly  yellow  wood,  and  different 
species  of  Xanthoxylum  and  Tobinia  (the  latter  now  united  with 
the  former  genus  by  Bentham  and  Hooker)  are  designated  as  yellozv 
wood ;  also  as  fustic  which  name  is,  perhaps,  more  frequently  given 
to  the  osage  orange,  Maclura  aurantiaca,  Nuttall  (ord.  Urticacese), 
and  in  Kentucky  to  Cladrastis  tinctoria,  Rafinesque  (ord.  Legumi- 
nosae). 
It  follows  from  the  above  investigations  that  the  West  Indian 
Hercules  club  differs  from  our  Southern  prickly  ash  botanically  as 
well,  as  also  chemically,  even  if  its  acrid  principle  should  ultimately 
be  found  to  be  identical  with  that  of  our  southern  indigenous 
