388 
Glycyrrhiza  Lepidota. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Aug.,  1890. 
Mr.  Merrell  naturally  accepted  the  word  that  had  been  previously 
devised  by  the  authors  of  the  work  that  was  considered  an  unques- 
tionable standard. 
From  this  research  it  is  evident  to  the  writer  : 
(1)  That  the  name  podophyllin  was  devised  by  the  authors  of  the 
United  States  Dispensatory,  and  originally  employed  in  1833.  It 
was  used  qualitatively  by  them  in  connection  with  a  substance  that 
did  not  prove  to  be  the  purgative  principle  of  the  drug,  they  dis- 
tinctly saying,  "  Should  it  be  found  to  be  the  purgative  principle  of 
the  plant,  it  would  be  entitled  to  the  name  podophyllin!' 
(2)  Upon  the  discovery  of  the  active  cathartic  resinous  precipi- 
tate (1830),  Prof.  King  had  previously  called  it  «' Resin  of  Podo- 
phyllum." 
(3)  Upon  introducing  the  drug  into  commerce,  the  suggestion  of 
Wood  &  Bache  was  accepted  by  Mr.  Wm.  S.  Merrell  and  the  \ 
shorter  name  podophyllin  affixed  thereto. 
[To  be  continued. ,] 
GLYCYRRHIZA  LEPIDOTA  (Nuttall.) 
By  Madison  L.  McCullough,  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
In  Gray's  Manual,  6th  edition,  and  in  Coulter's  Rocky  Mountain 
Botany,  the  following  habitat  is  given  for  this  plant :  Minnesota  to 
Iowa,  Missouri,  Colorado  and  New  Mexico,  westward  into  Nevada 
and  Northern  California,  and  northward  to  Washington,  and  across 
the  continent  to  Hudson's  Bay.  A  statement  found  in  some  works 
that  it  grows  near  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  could  not  be  verified  by  a  botanist 
of  that  vicinity.  Good  specimens  of  the  plant  were  secured  from 
Deerlodge  City,  Montana,  in  which  locality  it  grows  to  a  consider- 
able extent ;  but  it  does  not  appear  to  be  used  medicinally  there. 
The  stem  is  herbaceous ;  the  younger  branches  are  purplish-green 
and  somewhat  pubescent;  the  impari-pinnate  leaves  have  about  17 
oblong-lanceolate  and  acute  leaflets;  the  whitish  flowers  are  in 
pedunculate  spikes  ;  the  compressed  legume  is  beset  with  hooked 
prickles  and  contains  from  2  to  6  seeds.  The  root  was  not  sent, 
but  the  long  and  slender  rhizome  was  received  and  examined.  It 
is  from  yfa  to  y2  inch  in  diameter ;  the  older  portions  are  longitudi- 
nally wrinkled,  of  a  dark  brown  color,  and  closely  resemble  the 
