THE  AMEEICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
FEBRUARY,  igii 
  •*  * 
CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ROOT  OF 
LASIOSIPHON  MEISSNERIANUS. 
By  Harold  Rogerson. 
A  Contribution  from  the  Wellcome  Chemical  Research  Laboratories, 
London. 
The  genus  Lasiosiphon  belongs  to  the  natural  order  of  Thyme- 
Iceacece,  which,  although  containing  about  300  species,  appears  to 
afford  but  one  drug  that  has  received  the  official  recognition  of  any 
of  the  national  pharmacopoeias,  this  being  the  mezereon  bark,  from 
Daphne  Mezereum,  Linne,  and  other  European  species  of  Daphne. 
The  plants  of  the  above-mentioned  natural  order  are  mostly 
shrubs,  a  few  of  which  are  found  in  temperate  regions  of  the  North- 
ern Hemisphere,  but  which  are  more  common  within  the  tropics, 
and  occur  most  abundantly  in  South  Africa  and  Australia.  They 
are  remarkable,  among-  other  characters,  for  the  great  tenacity  of 
the  inner  bark,  and,  in  many  species,  the  latter  possesses  extremely 
acrid  properties. 
In  a  "  Revised  List  of  the  Flora  of  Natal,"  compiled  by  J.  Medley 
Wood,  and  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  South  African  Philo- 
sophical Society,  1908,  vol.  xviii,  Part  2,  p.  218,  twenty  species  of 
Lasiosiphon  are  enumerated,  of  which,  however,  several  are  un- 
named, and  only  their  approximation  to  other  recognized  species 
is  indicated.  In  the  list  referred  to,  the  following  is  recorded  re- 
specting the  plant  under  present  consideration : 
"  L.  M eisnerianus ,  Endl,,  Var.  Inanda,  1800  feet  alt..  Wood,  36; 
Van  Reenen,  5-6000  feet  alt.,  Wood,  4520;  var,  near  Durban,  Wood, 
(49) 
