1 66  Constituents  of  Taraxacum  Root.      Am\Jo"r-1^arm- 1 
'  April,  1913.  / 
that  up  to  the  present  time  so  little  of  a  definite  nature  should  be 
known  respecting  its  constituents,  for,  apart  from  the  observed 
presence  of  inulin — which  is  common  to  the  family  of  Composites — 
kevulin,  and  such  ordinary  constituents  of  plants  as  sugar,  resin, 
and  mucilage,  no  well-characterised  compound  has  hitherto  been 
isolated  from  this  root. 
Polex  {Arch.  Pharm.,  1839,  19,  50)  has  stated  that  on  boiling  the 
milky  juice  of  taraxacum  with  water,  filtering  and  concentrating 
the  liquid,  a  crystalline  substance  was  obtained  which  was  spar- 
ingly soluble  in  cold  water  but  readily  so  in  boiling  water,  alcohol, 
or  ether,  and  possessed  an  agreeably  bitter,  somewhat  acrid 
taste.  This  substance  was  termed  "  taraxacin,"  but  no  analysis, 
melting  point,  or  other  characters  were  recorded  which  would  serve 
for  its  identification.  It  was  also  noted  by  Polex  (loc.  cit.)  that  the 
resinous  and  albuminous  material  which  separated  on  heating  the 
milky  juice  to  boiling,  when  extracted  with  alcohol,  yielded  a 
substance  which  crystallised  in  a  white,  cauliflower-like  form. 
Kromayer  (Arch.  Pharm.,  1861,  105,  6)  examined  the  dried 
milky  juice  of  the  plant,  for  which  he  proposed  the  name  "  leonto- 
donium."  From  the  portion  of  this  which  was  soluble  in  water 
he  obtained  some  crystals  mixed  with  amorphous  material,  but  did 
not  succeed  in  isolating  the  so-called  "  taraxacin."  The  portion  of 
the  dried  milky  juice  which  was  insoluble  in  water  yielded,  on 
extraction  with  alcohol,  "  tasteless,  spherical  granules,"  which  the 
author  designated  as  "taraxacerin."  An  analysis  (0=79.44; 
H=  12.69  Per  cent.)  was  recorded  of  this  substance,  but  no  melting 
point,  and  to  it  the  formula  C40H80O5  (or  the  simpler  expression 
C8H160)  has  since  been  assigned. 
It  is  apparent  from  present  knowledge  that  the  so-called  "  tarax- 
acin "  and  "  taraxacerin "  of  the  above-mentioned  authors  could 
not  have  been  pure  or  homogeneous  substances.  The  statements 
which  have  subsequently  been  recorded  in  the  literature  respecting 
the  proportion  of  "  taraxacin  "  in  taraxacum  root,  with  the  assump- 
tion that  it  represents  a  distinct  bitter  principle,  are  therefore  quite 
illusory. 
L.  E.  Say  re  has  more  recently  contributed  a  number  of  papers 
on  the  subject  of  taraxacum  (Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1893, 
p.  77;  1894,  p.  241;  1895,  p.  203;  1896,  p.  160;  1897,  p.  223; 
1898,  p.  341),  but  his  investigations  do  not  appear  to  have  resulted 
in  the  isolation  of  any  definite  constituent  of  the  root. 
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