Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  19 19. 
Hyoscyamus  Niger. 
79 
must  be  well  matured  before  they  are  taken  from  the  plant.  Seed 
collected  from  green  plants  is  practically  worthless.  The  most  de- 
sirable time  to  harvest  the  seeds  is  when  the  seed  pods  and  leaves 
of  the  plants  are  becoming  dry  and  the  first  seed  pods  are  beginning 
to  show  signs  of  springing  open. 
The  hyoscyamus  plant,  as  most  all  of  the  members  of  the  night 
shade  family,  is  a  very  prolific  seed  producer.  The  number  of  seeds 
in  the  pods  ranging  from  200  to  350,  and  the  number  of  pods  on 
the  larger  plants  may  be  as  many  as  250  to  270. 
To  determine  approximately,  the  amount  of  seed  that  hyo- 
scyamus plants  would  yield,  the  mature  seed  of  thirteen  representa- 
tive plants  was  carefully  collected  and  dried.  The  seeds  of  each 
plant  were  threshed  out  by  hand  and  then  weighed.  The  average 
yields  of  seed  per  plant  for  the  thirteen  plants  under  consideration 
was  twenty-three  grams. 
The  Alkaloid  Content  and  the  Utilization  of  the  Various 
Parts  of  the  Hyoscyamus  niger  Plant. 
What  parts  of  the  plant  of  Hyoscyamus  niger  can  be  employed 
for  commercial  purposes  and  at  what  stage  in  the  growth  of  the 
plant  is  it  most  desirable  to  harvest  these  parts?  The  U.  S.  P.  re- 
quirement for  hyoscyamus  calls  for  "  the  dried  leaves  and  flowering 
or  fruiting  tops  of  Hyoscyamus  niger  (Linne)  yielding  not  less  than 
0.065  per  cent,  alkaloid  of  hyoscyamus."  Newcomb  and  Haynes 
(8)  show  results  of  0.140  per  cent,  alkaloid  for  the  flowering  tops 
of  the  annual  variety  of  Hyoscyamus  niger,  while  Carr's  (2)  work 
shows  0.12  per  cent,  of  total  alkaloid  in  the  dried  herb  of  the  first 
year's  growth  of  this  plant.  It  is  true  the  soil,  fertilizer  treatment, 
climate,  time  of  collection  and  many  other  factors  influence  the  total 
alkaloid  content  of  Hyoscyamus  niger.  Since  the  lowest  stated 
figure  is  0.065  Per  cent,  of  alkaloid,  it  is  very  essential  that  this 
amount  be  contained  in  the  product. 
To  ascertain  the  variation  in  alkaloid  content  of  the  leaves  of 
hyoscyamus  plants,  three  average-sized  plants  were  studied.  The 
leaves  of  these  plants  were  still  all  green,  most  of  the  seed  pods  had 
already  formed,  and  just  a  few  small  blossoms  remained  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  stem.  The  leaves  and  seed  pods  were  carefully  taken 
from  each  plant  and  each  placed  in  manila  bags  and  dried.  To  find 
out  the  relation  of  the  alkaloid  content  of  the  leaves  to  that  of  the 
