8o 
Hyoscyamus  Niger. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
February,  1919- 
stems  and  roots,  the  stems  and  roots  of  these  three  plants  were  also 
carefully  separated  and  dried  at  6o°  C. 
TABLE  IX. 
Showing  the  Alkaloid  Content  of  the  Leaves,  Roots  and  Stems  of 
Hyoscyamus  niger. 
Percentage  of  Mydri- 
Sample  No.  Portion  of  Plant.  atic  Alkaloid. 
1  Leaves  and  seed  pods  of  plant  No.  1  0.100 
2  Leaves  and  seed  pods  of  plant  No.  2  0.102 
3  Leaves  and  seed  pods  of  plant  No.  3  0.073 
4  Roots  and  stems  of  plants  Nos.  1,  2  and  3  0.081 
The  results  as  presented  in  this  table  show  that  there  is  quite  a 
large  margin  of  difference  in  the  alkaloidal  content  of  the  leaves 
and  seed  pods  of  sample  no.  3  and  those  of  no.  1  and  no.  2.  But  in 
every  case,  these  figures  are  well  above  the  U.  S.  P.  requirement. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  roots  and  the  stems  of  these  three 
plants  taken  together  have  a  percentage  of  0.081  of  mydriatic  alka- 
loid. This  figure  being  a  higher  amount  than  the  percentage  of 
alkaloid  of  the  leaves  and  seed  pods  of  plant  no.  3.  Hence,  from 
this  result,  we  would  be  justified  in  utilizing  the  roots  and  stems  of 
these  plants  in  conjunction  with  the  leaves. 
It  is  a  well  established  fact  that,  as  the  leaves  of  belladonna 
plants  mature  and  dry,  as  the  season  advances,  the  percentage  of 
alkaloid  therein  decreases.  To  secure  more  information  on  this 
point  with  regard  to  Hyoscyamus  niger,  three  samples  of  leaves 
were  collected  from  hyoscyamus  plants,  after  the  seed  pods  had 
been  removed  and  the  seeds  harvested  for  planting.  Similarly,  to 
find  the  percentage  of  alkaloid  in  the  dry  stems  and  roots,  a  series 
of  such  samples  were  collected  for  analysis. 
TABLE  X. 
Showing  the  Alkaloid  Content  of  Dry  Leaves  and  Stems  and  Roots  of 
.  Plants  of  Hyoscyamus  niger. 
Percentage  of  Mydri- 
Sample  No.  Portion  of  Plant.  atic  Alkaloid. 
1  Dry  leaves  taken  from  six  plants  0.057 
2  Dry  leaves  taken  from  four  plants  0.065 
3  Dry  leaves  taken  from  five  plants  0.0619 
4  Stems  of  six  plants  of  sample  No.  1  0.052 
5  Stems  and  roots  of  four  plants  of  sample  No.  2  0.0375 
6  Stems  of  five  plants  of  sample  No.  3  0.057 
7  Roots  of  five  plants  of  sample  No.  3  0.130 
