A  j^uary Pih8t5m'}    The  Apocynacece  in  Materia  Medica.  43 
to  Franchet,the  seed  greatly  resembles  that  of  S.glaber  of  Gaboon. 
It  is  feebly  bitter. 
Falsifications. — The  substitution  of  one  sort  for  another  is  fre- 
quent, as  well  as  the  admixture  of  the  various  products  of  different 
species.  The  admixture  of  seeds,  which  had  been  previously  ex- 
tracted with  alcohol,  is  likewise  a  fraud,  to  which  attention  is 
directed.  The  frightfully  bitter  taste  of  strophanthus  is  somewhat 
reduced  by  this  treatment,  and  an  excellent  character  for  its  detec- 
tion is  the  appearance  of  the  seed  which  becomes  dull,  and  of  a 
greenish-brown  color,  with  the  hairs  agglutinated  by  the  resin 
which  is  dissolved  by  the  alcohol.  The  distinction  between  the 
seeds  foreign  to  the  genus,  is  quite  easy,  a  glance  of  the  eye  ordi- 
narily suffices.  The  single  falsification  of  this  nature  which  is 
really  serious,  is  the  substitution  of  a  seed,  at  first  attributed  to  a 
Wrightia,  or  to  Holarrhena  antidysenterica,  but  which  E.  M.  Holmes 
has  proven  to  be  derived  from  Kickxia  africana,  Benth.  This  seed 
is  a  uniform  chocolate-brown  color,  attenuated  at  both  extremities, 
inflated  spindle-like  about  the  middle,  and  twisted  in  an  S,  and 
bears  on  one  face  a  depressed  line.  The  surface  examined  with  a 
lens,  appears  longitudinally  striated.  Dimensions,  9  to  16  mm. 
long,  2  to  2.5  broad  at  the  middle,  and  1  5  to  1.8  thick.  The  frac- 
ture is  clear  and  horny,  brownish-white ;  the  odor  resembles  that 
of  the  strophanthus,  and  the  taste  is  extremely  bitter. 
The  seeds  are  provided  with  awns1,  directed  backward  in  the 
fruit.  These  awns  are  formed  of  a  straight  and  rigid  axis,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  1  cm.  long,  cylindrical,  and  slender,  the  silky  hairs 
which  it  bears,  attain  5  cm.  in  length,  and  are  very  delicate,  and 
brilliant ;  in  color,  white,  slightly  yellow. 
A  transverse-section  shows  the  cotyledons  broad  and  thin,  sinu- 
ous, and  folded  upon  themselves,  very  different  from  those  of  the 
strophanthus.  The  external  layer  is  formed  ol  irregular,  large, 
brown  cells,  often  badly  limited,  but  without  the  characteristic  cir- 
cular thickenings.  The  cellular  walls  of  the  albumen  are  very  thick, 
and  the  cells  of  the  embryo  contain  numerous  macles  of  calcium 
oxalate. 
The  section  treated  with  sulphuric  acid  gives  a  yellow  coloration 
1  According  to  E.  M.  Holmes,  this  seed  is  destitute  of  an  awn,  the  tuft  ap- 
pearing like  a  plumose  awn,  being  really  the  hairy  funiculus  or  stalk,  by  which 
the  seed  is  attached  to  the  pod. — G.  M.  B. 
