ioo  The  Apocynacece  in  Materia  Medica.  {AFebruUaryP?sa^m' 
burgh  and  Colebrooke,  and  the  other  B.  glabra,  noticed  above.  The 
gum  resin  occurs  as  a  transparent  golden  yellow  semi-fluid  sub- 
stance, which  hardens  with  time.  It  has  a  slightly  aromatic  and 
balsamic  resinous  odor. 
B.  Thurifera>  Coleb. ;  B.  serrata,  Stackh.  This  and  some  other 
species  yield  the  gum  resin.  It  has  astringent  and  stimulant  prop- 
erties. Externally,  it  is  useful  as  a  rubefacient  and  antispasmodic, 
especially  as  a  plaster  in  cramps  of  the  stomach. 
[To  be  continued. ~\ 
THE  APOCYNACEyE  IN  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
By  George  M.  Beringer. 
{Co?itinued  from  page  46). 
In  structure  the  fruit  of  Holarrhena  Antidysenterica  approaches, 
in  the  main,  that  of  strophanthus.  Externally,  is  the  epidermis 
with  cells  distinct  and  thickened  on  the  outside.  The  mesocarp  is 
formed  of  a  fundamental  tissue  in  which  the  cells  are  not  flattened 
or  pressed,  but  are  distinctly  visible  without  the  aid  of  potassa. 
Tnese  cells  have  granular  contents,  the  walls  reddish-brown,  and 
in  the  external  zone,  thickened  nearly  collenchymatous. 
The  internal  region  forms  a  fibro-vascular  zone  with  white  or 
yellowish  white,  very  thick  fibres,  and  vascular  fascicles  rounded  or 
flattened,  and  with  numerous  laticiferous  vessels.  The  endocarp  is 
analogous  to  that  of  strophanthus. 
The  seeds  of  Holarrhena  are  quite  small,  10  to  20  m.m.  in  length, 
2  to  2y2  m.m.  in  breadth,  and  1  to  1^  m.m.  in  thickness.  It 
requires  forty  of  these  seeds  when  dry  to  weigh  I  gramme.  The  shape 
is  oblong,  straight,  elongated  ;  the  extremities  somewhat  attenuated} 
but  blunt.  The  lower  extremity  is  somewhat  pointed,  the  upper  bears 
a  sort  of  collar,  a  very  small  swelling,  upon  which  is  inserted  the 
characteristic  tuft  of  hairs,  but  in  commerce,  these  hairs  are 
always  absent.  The  seed  is  flat,  or  rather  plano-convex,  the  dorsal 
face  a  little  rounded,  the  ventral  face  flat  or  even  concave  in  grooves. 
The  margins  of  the  seed  enrolled  a  little  toward  this  face,  which  is 
ordinarily  marked  by  a  small,  whitish  line  extending  from  one 
extremity  to  the  other.    The  color  varies  from  a  pale  fawn  or  cinna- 
