614  Botany  and  Materia  Medica.        { A^2K£f§gu' 
J.  S.  Ward,  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal, 
„  „  ,  September  7,  1895,  describes  a  false  chiretta, 
A  False  Cliiretta.      u-uv.au         l     a  •    *.u    17     r  1,        1  * 
which  had  been  ottered  in  the  English  market 
by  a  broker.  The  loose  bundles  resembled  a 
parcel  of  dried  broom  tops.  Each  plant  was  complete,  root  and 
stem  being  perfect ;  the  branches  slightly  broken,  the  leaves  mostly 
absent.  Intermixed  were  some  extremely  slender  stems,  panicles  of 
pedicellate  flowers,  corolla  and  calyx,  and  glandular  hairs  ;  a  few 
leaves  only  could  be  found,  which  were  slender  and  much  broken. 
The  stems  are  from  y%  to  inch  in  thickness,  near  the  base  woody, 
quadrangular,  furrowed,  smooth,  slightly  knotty  at  the  points  from 
which  the  branches  spring.  The  longitudinal  furrows  are  continued 
through  the  roots,  which  have  numerous  fine  radicles.  The  leaves 
are  opposite,  decussate ;  branches  erect  or  forming  an  acute  angle 
with  the  stem,  terminal  shoots  extremely  slender.  The  whole  is  a 
little  more  than  2  feet  in  length.  The  origin  proved  to  be  Andro- 
graphis  paniculata,  Nees.  This  plant  belongs  to  the  order  Acan- 
thacese.  and  is  described  by  Hooker  as  indigenous  to  a  large  portion 
of  India.    It  is  known  there  as  Indian  Chiretta. 
An  interesting  Ustilago  on  Zizania  latifolia 
Novel  fTses        is  described  by  P.  Hennings,  in  Hedwigia.  It 
of  a  Smut.        is  sold  in  the  markets  of  Tonkin  as  a  vegeta- 
ble.   Japanese  women  are  said  to  color  the 
eyebrows  and  hair  with  the  spores  mixed  with  oil.    These  are  like- 
wise mixed  with  lac  to  produce  rusty-colored  wares. — Botanical  Ga- 
zette. 
The  Sakais  living  in  the  plains  employ  the 
Antiaris  poison ;  the  Sakais  of  the  hills  use 
Ipoli  Poison.      a   p0j30n  prepared  from    three    hill  plants 
called  Ipoh  Aker,  Prual  and  Lampong.  Dr. 
Stapf  has  determined  that  the  Ipoh  Aker  is  probably  from  a  new 
species  of  Strychnos,  closely  allied  to  S.  maingayi.    Prual  is  from  a 
Rubiaceae,  the  Coptosapelta  jlavescens,  Karth.    An  examination  of 
the  root  bark,  by  Dr.  Ralph  Stockman,  indicates  that  in  future  it 
must  be  classified  among  the  poisonous  plants. — Kew  Bulletin,  June 
and  July,  1895. 
