466 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      Sept.,  1883. 
GLEANINGS  IN  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Sabal  serrulata,  JRoemer  et  Schultes.- — The  dried  fruit  of  the  saw 
palmetto  is  described  by  J.  Moeller  as  being  oblong  ovate,  10  to 
15  mm.  (f  to  f  inch)  long,  5  to  9  mm  to  J  inch)  broad,  bluntly 
pointed  at  the  base,  externally  blackish-brown,  netted-wrinkled, 
weighing  about  .5  gm,  inodorous  and  tasteless,  and  containing  a  shriv- 
eled seed.  The  pericarp  is  1  mm.  thick,  and  consists  of  three  well- 
defined  layers  of  nearly  equal  thickness  :  the  blackish-brown  resinous 
epicarp,  the  yellowish-green  mesocarp,  and  the  yellowish  brittle  endo- 
Fruit  of  saw  palmetto,      Transverse  section;  through  o,       Section  through  horny 
natural  size.  epicarp;  ?u,  mesocaip ;  e,  endo-       endosperm;  magn.,  125 
carp;  g,  fibrovascular  bundle;  diam. 
magn.,  125  diam. 
carp,  composed  of  sclerenchyma.  Soaked  in  water,  the  mesocarp 
swells  considerably,  and  somewhat  less  the  epicarp.  Both  tissues  are 
formed  of  thin  walled  cells  ;  those  of  the  latter  are  filled  with  a  brown 
mass ;  those  of  the  former  colorless  or  brownish,  and  surrounding 
numerous  fibrovascular  bundles.  The  thin  walled  cells  of  the  testa 
contain  a  red  brown  mass.  The  endosperm  is  hard  and  hornlike, 
swells  rapidly  in  water,  and  consists  of  a  peculiar  parenchyma,  which 
becomes  gelatinous  by  potassa. 
Iron  salts  color  the  contents  of  the  cells  of  the  epicarp  blue,  but 
scarcely  affect  those  of  the  testa.  The  contents  of  the  latter  are  solu- 
ble in  alkalies ;  those  of  both  tissues  insoluble  in  water.  The  meso- 
carp contains  S]3aringly  groups  of  calcium  oxalate  crystals,  also  rem- 
