ON  CORYDALIS  FORMOSA. 
205 
In  every  instance,  I  have  used  240  grs.  of  cream  of  tartar,  from 
which  I  had  the  following  results : 
I.  11  grs  CaO,  C02  corresponding  with  28.6  gr.  or  11.92  p.  cO  |W  . 
II.    6  "      «  "  «  15.6  "  "  6.08    "   j  £o§ 
III.  10  «      "  *<  "  26.0  ""10.83    "  J"*?" 
IV.  12  "  CaO,  S03  "  "  22.94"  "  9.56  "  l|S  s 
V.  17  "       "              "           "  32.5  "  "13.54     "  J  *  ||° 
In  conclusion,  I  may  remark  that  specimen  I.  was  of  a  beautiful 
white  color,  inferring  the  supposition  that  it  had  been  prepared 
with  much  care  and  would  be  found  very  free  of  lime. 
Philadelphia,  March,  1855. 
ON  CORYDALI&  FORMOSA— (OH  TURKEY  CORN.) 
By  William  T.  Wenzell. 
(An  Inaugural  Essay  presented  to  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.} 
CORYDALIS  FORMOSA. 
Sex.  Syst.  Diadelphia  pentandria.    Nat.  Ord.  Fumariacse. 
This  plant,  likewise  known  as  the  wild  Turkey  Pea,  Stagger- 
weed,  or  Choice  Dielytra,  is  an  indigenous  perennial  plant  of 
small  stature,  its  height  varying  from  six  to  ten  inches,  rising 
from  a  tuberous  root.  The  leaves  are  radical,  somewhat  triternate, 
with  incisely  pinnatifid  segments  and  very  glaucous  beneath.  The 
scape  is  naked  and  rises  from  eight  to  ten  inches  in  height,  with 
four  to  six  cymes,  each  with  from  six  to  ten  reddish  purple  nod- 
ding flowers.  Racemes  compound,  the  branches  cymose  ;  spurs 
two,  short,  obtuse  incurved,  bracts  purplish  ;  sepals  two,  deciduous, 
style  excerted ;  stigma  two  horned  at  the  apex,  capsule  pod- 
shaped,  indehiscent,  two-valved  and  many  seeded  [Eclectic 
Dispensatory.) 
This  beautiful  little  plant  flowers  very  early  in  the  spring.  It 
grows  in  rich  soils  on  hills  and  mountains,  among  rocks  and  old 
decayed  timber,  is  found  westward,  and  south  of  New  York  to 
North  Carolina.  The  root  or  tuber  is  the  only  part  of  the  plant 
medicinally  employed.  Its  appearance  is  that  of  a  small  round 
ball,  sometimes  more  or  less  angular,  its  superior  and  inferior 
extremities  somewhat  depressed.  Externally  smooth,  but  when 
examined  with  a  good  lens,  exhibiting  numerous  pores,  color  vary- 
ing from  a  yellowish  gray  to  a  dark  brown.  Internally  its  color 
ranges  from  a  light  to  a  dark  yellow,  according  to  the  age  of  the 
