APR 
7  1 
B90 
THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
APRIL,  1892. 
POLYGALA  ALBA. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
In  the  September  number,  1889,  of  the  American  Journal  of 
Pharmacy,  I  gave,  briefly,  a  history  of  the  origin  of  a  false  senega 
root,  which  has  been  in  the  market  from  time  to  time  since  1876, 
and  which,  mainly  from  the  close  resemblance  in  the  anatomical 
structure,  was  supposed  by  me  to  be  obtained  from  Polygala  Boy- 
kinii,  until  a  specimen  of  Polygala  alba,  with  roots  and  flowering 
stems  was  procured,  the  root  of  which  corresponded  in  every  par- 
ticular with  the  false  senega  then  offered  to  a  wholesale  dealer,  and 
with  the  several  specimens  of  the  same  root  received  by  me  at  various 
times  since  1876 ;  moreover,  this  plant  was  procured  in  the  same 
locality  and  from  the  same  shippers  through  whose  hands  a  fezv 
bales  of  this  'root  had  been  sold  annually  to  dealers  and  manufac- 
turers. There  could  be  no  question  that  the  plant  was  really  the 
one  from  which  the  false  senega  is  derived ;  it  was  found  to  be  Poly- 
gala alba,  Nuttall,  as  stated  in  my  previous  paper,  and  was 
recognized  as  a  robust  form  of  this  species  also  by  Professor  John 
M.  Coulter,  of  Wabash  College,  whose  reply  to  my  inquiry  had 
been  delayed,  owing  to  his  absence  from  home,  and  did  not  reach 
me  until  after  the  publication  of  my  paper  in  September,  1889. 
About  the  same  time  I  learned  also  that  the  same  plant  had  been 
shown  to  Professor  H.  H.  Rusby,  of  New  York,  and  recognized  by 
him  as  the  species  named. 
Professor  Lloyd  supposing  this  false  senega  to  be  identical  with  the 
senega  collected  in  Wisconsin  and  contiguous  States  from  a  supposed 
variety  of  Polygala  Senega,  intermediate  between  the  typical  form 
(177) 
