Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ") 
December,  1909.  } 
Some  Vegetable  Drugs. 
577 
the  worst  adulterated  and  most  often  substituted  of  any  crude  drug 
on  the  American  market. 
Investigators  seem  to  have  concluded  that  the  rhizome  and  roots 
of  Ruellia  ciliosa  constitute  the  principal  adulterant.  My  experience 
in  the  analysis  of  several  samples  leads  me  to  believe  that  this  is 
not  the  case  at  the  present  time. 
In  1906  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  issued  Bureau  of 
Plant  Industry  Bulletin  No.  100,  Part  V,  by  W.  W.  Stockberger. 
In  this  paper  it  is  asserted  that  ruellia  is  the  principal  adulterant 
of  u  The  drug  known  as  pinkroot,"  while  mention  is  made  of  the 
roots  of  Hydrastis  canadensis,  Aristolochia  serpentaria,  Saponaria 
officinalis,  Dioscorea  villosa,  and  Collins  onia  canadensis  as  impuri- 
ties due  in  main  either  to  the  carelessness  of  collectors  or  lack  of 
familiarity  with  the  plant  on  the  part  of  young  or  inexperienced 
collectors.  Data  are  also  given  to  prove  that  ruellia  has  been 
wrongly  regarded  as  Phlox  Carolina.  Two  excellent  illustrations  of 
the  over-ground  portions  of  spigelia  and  ruellia  accompany  the 
article. 
The  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  vol.  78,  No.  12,  con- 
tains a  very  excellent  article  on  the  same  subject,  by  Theo.  Holm, 
Ph.D.,  in  which  the  microscopic  structure  of  ruellia  and  phlox  is 
discussed  at  length.  A  number  of  accurate  illustrations  accompany 
the  article. 
Dr.  Kraemer,  in  his  "  Botany  and  Pharmacognosy,"  3rd  ed., 
presents  the  most  comprehensive  data  obtainable  concerning  the 
microscopic  structure  of  spigelia,  as  well  as  that  of  ruellia. 
I  have  recently  examined  nine  samples  of  so-called  pinkroot, 
one  of  which  was  a  broker's  sample  and  eight  of  which  came  directly 
from  the  collectors  and  from  widely  different  sections  of  the  coun- 
try. In  all  cases  I  have  drawn  my  conclusions  from  the  micro- 
scopic structure,  as  well  as  from  the  macroscopic  appearance.  Two 
samples  proved  to  be  of  genuine  spigelia  and  of  fair  quality.  One 
sample  consisted  entirely  of  ruellia,  which  is  easily  determined  by 
making  a  longitudinal  section  of  a  root  and  noting  the  cystoliths 
and  stone  cells  in  the  cortex.  The  addition  of  dilute  acid  to  the 
slide  caused  a  profuse  liberation  of  C02  from  the  cystoliths. 
Five  of  the  samples  consisted  entirely  of  a  root  of  the  following 
description :  rhizome  horizontal  or  slightly  oblique,  dark  brown  to 
blackish  externally,  annulate,  somewhat  branched,  2  to  5  cm.  long, 
1  to  3  mm.  thick;  fracture  short,  wood  usually  decayed;  upper 
