578 
Some  Vegetable  Drugs. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Phann 
(    December,  1909. 
surface  commonly  bearing  i  to  5  stem  remnants  which  are  round, 
1.5  to  3  mm.  thick,  2  to  5  cm.  long;  fracture  short;  pith  decayed. 
Roots  arising  from  all  parts  of  the  rhizome ;  dark  brown,  .5  to 
1  mm.  in  diameter,  5  to  15  cm.  long,  somewhat  wrinkled  longi- 
tudinally, and  finely  branched ;  fracture  tough ;  wood  brownish ; 
odor  and  taste  slight.  A  cross  section  of  the  root  shows  the 
presence  of  numerous  root  hairs  150  to  250  /x  long,  a  cortex  of  about 
12  layers  of  parenchyma  cells,  which  are  free  from  starch,  stone 
cells,  cystoliths,  and  crystals ;  pericambium  continuous ;  tracheae 
numerous. 
This  corresponds  closely  to  the  available  data  on  phlox.  On 
the  whole,  it  bears  a  rather  close  resemblance  to  spigelia,  and  like 
spigelia  its  matted  roots  are  apt  to  contain  much  dirt. 
The  remaining  sample  consisted  of  about  equal  parts  of  the 
above  root  and  a  coarse  root  which  bore  no  resemblance  to  it. 
None  of  the  "  minor  adulterants  "  mentioned  by  Stockberger 
was  found  except  a  single  root  of  serpentaria. 
These  results  indicate  that  while  ruellia  is  frequently  met  with 
as  an  adulterant  of  spigelia  it  is  by  no  means  the  principal  adulter- 
ant, and  that  while  ruellia  was  early  mistaken  for  phlox,  that  species 
of  phlox,  probably  both  P.  ovata  and  P.  glaberrima,  are  at  the 
'present  time  frequently  collected  and  sold  as  spigelia. 
BELLADONNA  FOLIA. 
The  leaves  of  Scopolia  carniolica  are  largely  used  as  an  adulter- 
ant of  belladonna  leaves.  They  resemble  the  latter  rather  closely, 
but  are  readily  detected  if  any  of  the  fruit  is  present,  this  being  the 
most  characteristic  feature. 
The  fruit  of  belladonna  is  a  2-locular,  many-seeded  berry,  with 
a  deeply  5-cleft,  persistent  calyx.  Scopola  fruit  is  a  2-locular  pyxis 
about  1  cm.  in  diameter;  calyx  light  green,  thin,  and  papery; 
united  to  near  the  apex  where  it  is  slightly  notched,  thus  almost 
completely  covering  the  pyxis.  On  removing  the  cap  the  pyxis  is 
seen  to  be  2-locular,  with  a  thickened  dissepiment,  bearing  a  number 
of  seeds  which  are  light  brown,  somewhat  reniform,  2  to  2.5  mm. 
long,  and  deeply  pitted. 
The  stem  of  belladonna  is  hollow,  cylindrical,  flattened,  longi- 
tudinally wrinkled,  and  breaks  with  a  short-fibrous  fracture.  That 
of  scopola  is  triangular  or  quadrangular,  woody  and  solid,  and 
breaks  with  a  short  and  somewhat  resinous  fracture. 
