A text book of pharmacognosy

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 Excerpt: ...Part Used.--The dried leaflets, containing not less than 0.6 per cent. of alkaloids. Standard of Assay.--Not less than 0.6 per cent. of the alkaloids of Pilocarpus. Limit of Impurities.--5 per cent. of stalks bearing the leaflets and stems of the same plant, or other foreign matter. Ash.--Not more than 7 per cent. Habitat.--Brazil, in open forests. Plants.--Shrubs with imparipinnate leaves and racemes of small pinkish purple flowers. The fruit consists of 5 follicles. Production and Commerce.--The shrubs grow on hill sides and in open forests of Brazil. Pilocarpus Jaborandi is abundant near Pernambuco while P. microphyllus thrives near Maranham. Hence the product of the former species is known commercially as "Pernambuco Jaborandi" and that of the latter, as "Maranham Joborandi." Distinction Between Official Varieties Of Pilocarpus Pernambuco Jaborandi Outline: Elliptical, oblong to oblong-ovate. 8-15 cm. long. 1.5-4.5 cm. broad. Base: Unequal. Apex: Emarginate. Margin: Entire and slightly revolute. Up. Surface: Dk. green to brownish-green. L. Surface: Yellowish-or greenish-brown. Texture: Coriaceous, brittle. Odor: Slight Taste: Bitter Maranham Jaborandi Obovate to ovate. 1.5-5 cm. long. 1.5-2.2 cm. broad. Tapering into petiole. Deeply emarginate. Entire and revolute. Grayish to yellowish-green. Grayish to yellowish-green. Coriaceous but less than half as thick as Pernambuco variety. Slight Bitter Histology.--Sections of Jaborandi leaflets, cut through the lamina, present the following structures for examination: 1. Upper epidermis of more or less tangentially elongated cells, as observed in cross section, with a thick, yellow outer cuticle and frequently showing outgrowths in the form of long, yellowish, thick walled, unicellular, non-...