The British pharmacopoeia / published under the direction of the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom, pursuant to the Acts XXI & XXII Victoria, cap. XC, 1858 and XXV and XXVI Victoria, cap. XCI, 1862.

Date:: 1898-

Credit: The British pharmacopoeia / published under the direction of the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom, pursuant to the Acts XXI & XXII Victoria, cap. XC, 1858 and XXV and XXVI Victoria, cap. XCI, 1862. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$in diameter, usually in sections from one-eighth to one quarter of an inch (three to six millimetres) long. Strongly furrowed longitudinally, hollow except at the nodes. Couch Grass should be free from the remains of leaves and rootlets. It has no odour; it has a faint sweetish taste. Australasian Colonies. Eastern Colonies. North American Colonies. ALSTONIA. Alstonia. The dried bark of Alstonia scholaris, B. Brown [Bentl. and Trim., Med. PL vol. hi. plate 173], and of Alstonia constricta, F. v. M. Characters.—The bark of Alstonia scholaris is usually in irregular fragments one-eighth to half an inch (three to twelve millimetres) thick, of a somewhat spongy texture and a short coarse fracture; the external layer is unevenly rough and fissured and of a brownish-grey colour with occasional blackish spots, the internal layer bright buff. A transverse section shows the inner layer to be finely marked with numerous small medullary rays. Almost without odour. When chewed it develops a bitter taste. The bark of Al- stonia constricta is usually in curved pieces or quills which may have a width of two and a half inches (sixty-four milli: metres) or more, and half an inch (twelve millimetres) in thickness. It is covered with a thick periderm varying from one-tenth of an inch to a quarter of an inch (two and a half to six millimetres) in thickness; of a rusty-brown colour, strongly rugose, and marked with large deeply fissured reticulations ; it sometimes bears small white foliaceous lichens. Internally the bark is of a cinna- mon-brown colour and is marked with strong coarse longitudinal strise. On transverse section the bark exhibits the dark brown periderm covering the inner orange-brown tissues, in which may be observed, with a lens, numerous small shining particles. The fracture is short and granular$