An introduction to the study of materia medica : being a short account of the more important crude drugs of vegetable and animal origin, designed for students of pharmacy and medicine / by Henry G. Greenish.

  • Henry G. Greenish
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to the study of materia medica : being a short account of the more important crude drugs of vegetable and animal origin, designed for students of pharmacy and medicine / by Henry G. Greenish. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    cusso flowers stripped from the panicles and dried are sometimes imported They arrive usually in more or less fragmentary condition, and frequently contain a considerable admixture of staminate flowers. These may be easily distinguished by their greenish colour, small outer sepals densely covered with short hairs, and fertile stamens ; they are often unexpanded. They are said to be much less active than the pistillate flowers, and the Pharmacopoeia, by describing the drug in panicles, properly excludes the use of loose cusso. Uses.—In large doses cusso produces nausea, vomiting, and colic; its principal action is anthelmintic, tapeworms being readily killed by it. It is used for the latter purpose alone, and at the present time, in this country at least, only rarely. RED-ROSE PETALS (Petala Rosae G-allicse) Source &C.—The red or Provins rose, Rosa gallica, Linn. (N.O. Rosacea), is probably indigenous to southern Europe, but has been cultivated as a garden plant in numerous varieties everywhere. For medicinal use the red rose is grown in England (Oxfordshire, Derbyshire, &c), in the south of France, near Hamburg, &c. The drug is collected by plucking the whole of the un- expanded petals from the calyx and cutting off the lighter- coloured lower portion from the deep purplish-red upper part. The little masses of petals are then either used fresh for the preparation of the confection, or dried, in which state they are officially employed for making the infusion; in the latter case they are often gently sifted to remove the stamens. The petals of the red rose are obovate in outline, velvety, and of a deep purplish-red colour, with a paler claw. Description.—When collected as described they remain united in small conical masses of a deep purplish-red colour, paler towards the base. They possess a delicate rose-like aroma and slightly astringent taste. Constituents. —Our knowledge of the constituents of red- rose petals is in an unsatisfactory state. They owe their aroma to a trace of volatile oil, and they contain a red