The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 94

Castelnau states, that one expert hand can gather 15 lbs. of the ipecacuan root in a day, which will fetch in Rio one dollar per pound.

He estimates that, from 1830 to 1837, not less than 800,000 lbs. of this drug were exported from the province of Matto Grosso to Rio.

Jalap.--This drug is obtained from the dried tubers or root-stock of _Ipomoea Jalapa_ or _Convolvulus Jalapa_, a perennial plant, native of America. Some suppose it takes its specific name from Xalapa, in Mexico, whence we chiefly import it. It grows in the woods near Chicanquiaco, at an alt.i.tude of 6,000 feet above the level of the sea.

Large quant.i.ties might be gathered and exported in Jamaica. The root is of a roundish tuberous form, black externally, and of a deep, yellowish grey within, and varies in size from that of a walnut to that of a moderate sized turnip. It contains a resin in which its active properties reside. It is brought to this country in thin transverse slices, and the amount entered for home consumption is about 45,000 lbs. a year. It is imported in bales, from Vera Cruz direct, or indirectly by way of New York, and other places.

Two sorts of jalap root occur in commerce. The one which was first introduced into the market, and which is even at the present day most frequently met with, is obtained from the _Ipomoea Schiedeana_ of Zuccarini, a plant growing on the eastern declivity of the Mexican Andes, and discovered by Von Schiedes. The root, as met with in commerce, consists of pieces varying from the size of a nut to that of the fist, sometimes whole, sometimes cut into disks, and at other times divided into two or three portions. The external surface is of a more or less dark gray brown color, corrugated and rough. It is very hard, presents a s.h.i.+ning resinous even surface when broken, and is difficult to reduce to powder. The powder is of a brownish color, has a faint peculiar odor and irritant taste.

The second quality, which was introduced into commerce is great quant.i.ties a few years ago, by the name of stalk jalap, is now more scarce, and obtained from the _Ipomoea orazabensis_ of Pelletan, a plant growing without cultivation in the neighbourhood of the Mexican town of Orizaba. The root, as met with in the trade, consists of pieces varying from one to three inches in length, and 1 to two inches in diameter. They are of a higher color than the first-named root, and of decidedly fibrous structure. The chief const.i.tuents of both varieties is a peculiar resin, of which they contain about 10 per cent.

Scammony.--The root of _Convolvulus Scammonia_, another plant of the same family, affords, when cut, a gummy resinous exudation or milky juice, which soon concretes and forms scammony. The plant grows abundantly in Greece, the Grecian Islands, and various parts of the Levant. It is imported from Aleppo in drums, weighing from 75 to 125 lbs. each, and from Smyrna in compact cakes like wax packed in chests.

In 1839, the quant.i.ty on which duty (2s. 6d. per lb.) was paid amounted to 8,581 lbs. The duty received for scammony, in 1842, was 607. A spurious kind is prepared from _Calystegia (Convolvulus) sepium_, a native of Australia, and several plants of the Asclepiadacae order.

Dr. Russell ("Med. Obs. and Inqui.") thus describes the mode of procuring scammony:--

Having cleared away the earth from the upper part of the root, the peasants cut off the top in an oblique direction, about two inches below where the stalks spring from it. Under the most depending part of the slope they affix a sh.e.l.l, or some other convenient receptacle, into which the milky juice flows. It is then left about twelve hours, which time is sufficient for the drawing off of the whole juice; this, however, is in small quant.i.ties, each root affording but a few drachms. This milky juice from the several roots is put together, often into the leg of an old boot, for want of some more proper vessel, when in a little time it grows hard, and is the genuine scammony. Various substances are often added to scammony while yet soft. Those with which it is most usually adulterated are wheat flour, ashes, or fine sand and chalk.

Liquorice.--The plant which yields the liquorice root of commerce is _Glycirrhiza glabra_ or _Liquiritia officinalis_. It is a native of Italy and the southern parts of Europe, but has been occasionally cultivated with success in Britain, especially at Pontefract, in Yorks.h.i.+re, and at Mitcham, in Surrey. The plant is a perennial, with pale blue flowers. It grows well in a deep, light, sandy loam, and is readily increased by slips from the roots with eyes. The root, which is the only valuable part, is long, slender, fibrous, of a yellow color, and when grown in England is fit for use at the end of three years. The sweet, subacid, mucilaginous juice is much esteemed as a pectoral. It owes its sweetness to a peculiar principle called glycrin or glycirrhiza, which appears also to be present in the root and leaves of other papilionaceous plants, as _G. echinata_ and _glandulifera, Trifoliwm alpinum_, and the wild liquorice of the West Indies, _Abrus precatorius_, a pretty climber.

The greatest portion of our supplies of the extract, which amount to 7,000 or 8,000 cwts. a year, are obtained from Spain and Sicily. The juice, obtained by crus.h.i.+ng the roots in a mill, and subjecting them to the press, is slowly boiled, till it becomes of a proper consistency, when it is formed into rolls of a considerable thickness, which are usually covered with bay leaves. It is afterwards usually re-dissolved, purified, and, when formed into small quills, is known as refined liquorice.

In 1839, 1,166 tons of liquorice paste were exported from Naples, valued at 45 per ton. Mr. Poole, in his Statistics of Commerce, states that the consumption of liquorice root and paste in this country averages 500 tons per annum. 110 cwt. of the juice and 100 cwt. of the root are annually brought into Hull from the continent.

Matico--the Peruvian styptic, a powerful vegetable astringent, was first made known to the medical profession of England by Dr. Jeffreys, of Liverpool, in the _Lancet_, as far back as January 5th, 1839. A paper on its history and power was published in May, 1843, in the "Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical a.s.sociation,"

vol. 10. It is stated to be the _Piper angustifolium_ of Ruiz and Parsons. Dr. Martin believes it to be a species of _Phlomis_. The leaves are covered with a fine hair.

The powdered leaves of the _Eupatorium glutinosum_, under the name of Matico, are used about Quito for stanching blood and healing wounds. A good article on the pharmaceutical and chemical character of matico, by Dr. J.F. Hodges, appeared in the "Proceedings of the Chemical Society of London," in 1845. It is stated, by Dr. Martin, that, like the gunjah, which the East Indians prepare, from the _Cannabis Indica_, the leaves and flowers of the matico have been long employed by the sensual Indians of the interior of Peru to prepare a drink which they administer to produce a state of aphrodisia. The leaves and flowering tops of the plant are the parts imported and introduced to notice as a styptic, which property seems to depend on their structure and not on their chemical composition.

Qua.s.sia.--The qua.s.sia wood of the pharmacopoeia was originally the product of _Qua.s.sia amara_, a tall shrub, never above fifteen feet high, native of Guiana, but also inhabiting Surinam and Colombia. It is a very ornamental plant, and has remarkable pinnate leaves with winged petioles. This wood is well known as one of the most intense bitters, and is considered an effectual remedy in any disorder where pure bitters are required. Surinam qua.s.sia is not, however, to be met with now. That sold in the shops is the tough, fibrous, bitter bark of the root of _Simaruba (Qua.s.sia) excelsa_ and _officinalis_, very large forest trees, growing in Cayenne, Jamaica, and other parts of the West India Islands, where they bear the local name of bitter-wood. Its infusion is used as a tonic. 23 tons of bitter-wood were s.h.i.+pped from Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1851. Qua.s.sia acts as a narcotic poison on flies and other insects. Although prohibited by law, it is frequently employed by brewers as a subst.i.tute for hops. The duty of 8 17s. 6d.

per cwt., levied on qua.s.sia, is intended to restrict its use for such a purpose.

Rhubarb.--This most important plant belongs to the genus Rheum. The officinal rhubarb is the root of an undetermined species. There are about thirteen different kinds which are said to yield rhubarb.

Lindley enumerates fifteen. I however take Professor Balfour's cla.s.sification:--

1. _Rheum palmatum_, native of Bucharia, which has perhaps the best t.i.tle to be considered the true rhubarb-plant, grows spontaneously in the Mongolian empire on the confines of China.

2. _R. undulatum_, native of China, which yields much of the French rhubarb.

3. _R. compactum_, native of Tartary, another species yielding French rhubarb, and often cultivated in Britain for its acid petioles.

4. _R. Emodi_ (Wallich). This species yields a kind of Himalayan rhubarb. Its petioles are much used for their acid properties.

5. _R. Rhapontic.u.m_, native of Asia. Used in France and Britain in the same way as the third species. It is much cultivated in the department of Morbihan.

6. _R. hybridum_ (Murr). Much cultivated in Germany for its root and in Britain for its stalks.

7. _R. Webbianum_ (Royle). 8. _R. Spiceformi_ (Royle). 9. _R.

Moorcroftianum_ (Royle). Himalayan species or varieties.

10. _R. cra.s.sinervium_ (Fisch), a Russian species.

11. _R. leucorhizum_ (Pall), a Siberian and Altai species, said to yield imperial or white rhubarb. It has striped flowers, while all others are whitish green.

12. _R. Caspic.u.m_ (Fisch), a Russian and Altai species.

13. _R. Ribes_, native of the Levant, but some say an Afghanistan or Persian species.

All these grow in the cold parts of the world, as on the Altai mountains, in Siberia, Thibet, North of China, and on the Himalayan range. The rhubarb procured from one or more of these species is known in commerce under the names of Russian or Turkey, Chinese or East Indian, and English rhubarb.

The plants all thrive well in a rich loamy soil, or light sandy soil, and are increased by divisions of the roots or by seed.

The extent of country from which rhubarb of one kind or another is actually collected, according to Christison, stretches from Ludall, in 77 east longitude, to the Chinese province of Shen-si, 29 degrees further east, and from the Sue-chan mountains, in north lat.i.tude 26 degrees, nearly to the frontiers of Siberia, 24 degrees northward. The best rhubarb is said to come from the very heart of Thibet, within 95 degrees east longitude and 35 degrees north lat.i.tude, 500 or 600 miles north of a.s.sam.

The Chinese rhubarb is inferior to that of Russia and Turkey. The price varies in China from 38 dollars per picul upwards, and about 1,500 piculs are annually exported, on an average at 50 dollars per picul. In 1844, 2,077 piculs were s.h.i.+pped from Canton for Great Britain; and of 95,701 lbs. imported in 1841, 43,640 lbs. were brought from China, 8,349 lbs. from the Philippines, 7,290 lbs. from the East Indies, and 33,710 lbs. from the United States; only 1,462 lbs. were brought from Russia. The imports from the East Indies have decreased more than 70 per cent. in the last twelve years, as compared with the preceding. The wholesale prices are, for round rhubarb, 8d. to 3s. per lb.; flat, 6d. to 3s. 3d. per lb.; Dutch trimmed, 6s. to 7s. per lb.; Russian, 13s. to 13s. 6d. per lb.

In 1831, we imported 133,462 lbs. from the East India Company's possessions, and 6,901 lbs. from Russia. In 1843, only 71,298 lbs.

came from the East. From China we received, in 1843, 172,882 lbs.

The quant.i.ties of rhubarb on which duty of 1s. per lb. was paid in the six years ending 1840, were as follows;--

East Indian. Foreign.

lbs. lbs.

1835 32,515 10,647 1836 36,836 7,752 1837 44,669 5,946 1838 37,026 7,402 1839 22,575 12,525 1840 16,745 22,203

The imports and consumption of rhubarb are thus stated in the _Pharmaceutical Journal_:--

Imports. Consumption.

lbs. lbs.

1826 102,624 32,936 1831 140,395 40,124 1836 122,142 44,468 1841 95,701 67,877 1846 427,694 -- 1847 305,736 -- 1848 116,005 -- 1849 94,914 --

The rhubarb brought into Siberia grows wild in Chinese Tartary, especially in the province Gansun, on hills, heaths, and meadows, and is generally gathered in summer from plants of six years of age. "When the root is dug up, it is washed to free it from earthy particles; peeled, bored through the centre, strung on a thread, and dried in the sun. In autumn all the dried rhubarb collected in the province is brought in horsehair sacks, containing about 200 lbs., to Sinin (the residence of the dealers), loaded on camels, and sent over Mongolia to Kiachta, and the ports and capital of China.

Sarsaparilla.--The root of various species of _Smilax_ const.i.tutes the sarsaparilla of the shops. It is an evergreen climbing undershrub, having whitish green flowers, and grows readily from suckers. It is a native of the temperate and tropical regions of Asia and America. The officinal part is the bark, which comes off from the rhizomes. They are mucilaginous, bitter, and slightly acid. Sarsaparilla is used in decoction and infusion as a tonic and alterative. The following are enumerated as sources whence sarsaparilla of various kinds is derived.

_Smilax China_ and _sagittaefolia_, yielding the Chinese root, are said to come from the province of Onansi in China.

_S. pseudo China, S. Sarsaparilla, S. rubens_, and _S. Watsoni,_ furnish the drug of North America.

The sarsaparilla distinguished in commerce as the Lisbon or Brazilian is the root of _S. papyracea_ of Poiret. It is an undershrub, the stem of which is compressed and angular below, and armed with p.r.i.c.kles at the angles. The leaves are elliptic, ac.u.minate, and marked with three longitudinal nerves. This species grows princ.i.p.ally in the regions bordering the river Amazon, and on the banks of most of its tributary streams. It is generally brought from the provinces of Para and Maranham. It is in large cylindrical bundles, long and straight, and the flexible stem of the plant is bound round the bundles, so as to entirely cover them. Its fibres are very long, cylindrical, wrinkled longitudinally, and furnished with some lateral fibrils. Its color is of a fawn brown, or sometimes of a dark grey, approaching to black.

The color internally is nearly white. Besides this species there are others indigenous, such as _S. officinalis_, which grows in the province of Mina; _S. syphilitica_, which grows in the northern regions, and three new species, _S. j.a.picanga, S. Brasiliensis_, and _S_. _syringioides_. There is also met with in Brazil another plant, _Herreria sarsaparilla_, belonging to the same natural order, which abounds in the provinces of Rio, Bahia, and Mina, and the roots of which receive the name of wild sarsaparilla.

From Mexico, Honduras, and Angostura very good qualities are imported.

_S. zeylanica, glabra_, and _perfoliata_ furnish sarsaparilla from Asia, and _S. excelsa_ and _aspera_ are used as subst.i.tutes for the officinal drug in Europe.

_Smilax officinalis_, found in woods near the Rio Magdalena in New Granada, furnishes the best in the market, which is commonly known as Jamaica Sarza. It differs from the other kinds in having a deep red cuticle of a close texture, and the color is more generally diffused through the ligneous part. It is s.h.i.+pped in bales, formed either of the spirally formed roots, as in the Jamaica and Lima varieties, or of unfolded parallel roots, as in the Brazilian varieties. The roots are usually several feet long, about the thickness of a quill, more or less wrinkled, and the whole quant.i.ty retained for home consumption, in 1840, was 143,000 lbs. In 1844, 184,748 lbs., and in 1845 111,775 lbs. were s.h.i.+pped from Honduras.

The prices in the London market, at the close of 1853, were --Brazil, 1s. 3d. per lb.; Honduras, 1s. 3d. to 1s. 8d. per lb.; Vera Cruz, 6d.

to 11d. per lb.; Jamaica, 1s. 8d. to 3s. 4d. per lb. The duty received on sarsaparilla in 1842 was 1,536.