Edible tulip. A perennial herb, the bulb tunicate, oval, 1.5 cm. long. Leaves basal, linear, acute, attaining 30 cm. Scape erect, with 2 or 3 verticillate bracts. Flowers solitary, terminal, erect, 2.5 cm. in diameter; March-April. Perianth in 6 segments, extended, white striate with purple, lanceolate, acute; stamens 6, shorter than the perianth; ovary oblong; stigmas 3, short, thick. Fruit an oblong capsule; seeds numerous. Northern China, Japan. (Syn. T. graminifolia Bak., Orithia oxypetala Gray)
The bulbs occur 2-3 cm. in diameter. They contain the alkaloid tulipine.140 Tulipine is closely related to solanine and colchicine.152 The white interior portion of the bulb is employed in Chinese medicine.
Used as antipyretic and antidote in the treatment of ulcers, abscesses, boils, scrofula, insect bites. Dose, 3-6 gm.
VERATRUM NIGRUM L. (Liliaceae)
A rhizomatous perennial herb, pubescent, 1 m. high. Pseudo-stem consisting of tubular sheaths of the leaves applied one upon the other. Leaves large, plicate, glabrous, the inferior leaves oval or oblong-elliptical, attenuate; petiole short, clasping. Bracts lanceolate-linear, shorter than the pedicel. Flowers blackish purple, pedicellate, in loose clusters, tomentose, forming a long narrow panicle; July-August. Perianth in regular divisions, elliptical, entire, nearly equalling the pedicel. Ovary slightly depressed in the floral axis, 3-celled. Alpine northeastern China, northern China, Europe. (Syn. Melanthium nigrum Thunb.)
The root, which is poisonous, contains the alkaloids jervine (C27H39NO3; needles), pseudojervine (C29H43NO7; colorless hexagonal plates; m.p. 304°; soluble in alcohol; nearly insoluble in water, ether), and rubijervine (C26H43NO2 • H2O; crystals; m.p. 240-246°; soluble in alcohol, chloroform; insoluble in water).151 Jervine slows the heart rate, then increases it, lowers the blood pressure progressively, presumably by depression of the cardiac muscle and vasomotor center, respiration failing simultaneously; rubijervine acts mainly on the respiratory center, with some cardiac depression, it is emeto-cathartic; pseudojervine is inactive physiologically.152 The drug is a powerful sternutament.140
Used as emetic, and in apoplexy. Dose, 2-4 gm.
BLETILLA HYACINTHINA R. Br. (Orchidaceae)
A perennial orchid 20-30 cm. tall, Stem thickened at the base into a flat tubercle consisting of several internodes. Leaves 3-4, 9-18 cm. long by 1-2 cm. wide, plicate, linear or lanceolate, without evident petiole. Inflorescence a terminal cluster with 3-6 flowers; April-May. Flowers violet-pink, sepals and petals nearly similar, erect, showy. Labium deeply trilobate, the middle lobe more purplish, with 5-7 undulating crests. Column slender, white at the base, purplish at the tip; anther convex, operculate. China, Indochina. (Syn. B. striata Reichb., Limodorum striatum Thunb., Epidendrum tuberosum Lour., E. striatum Thunb., Cymbidium hyacinthinum Sm., C. striatum Sw., Gyas humilis Salib.)
The pseudobulbs are oblong, flat, hard, yellow, 5-6 cm. long, carrying traces of the stem in the form of an umbilicus consisting of several concentric circles. The taste is bitter. The drug contains mucilage, essential oil, glycogen.140
The pseudobulbs are powdered and mixed with sesame oil, and used externally as emollient for burns and skin disorders.
DENDROBIUM NOBILE Lindl. (Orchidaceae)
A perennial alpine epiphyte. Stem erect, compressed, yellowish, rather deeply furrowed, 30-60 cm. high. Leaves oblong, 7-10 cm. long, coriaceous, persistent 2 years. Inflorescence a cluster of 2-4 flowers, white or purple; sepals oblong-linear; petals much larger; labium broadly oval, oblong, pubescent; anther truncate in front, 4 pollen sacs in compressed pairs. Northwestern China, Himalayas, Laos. (Syn. Epidendrum monile Thunb).
The stem contains dendrobine (C16H25NO2; colorless crystals; m.p. 134°; soluble in ether, acetone, alcohol, chloroform; insoluble in water).151 The analgesic action of dendrobine upon frogs is slight but definite; it induces faint hyperglycemia and lowers the blood pressure; it augments salivary secretion.14 51
Prescribed as secretagogue and salivant in fever and dehydration, as sedative in arthritis. Dose, 5-10 gm.
GASTRODIA ELATA Blume. (Orchidaceae)
An alpine perennial herb with tuberous root. Stem simple, erect, 9-12 cm. high, bluish red, provided on its upper part with sheathing scales, the interior hollow. Inflorescence a terminal cluster; flowers numerous, yellowish red, small, the pedicel short. Bracts longer than the flowers, acuminate; sepals nearly regular, acute; lobes lateral, rounded; column erect with 2 teeth at its extremity. Western China, Tibet, Korea, Japan.
"The root is dug up in the 5th month and dried in the sun; the principal root is connected with 12 secondary tubers of various sizes."139 The taste is acrid.
The tubercles are prescribed as tonic in vertigo, headache, myoneuralgia, rheumatism. Dose, 5-10 gm.
ARECA CATECHU L. (Palmae)
Betel palm. A graceful, slender tree 10-30 m. high with 10-12 leaves forming the head. Leaves 1.0-1.8 m. long, pinnate, the upper segments joined, petiole sheathed, sheaths encircling the tip of the stipule. Inflorescence paniculate, axillary, monoecious. Female flowers not numerous, growing from the axis of the spadix or a few at the base; male flowers very numerous, very small, located at the tips of the branches. Sepals 3; petals 3; stamens 6 in the male; ovary 1-celled in the female; style short, terminated with 3 stigmas. Fruit a monospermous berry, fibrous, ovoid, the shape and color variable; seed with corneous albumen, hard, the interior marbled with brown and white. Laos, northern and southern Vietnam, Malaysia. (Syn A. hortensis Lour.)
The seeds, known as betel nuts, are more or less globular, flattened at the base, light brown, reticulate. The taste is astringent and slightly bitter. They contain 14% fixed oil (palmitic, oleic, stearic, caproic, caprylic, lauric, myristic acids), mannosan and galactans, 15% red tannin, choline, and the alkaloids arecoline 0.1% (C8H13NO2; oily liquid, colorless, odorless, very alkaline, volatile in water vapor; very soluble in water, alcohol, ether, chloroform; b.p. 209°), its isomer arecolidine (C8H13NO2; colorless crystals; m.p. 105°; freely soluble in
water, alcohol, ether, acetone), arecaidine (or arecaine; C7H11NO2 • H2O; colorless plates; decomposing at 232°; freely soluble in water; insoluble in absolute alcohol, chloroform, ether, benzene), guvacoline (C7H11NO2; colorless alkaline liquid; b.p. 114°; soluble in alcohol, chloroform), guvacine (C6H9NO2; colorless prisms; decomposing at 295°; soluble in water; almost insoluble in absolute alcohol, ether, chloroform, benzene).151 Arecoline is closely related to pilocarpine in its action; it stimulates peristalsis and produces marked bronchial constriction by peripheral action, which is overcome by atropine or epinephrine.152 It is vermicidal, and is now used as such only in veterinary medicine in the U.S., because of its toxic effects and unreliability.
Used in Chinese medicine as taeniafuge. Dose, 30 gm. areca powder in 200 cc. water, simmered 1 hour, taken before breakfast; if expulsion
