fruit of Tamarindus Indica is mildly laxative, and is a constituent of Confectio Sennce. (See Fruit.) Taraxacum, or Dandelion (FR., Pissenlit ; Gait, 16wenzahn).—The root of Taraxacum officinale (T. Dens-leonis, Leontodon Taraxacum) is largely used as a mild laxative and tonic, especially in liver complaints. The plant is a native of the whole of Europe, N. and Central Asia, and N. America. In England, the root is gathered for extracting in November, the juice then yielding the beet and most abundant product. Bentley says, however, that it is more bitter in March, and most in July, and that these seasons should be chosen for collecting it. The drug is very aubject to attacks by maggots, and should not be kept longer than I year. It is sometimes adulterated with roots of the common Hawkbit (Leontodon hispidus). The approximate market value is 72s. a cwt.
Valerian (FR., Valgriane ; GER., Baldrian).—The root of Valerians officinalis is used as a stimulant and antispasmodic. The plant inhabits the whole of Europe, N. Asia as far as the coast of Manchuria, and several of the United States. It is grown (partly cultivated) in considerable quantities in the villages of Aahover, Woolley Moor, Morton, Stretton, Higham, Shirland, Pilaley, Wingfield, and Brackenfield, all in the neighbourhood of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the yield from which was 6 tons in 1872. Very much larger quantities are produced around Colleda, near Leipzig ; the plant is grown to some extent also in Holland, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. Propagation is effected by separating the young plants, developed at the end of runners springing from the root-stock. The fresh root is inodorous, but acquires its characteristic odour by drying ; its flavour is bitterish-aromatic. Of late years, a kind of valerian root has been imported from Japan, under the name of gesso, and is believed to be the produce of Patrinia scabioscefolia ; it is powerfully odorous. The approximate market value of valerian is 100s. a cwt.
Wahoo bark of Euonymus atropurpureus, used in the United States, contains a principle termed euonymine, recently introduced into this country as a oholagogue. The root-bark is said to be more powerful than the stem-bark : the former is whitish, with a somewhat nauseous odour ; the latter occurs in long quills, and is greenish when the outer surface is scraped.
Wormseed (FR., Semen-contra, Semencine, Barbotine ; GER., Wurmsamen, Zitwersamen).—The flower heads of Artemisia maritima (Lercheana) are largely used for their anthelmintic properties. The plant is found in saline soils, throughout the N. half of the Old World, as in Great Britain, on the shores of the Baltic, France, and the Mediterranean, in Hungary and Podolia, in S. Russia, the Caspian, Central Siberia, and Chinese Mongolia. The variety which chiefly affords the drug is most abundant on the Don and the Lower Volga, and in the Kirghiz Steppes ; in the last-named district, it is gathered very extensively, and introdneed into commereo through the annual fair at Niehni-Novgorod. The beet samples of the drug contain only unopened, whole flower heads, so tiny that 90 equal about 1 gr.; in inferior samples, occur fragments of stalks and leaves. In 1864, St. Petersburg imported about 11,400 cwt. of the drug, from the Kirghiz deserts, vitt. Semipalatinsk and Orenburg. Barbary wormseed, which is rarely seen now in the London market, differs from the Russian drug in being minutely hairy, and largely mixed with fragments of stalks. It is not known to contain santonin. It is supposed to be the produce of A. glomerate. The approximate market value of wormsced is 8d. a lb.
Bibliography.—' Chemist and Druggist' (London : 1859); Loll dey Kanny, ' Indigenous Drugs of India' (Calcutta : 1867); J. MeNab, 'Propagation of Ipecaeuanlia ' (Edinburgh : 1870); H. Drury, Useful Plants of India' (London : 1873); Tison, Histoire de la Fbve de Calabar' (Paris : 1873); D. Hanbury, ' Science Papers' (London : 1876); G. King, Manual of Cinchona Cultivation ' (Calcutta : 1876); T. Christy, 'New Commercial Plants' (London : 1879); Fliickiger & Hanbury, 'Pharmaeographia ' (London : 1879); Bentley & Trimen, 'Medicinal Plants' (London : 1880); Pharmaceutical Journal' (London: monthly).
(See Alkalies—Organic ; Dye-stuffs; Fruit ; Narcotics ; Nuts ; Oils ; Resinous Substances ; Spices ; Timber.)