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Page 37
It will be impossible to take up in order for chemical consideration
all these groups, and I shall restrict myself to pointing out the
occurrence of certain constituents.
I desire now to call attention to chemical groups under the apetalous
plants having simplicity of floral elements.
_Cassuarina equisetifolia_[20] possibly contains tannin, since it is
used for curing hides. The bark contains a dye. It is said to resemble
_Equisetum_[21] in appearance, and in this latter plant a yellow dye
is found.
The _Myrica_[22] contains ethereal oil, wax, resin, balsam, in all
parts of the plant. The root contains in addition fats, tannin, and
starch, also myricinic acid.
In the willow and poplar,[23] a crystalline, bitter substance, salicin
or populin, is found. This may be considered as the first appearance
of a real glucoside, if tannin be excluded from the list.
The oak, walnut, beech, alder, and birch contain tannin in large
quantities; in the case of the oak, ten to twelve per cent. Oak galls
yield as much as seventy per cent.[24]
The numerous genera of pine and fir trees are remarkable for ethereal
oil, resin, and camphor.
The plane[25] trees contain caoutchouc and gum; peppers,[26] ethereal
oils, alkaloids, piperin, white resin, and malic acid. _Datisca
cannabina_[27] contains a coloring matter and another substance
peculiar to itself, datiscin, a kind of starch, or allied to the
glucosides.
Upon the same evolutionary plane among the monocotyledons, the dates
and palms[28] contain in large quantities special starches, and this
is in harmony with the principles of the theory. Alkaloids and
glucosides have not yet been discovered in them.
Other monocotyledonous groups with simplicity of floral elements, such
as the typhace�, contain large quantities of starch; in the case of
_Typha latifolia_[29] 12.5 per cent., and 1.5 per cent. gum. In the
pollen of this same plant, 2.08 per cent. starch has been found.
Under the dicotyledonous groups, there are no plants with simplicity
of floral elements.
Returning, now, to apetalous plants of multiplicity and simplification
of floral elements, we find that the urticace�[30] contain free formic
acid; the hemp[31] contains alkaloids; the hop,[32] ethereal oil and
resin; the rhubarb,[33] crysophonic acid; and the begonias,[34]
chicarin and lapacho dyes. The highest apetalous plants contain
camphors and oils; the highest of the monocotyledons contain a
mucilage and oils; and the highest dicotyledons contain oils and
special acids.
The trees yielding common camphor and borneol are from genera of the
laurace� family; also sassafras camphor is from the same family. Small
quantities of stereoptenes are widely distributed through the plant
kingdom.
The gramine�, or grasses, are especially characterized by the large
quantities of sugar and silica they contain. The ash of the rice hull,
for example, contains ninety eight per cent. silica.
The ranunculace� contain many plants which yield alkaloids, as
_Hydrastia canadensis_, or Indian hemp, _Helleborus_, _Delphinum_,
_Aconitum_, and the alkaloid berberine has been obtained from genera
of this family.
The alkaloid[35] furnishing families belong, with few exceptions, to
the dicotyledons. The colchice�, from which is obtained veratrine,
form an exception among the monocotyledons. The alkaloids of the
fungus have already been noted.
[36]Among the greater number of plant families, no alkaloids have been
found. In the labiat� none has been discovered, nor in the composit�
among the highest plants.
One alkaloid is found in many genera of the loganiace�; berberine in
genera of the berberidace�, ranunculace�, menispermace�, rutace�,
papaverace�, anonace�.
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