Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/101

Rh or almost glabrous; uppermost helmet-shaped, helmet more or less depressed into a distinct and often long and slender beak. 15-10 mm. high, 12-18 mm. long, from the tip to the base, 5-7 mm. wide (seen from the side), lateral margin conspicuously concave, lateral sepals not contiguous with the helmet, except near the base, obliquely suborbicular or almost square, shortly or obscurely clawed, 12-15 mm.long and broad, lower sepals oblong, obtuse, 9-12 mm.long. Nectaries extinguisher-shaped glabrous, claw 5-6 mm. long, leaning forward in the upper part; hood short, wide, very obtuse, top slightly gibbous on the back, honey-gland occupying the whole top or the gibbosity. Filaments glabrous or very sparingly hairy, winged; wings gradually or abruptly attenuated. Carpels 5, glabrous, rarely or sparingly hairy on the back, conniving abruptly, contracted into the short style, back convex. Follicles oblong, truncate, 10-16 mm. long, contiguous or with slightly divergent tips, glabrous. Seeds brown obovoid to obpyramidal, 3·5 mm. long, equally 3-winged, wings thin, faces smooth.

Properties and uses.—The root contains, according to Professor Dunstan, aconitine, but in very small proportions. It seems that it is sometimes used in Northern India as a substitute for the imported tuber of Aconitum Napellus (Wall).

Aconitum Chasmanthum, Stapf.—This was for sometime supposed to be the European Aconitum Napellus, but is now known to be a distinct species.

The plant is known as 'Mohri.'

The alkaloid which has been obtained from the plant proves to be exceptionally interesting, since it represents a compound intermediate between the aconitine of the European Aconitum Napellus and the pseudo-aconitine of the Indian Aconitum ferox. This alkaloid is named indaconitine.

Properties.—Indaconitine is soluble in acetone, chloroform, alcohol, or ether, but practically insoluble in light petroleum or water.

By the addition of light petroleum to a solution of the base in alcohol, chloroform, or ether, well defined crystals may be readily obtained.

A peculiar property of indaconitine which sharply distinguishes it from aconitine is its capability of crystallising in several forms from the same solvent. The crystalline form appears to depend on the purity of the substance and on the strength of the solution. By rapid crystallisation, the base is deposited from ether in rosettes of needles, but if allowed to crystallise slowly, or if the substance is not quite pure, it is obtained as transparent, hexagonal prisms or large, irregular masses. If a somewhat concentrated