Page 203 - Pharmacognosy 2 PG303

Pharmacognosy-2 (PG303) Level 2 Clinical Pharmacy-Pharm D

Cultivation and collection
The drug is collected chiefly from wild plants, which are often removed
when a field is ploughed. The corms are often collected in June or July, at which
time they are in the best condition, the leaves having withered away and the
flower not yet having appeared.

Seed may be sown as soon as it is ripe, in September, in a moist shaded
spot and covered thinly with soil; they germinate during the winter and early spring.
When one year old the corms may be planted in the field about 60 cm. apart, and at
the end of the third year they may becollected in July. Flowering usually takes place
in August or early September of the fourth or fifth year. Plants may also be
propagated by planting young wild corms, which should be buried at a depth of
about 20 cm. They produce a rosette of large lanceolate leaves, about 15-25 cm.
long, in the spring; these die down in July, and in August or September the crocus-
like lilac or pale purple flowers appear, hence the names Autumn Crocus and Naked
Ladies given to the plant. The ovary is 10 cm. or more below the ground level and
the fruit forms below the ground, in the spring the stalk elongates and the fruit is
carried up with the rosette of new leaves.

The corms are lifted, the fibrous roots are removed from the base and the
outer membranous scales are peeled off. They may be used fresh for making a
juice or extract or they may be dried and stored for use as required. If they are
dried the corms are cut transversely into slices about 0.5 cm. thick and are dried
at a gentle heat not exceeding 65° C The membranous remains of the outer scales
are removed from the finished product by winnowing.

Macroscopical Characters
The fresh conm is bluntly conical and flattened on one side. It is 3.5-4 cm
high, 2.5-3 cm, wide and about 2 cm. thick. Near the base of the flat surface is a
shallow depression containing a bud from which the aerial stem of the following
season and ultimately a new corm will be formed. At the summit of the corm is
the remains of last season's flowering stem and, running from apex to base of its
surface, vascular bundles may be seen as faint lines. Scars of the fibrous roots
are present at the base. Internally the corm is firm, white, and fleshy, it has
disagreeable odor, and exudes, when cut, a bitter juice that is white and milky
from the presence in it of numerous starch grains.

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