Page 207 - Pharmacognosy 2 PG303

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

Collection and Preparation
The rhizomes are dug up after the herbaceous aerial stems have died down,

there is then found an upright, bulb-shaped rhizome, from which the stem has
sprung and to which several cylindrical descending branches are atteched. One
or more of the latter, destined to produce aerial sterns in the following year, will
curve upwards and thicken to form bulb-shaped organs. The rhizomes so
obtained are then steamed in their own juice or boiled in water for a half to one
day, by which the vitality that they otherwise obstinately retain is destroyed.
They are finally dried either in the sun or in an oven, and (sometimes) sorted into
"fingers" and "bulbs" the former being the cylindrical descending branches, the
latter the erect, stem-producing ones.

Macroscopical Characters
Finger or long turmeric occurs in curved or nearly straight cylindrical

pieces bluntly tapering at each end. The outer surface is of a deep yellowish-
brown color, longitudinally wrinkled and marked with transverse rings (leaf-
scars). Occasionally they bear short knob-like branches or show large circular
scars where these have been broken off. They are hard and heavy and break with
a short fracture; internally they have a uniform dull brownish-yellow, waxy
appearance and tough horny consistency. The smoothed transverse surface
exhibits a paler, or sometime darker, ring separating the stele from the cortex.
This appearance of the interior of the rhizomes is due to the prolonged boiling
they undergo, by which not only is the starch gelatinized, but the coloring matter,
previously restricted to certain scattered cells, becomes uniformly diffused
throughout the rhizome.

Bulb or round turmeric resembles the finger variety, but is, as its name
indicates, shorter and thicker.

The drug has a characteristic aromatic odour and taste, and when chewed colors
the saliva yellow.

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