Page 255 - Pharmacognosy 2 PG303

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

Macroscopical Characters
The reddish-brown, 1-3 cm thick roots have a narrow bark which in the older

material is scaly and in young one is smooth. It readily separates from the wood.
The finely porous xylem has many narrow medullary rays, the sapwood being
light brownish and the heartwood darker in color. The fracture is fibrous on the
outside and splintery on the inside. Odorless; Taste: astringent and slightly bitter,
taste of bark, very astringent, and of wood, nearly tasteless.

It is a shrub, growing to a height of not more than 1 m, with long procumbent
branches bearing closely positioned, ca. 1 cm long, oblong-ovate, and silky pubes-
cent leaves. Axillary pedicellate flowers are with four pubescent sepals, grey on
the outside and purple on the inside, and four purplish red petals, three stamens and
a superior ovary.

1. Rhatany root; 2. T. cut a, cork; b, cortex; c, cambium; d,

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