Grindelia camporum, Greene, cunoifolia, Nuttall, squarrosa, (Pursh) Dundl.

The dried leaves and flowering tops, with not more than 10 p. c. of stems, foreign matter.

Habitat. N. America, west of Rocky Mountains to Texas, Mexico, California; mountain ranges (highlands), salt marshes (lowlands), etc.

Syn. Grindel., California Gum-plant, Tar-weed; Donia squarrosa; Fr. Grindelia; Ger. Grindelie.

Grin-de'li-a. L. after D. H. Grindel, 1776-1836, German botanist and professor at Riga and Dorpat.

Cam-po'rum. L. Gen. pl. fr. campus, plain, field, highland - i. e., its habitat.

Cu-ne-i-fo'li-a. L. cuneifolius, fr. cuneus, a wedge, + folium, a leaf - i. e., shape of leaves.

Squar-ro'sa. L. squarrosus, scurfy, scaly, full of loose leaves - i. e., the involucre.

Plants. - Small, perennial, woody herbs, .3-1 M. (1-3°) high, more or less bushy; stems with attached branches terminated with resinous flower-buds; stems cylindrical, yellowish, pinkish, with alternate leaf-scars and basal portions of leaves, often flexuous and coated with resin. Leaves, usually separate, broken, lanceolate, oblanceo-late-spatulate, cuneate-spatulate, 1-7 Cm. (2/5-3') long, sessile or amplexicaul, sharply serrate, spinosely toothed, yellowish, resinous, coriaceous, brittle; bracts entire, spreading; heads resinous, viscid, many-flowered, conical-urceolate, depressed-urceolate, involucres of many imbricated bracts with recurved tips; ray-florets yellow, ligulate, pistillate; disk-florets yellow, tubular, perfect; pappus of 2-3 mostly unequal linear awns; disk achenes ovoid, oblong, compressed, triquetrous, biauriculate, broadly unidentate, truncate summit; odor balsamic; taste aromatic, bitter, resinous. Powder, yellowish-brown; microscopically - fragments of stem tissues, tracheae, wood-fibres, pith cells tubular, with layer of protoplasm and embedded spheroidal granules; fragments of leaf epidermis with polygonal areas, chloro-plastids, glandular hairs; pollen grains. Solvent: alcohol. Dose, gr. 15-60 (1-4 Gm.).

Commercial. - G. robusta, although first used medicinally and still preferred by some physicians, is too scarce for official recognition, while the three accepted are abundant and common; G. camporum, often under the name of G. squarrosa, from the highlands, contributes most, while G. cuneifolia, often under the name of G. robusta, from the lowlands, supplies considerable. Should be collected early in full bloom.

Constituents. - Resin, Bitter principle 1-2 p. c., Volatile oil, hentriacontane, C31H64, phytosterol, phenol, acids, grindeline (bitter, crystalline, soluble in water, alcohol, ether), fixed oil, wax, sugar, caoutchouc, tannin 1.5 p. c, ash 7-8 p. c.

Resin. - This is the active principle, acrid, so abundant as at times to coat over leaves and involucre, thus making them glutinous; hence the name gum-plant.

Bitter Principle (Grindelin). - A glucoside, considered to be a mixture of saponin and another saponin-like glucoside.

Volatile Oil. - This has turpentine odor; quantity very small.

Fig. 415. - Eupatorium perfoliatum: flowering top.

Preparations. - 1. Fluidextractum Grindelioe. Fluidextract of Grin-delia. (Syn., Fldext. Grindel., Fluid Extract of Grindelia; Fr. Extrait fluide de Grindelia; Ger. Grindelienfluidextrakt.)

Manufacture: Similar to Fluidextractum Sabal, page 95; menstruum: 75 p. c. alcohol. Dose, exv-60 (1-4 Ml. (Cc.)).

Unoff. Preps.: Extract, dose, gr. 5-15 (.3-1 Gm.). Infusion. Tincture.

Properties. - Cardiac sedative, expectorant, antispasmodic, tonic, stomachic, diuretic; relaxes muscular coat of the bronchial tubes; large doses produce narcosis, dilated pupils, impaired power of locomotion, increased urine. Resembles conium somewhat in action, and cases of poisoning should be treated similarly.

Uses. - Asthma, bronchitis, whooping-cough, catarrh of bladder and uterus; locally to burns, blisters, rheumatism, and poisoning by rhus toxicodendron; in solution or poultice. It is eliminated by the bronchial mucous membrane and the kidneys, stimulating both, the latter sometimes to the extent of renal irritation. Allied Plants:

1. Grindelia glutino'sa and G. hirsu'tula. - W. United States, stem of former often purple, tomentose; both are very similar to and often collected and mixed in with the official.