Pilocarpus

Jaborandi, Holmes, microphyllus, Stapf.

The dried leaflets, with not more than 5 p. c. of stalks bearing leaflets and stems, other matter, containing .6 p. c. of alkaloids.

Habitat. 1. Brazil - from Pernambuco; 2. Brazil - from Maranham; Paraguay, Uruguay; in forest-cleanings on the hill-slopes.

Syn. Pilocarp., Jaborandi, Pilocarpi Foliata; 1. Pernambuco Jaborandi. 2. Maranham Jaborandi; Fr. Jaborandi; Ger. Folia Jaborandi, Jaborandiblatter. Pi-lo-car'pus. L. pilus, hair, or fr. Gr.

a cap, +

fruit - i. e..

fruit hat-shaped.

Jab-o-ran'di. L. fr. Port. zha-bo-ran-de' - i. e., South American name. Mi-cro-nhyl'lus. L. fr. Gr.

small, +

leaf - i. e., having small leaves.

Plants. - Shrubs 1.2-1.5 M. (4-5°) high, branches erect; bark smooth, with gray and white dots, root 18 Mm. (3/4') thick; flowers small, pinkish-purple, pedicellate, racemes 45 Cm. (18') long; fruit, 5 carpels 4 Cm. (1 3/5') long, compressed, curved ridges dotted with oil-

Fig. 218. - Pilocarpus Jaborandi: variously shaped leaflets, a and c, emarginate; b and d, pointed, blunt.

glands, carpels 1-seeded, reniform, black; leaves imparipinnate, .3-.4 M. (1-1 1/2°) long, 2-5 pairs. Leaflets (P. Jaborandi): Pernambuco, oval, oblong, elliptical, 4-10.5 Cm. (1 3/5'-4') long, 2-4 Cm. (4/5-1 3/5') broad, short, stout petiolules, acute, emarginate (rounded), base rounded or acute, mostly unequal, entire, narrowly revolute, smooth, shiny, coriaceous, glandular-punctate, grayish-brownish-green above, midrib mostly depressed, yellowish-, greenish-brown beneath, slightly pubescent on the prominent midvein; peculiarly aromatic when crushed; taste bitterish, becoming pungent with sialagogue effect; (P. microyhyllus): Maranham, rhomboidally oval, obovate, elliptical, 1.5-5 Cm. (3/5-2') long, 1-3 Cm. (2/5-1 1/5') broad, lateral ones nearly sessile, terminal ones on margined petiolules, .5-1.5 Cm. (1/5-3/5') long, nearly uniform grayish-, yellowish-green, rather thin, otherwise resembling the preceding. Powder, dark green-, greenish-brown; microscopically - epidermal cells 5-6-sided, stomata usually with 4 neighboring cells, fragments of fibro-vascular bundles showing tracheae, wood-fibres, bast-fibres, rosette aggregates of calcium oxalate, oil-secretion reservoirs with oil globules, non-glandular hairs. Solvents: diluted alcohol; boiling water partially. Dose, gr. 15-30 (1-2 Gm.).

Adulterations. - Leaves from which pilocarpine has been extracted, or leaves of Pilocarpus species possessing little activity or of pipera-ceous plants (thin, subcoriaceous, ovate, not emarginate but acuminate, finely granular, not pellucid-punctate), or of Monnie'ra trifo'lia and Casca'ria species, or leaflets of Swart'zia decip'iens (ovoid, short hairy petiole, upper surface shining, lower minutely hairy, not pellucid-punctate, some only 5 Mm. (1/5') long) for "Maranham Jaborandi," sometimes 30 p. c, or "False Jaborandi" - leaves of Hoematoxylon campechianum, notched apex, pellucid-punctate, without alkaloid, with red-brown secreting vessels, cinnamon and clove odor.

Commercial. - Plant was introduced into Europe, 1847, and now is cultivated. The names Jaborandi, Jamborandi, Iaborandi are applied natively, in both generic and specific sense, to several dissimilar pungent plants having sialagogic, diaphoretic and sudorific properties, as Serro'nea Jaborandi, Piper Jaborandi (possibly the true Jaborandi), P. unguicida'tum, P. citrifo'lium, P. reticula'tum, P. Mollico'mum, Erte'la (Auble'tia) trifo'lia, Xanthoxylum el'egans. Leaves should be collected when grown, after rainy season, and, inclining to mustiness, should be dried thoroughly before packing. The official species are high-priced, scarce, and subject to much substitution, while the Rio Jaborandi (P. Selloanus), once official and popular, continues to have a limited demand in spite of great irregularity in characteristics and constituents.

Constituents. - Pilocarpine .5-1 p. c. (1874), isopilocarpine, pilo-carpidine, jaborine (?), volatile oil .5 p. c, (resin, tannin, malic acid, salts), ash 7 p. c.

Pilocarpine (Pilocarpina), C11H16N2O2. - This liquid alkaloid, as first obtained under the name of jaborandine, was believed to be volatile, but this is not true, although it occurs as a colorless, syrupy liquid. It may be prepared by moistening powdered leaves with solution of sodium carbonate, exhausting with warm benzene, shaking out with diluted hydrochloric acid, after separation rendering acid solution alkaline with solution of sodium carbonate, shaking out with chloroform, evaporating chloroformic liquid getting residue of crude alkaloids; neutralize with diluted nitric acid, evaporate to dryness, purify by repeated crystallization from alcohol, dissolve pilocarpine nitrate in water, render alkaline with ammonia, shake out with chloroform, evaporate getting pure pilocarpine as a colorless syrupy liquid; it is soluble in water, alcohol, chloroform, slightly in ether, forms crystal-lizable salts (hydrochloride, nitrate, etc.); resembles nicotine in action.

Pilocarpinae Hydrochloridum, Pilocarpine Hydrochloride, C11H16-N2O2.HC1, official. - (Syn., Pilocarpin. Hydrochl., Pilocarpine Chloride, Pilocarpinae Hydrochloras; Fr. Chlorhydrate de Pilocarpine; Ger. Pilocarpinum hydrochloricum, Pilokarpinhydrochlorid.) Obtained by neutralizing diluted hydrochloric acid (17.5) with pilocarpine (10), concentrating, setting aside over sulphuric acid to crystallize; it is in colorless, translucent crystals, odorless, faintly bitter taste, hygroscopic on exposure, soluble in water (.3), alcohol (3), hot alcohol (1.5), chloroform (366), insoluble in ether; aqueous solution (1 in 20) neutral or slightly acid, melts at 197° C. (387° F.). Tests: 1. Aqueous solution with silver nitrate T. S. - white precipitate, insoluble in nitric acid. 2. Incinerate .1 Gm. - ash non-weighable. Impurities: Foreign alkaloids, readily carbonizable substances. Should be kept dark, in well-closed containers. Dose, gr. 1/8-1/2 (.008-.03 Gm.), administered best hypodermically (2 p. c. aqueous solution).