_Stavesacre_; F. _Staphisaigre_; G. _Stephanskörner_, _Läusesamen_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Delphinium Staphisagria_ L., a stout, erect,
biennial herb growing 3 to 4 feet high, with palmate, 5-to 9-lobed
leaves, which as well as the rest of the plant are softly pubescent.
It is a native of Italy, Greece, the Greek Islands and Asia Minor,
growing in waste and shady places; it is now also found throughout the
greater part of the Mediterranean regions and in the Canary Islands,
but whether in all instances truly indigenous is questionable. It is
cultivated to some extent in Puglia, very little now near Montpellier.
=History=—Stavesacre was well known to the ancients. It is the ἀγροτἔρη
σταϕὶς of Nicander,[23] the σταϕὶς ἀγρία of Dioscorides,[24] and
Alexander Trallianus,[25] the _Staphisagria_ or _Herba pedicularia_ of
Scribonius Largus,[26] the _Astaphis agria_ or _Staphis_ of Pliny.[27]
The last named author mentions the use of the powdered seeds for
destroying vermin on the head and other parts of the body.
The drug continued in use during the middle ages. Pietro
Crescenzio,[28] who lived in the 13th century, mentions the collection
of the seeds in Italy; and Simon Januensis,[29] physician to Pope
Nicolas IV. (A.D. 1288-1292), describes them—“_propter excellentem
operationem in caputpurgio_.”
[23] O. Schneider, _Nicandrea_, Lips. 1856. 271.
[24] _De Mat. Med._ lib. iv. c. 153.
[25] Puschmann’s edition (quoted in the Appendix) i. 450.
[26] _De Compositione Medicamentorum_, c. 165.
[27] Lib. xxiii. c. 13.
[28] _Libro della Agricultura_, Venet. (1511) lib. vi. c. 108.
[29] _Clavis Sanationis_, Venet. 1510.
=Description=—The fruit consists of three downy follicles, in each of
which about 12 seeds are closely packed in two rows. The seeds (which
alone are found in commerce) are about 3 lines in length and rather
less in width; they have the form of a very irregular 4-sided pyramid,
of which one side, much broader than the others, is distinctly vaulted.
They are sharp-angled, a little flattened, and very rough, the testa
being both wrinkled and deeply pitted. The latter is blackish-brown,
dull and earthy-looking, rather brittle, yet not hard. It encloses a
soft, whitish, oily albumen with a minute embryo at its sharper end.
The seeds have a bitter taste and occasion a tingling sensation when
chewed. Ten of them weigh about 6 grains.
=Microscopic Structure=—The epidermis of the seed consists of one layer
of large cells, either nearly cubical or longitudinally extended:
hence the wrinkles of the surface. The brown walls of these cells are
moderately thickened by secondary deposits, which may be made very
obvious by macerating thin sections in a solution of chromic acid, 1 p.
in 100 p. of water. By this treatment numerous crystals after a short
time make their appearance,—without doubt the chromate of one of the
alkaloids of staphisagria.
The outer layer of the testa is made up of thin-walled narrow cells,
which become larger near the edges of the seed and in the superficial
wrinkles. They contain a small number of minute starch granules and are
not altered on addition of a salt of iron. The interior layer exhibits
a single row of small, densely packed cells. The albumen is composed of
the usual tissue loaded with granules of albuminoid matter and drops of
fatty oil.
=Chemical Composition=—Brandes (1819) and Lassaigne and Feneulle (1819)
have shown this drug to contain a basic principle. Erdmann in 1864
assigned it the formula C₂₄H₃₅NO₂; he obtained it to the extent of
1 per mille in crystals, soluble in ether, alcohol, chloroform, or
benzol. The alkaloid has an extremely burning and acrid taste, and is
highly poisonous.
Couerbe[30] in 1833 pointed out the presence in stavesacre of a second
alkaloid separable from delphinine by ether in which it is insoluble.
The treatment of the shell of the seed with chromic acid, detailed
above, shows that this part of the drug is the principal seat of
the alkaloids; and the albumen indeed furnishes no crystals of any
chromate. In confirmation of this view we exhausted about 400 grammes
of the _entire seeds_ with warm spirit of wine acidulated with a little
acetic acid. The liquid was allowed to evaporate and the residue
mixed with warm water. The solution thus obtained, separated from the
resin, yielded on addition of chromic acid an abundant precipitate of
chromate. The same solution likewise furnished copious precipitates
when bichloride of platinum,[31] iodohydrargyrate of potassium, or
bichromate of potassium were added. By repeating the above treatment on
a larger scale we obtained crystals of delphinine of considerable size,
and also a second alkaloid not soluble in ether.
[30] _Ann. de Chimie et de Phys._ lii. (1833) 352.
[31] The platinic compound is in fine microscopic crystals.
In the laboratory of Dragendorff, Marquis in 1877 succeeded in
isolating the following alkaloids:—1. _Delphinine_, C₂₂H₃₅NO₆, yielding
crystals one inch in length, belonging to the rhombic System. They
are soluble in 11 parts of ether, 15 parts of chloroform, and 20
of absolute alcohol. 2. _Staphisagrine_, C₂₂H₃₃NO₅, is amorphous,
soluble in less than 1 part of ether, also in 200 parts of water at
150°. This alkaloid, although it would appear to be the anhydride of
the former, is in every respect widely different from delphinine. 3.
_Delphinoidine_ (formula not quite settled), amorphous, soluble in
three parts of ether, more abundantly occurring in the seed than the
two former alkaloids. In its physiological action delphinoidine agrees
with delphinine, not with staphisagrine. 4. _Delphisine_ (formula
doubtful) forms crystalline tufts, occurs in but small amount, is
sparingly soluble in alcohol, chloroform, or ether.—The total amount of
alkaloids afforded by stavesacre is about 1 per cent.
By exhausting the seeds with boiling ether, we get 27 per cent. of a
greenish, fatty oil, which continued fluid even at -5° C. It concreted
by means of hyponitric acid, and is therefore to be reckoned among the
non-drying oils; it contained a large part of the alkaloids.
The drug air-dry contains 8 per cent. of hygroscopic water. Dried at
100° C. and incinerated it left 8·7 per cent. of ash.
Nothing exact is known of the _Delphinic acid_ of Hofschläger (about
1820) said to be crystalline and volatile.
=Commerce=—The seeds are imported from Trieste and from the south of
France, especially from Nismes, near which city as well as in Italy
(Puglia) the plant is cultivated.
=Uses=—Stavesacre seeds are still employed as in old times for the
destruction of _pediculi_ in the human subject, for which purpose they
are reduced to powder which is dusted among the hair. Dr. Balmanno
Squire[32] having ascertained that _prurigo senilis_ is dependent on
the presence of _pediculus_, has recommended an ointment of which
theessential ingredients is the fatty oil of stavesacre seeds extracted
by ether. It is plain that such a preparation would contain delphinine.
Delphinine itself has been used externally in neuralgic affections.
Stavesacre seeds are largely consumed for destroying the pediculi that
infest cattle.
[32] _Pharm. Journ._ vi. (1865) 405, and vii. (1877) 1043.