_C. procera_ was observed in Egypt by Prosper Alpinus (1580-84), and
upon his return to Italy was figured, and some account given of its
medicinal properties.[1573] It is also the “Apocynum syriacum” figured
by Clusius.[1574]
_C. gigantea_ was figured by Rheede[1575] in 1679, and in our own day
by Wight.[1576]
The medicinal virtues of mudar, though so long esteemed by the natives
of India, were not investigated experimentally by Europeans until the
present century, when Playfair recommended the drug in elephantiasis,
and its good effects were afterwards noticed by Vos (1826), Cumin
(1827), and Duncan (1829). The last named physician also performed
a chemical examination of the root-bark, the activity of which he
referred to an extractive matter which he termed _Mudarine_.[1577]
=Description=—The root-bark of _C. procera_, as we have received
it,[1578] consists of short, arched, bent, or nearly flat fragments, ⅛
to ⅕ of an inch thick. They have outwardly a thickish, yellowish-grey,
spongy cork, more or less fissured lengthwise, frequently separating
from the middle cortical layer; the latter consists of a white mealy
tissue, traversed by narrow brown liber-rays. The bark is brittle and
easily powdered; it has a mucilaginous, bitter, acrid taste, but no
distinctive odour. The light yellow, fibrous wood is still attached to
many of the pieces.
The roots of _C. gigantea_ are clothed with a bark which seems to be
undistinguishable from that of _C. procera_ just described. The wood
of the root consists of a porous, pale yellow tissue, exhibiting large
vascular bundles, and very numerous small medullary rays, consisting of
1 to 3 rows of the usual cells.[1579]
[1571] Information for which we are indebted to Dr. Rice.
[1572] Ibn Baytar, translated by Sontheimer, ii. (1842) 193.
[1573] _De Plantis Ægypti_, Venet. 1592. cap. xxv.
[1574] _Rarior. plantar. hist._ ii. (1601) lxxxvii.
[1575] _Hortus Malabaricus_, ii. tab. 31.
[1576] _Illustrations of Indian Botany_, Madras, ii. (1850) tab.
155.—_C. procera_ is figured by the same author in his _Icones
Plantarum Indiæ Orientalis_, iv. tab. 1278.
[1577] _Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ._ xxxii. (1829) 60.
[1578] We are indebted for an authentic specimen to Dr. E. Burton Brown
of Lahore.
[1579] Roots of _C. gigantea_ kindly supplied to us by Dr. Bidie of
Madras consist of light, woody truncheons, ½ to 2¼ inches in diameter.
=Microscopic Structure=—In the root-bark of _C. procera_, the suberous
coat is made up of large, thin-walled, polyhedral, or almost cubic
cells; the middle cortical layer, of a uniform parenchyme, loaded with
large starch granules, or here and there containing some thick-walled
cells (sclerenchyme) and tufts of oxalate of calcium. The large
medullary rays are built up of the usual cells, having porous walls and
containing starch and oxalate. In a longitudinal section, the tissue,
chiefly of the middle cortical layer, is found to be traversed by
numerous laticiferous vessels, containing the dry milk juice[1580] as a
brownish granular substance not soluble in potash.
The microscopic characters of the root-bark of _C. gigantea_ agree with
those here detailed of _C. procera_. The stems of _Calotropis_ are
distinguished by strong liber-fibres, which are not met with in the
roots.
=Chemical Composition=—By following the process of Duncan above
alluded to, 200 grammes of the powdered bark of _C. gigantea_ yielded
us nothing like his _Mudarine_, but 2·4 grammes of an acrid _resin_,
soluble in ether as well as in alcohol. The latter solution reddens
litmus; the former on evaporation yields the resin as an almost
colourless mass. If the aqueous liquid is separated from the crude
resin, and much absolute alcohol added, an abundant precipitate of
mucilage is obtained. The liquid now contains a bitter principle, which
after due concentration may be separated by means of tannic acid.
We obtained similar results by exhausting the bark of _C. procera_
with dilute alcohol. The tannic compound of the bitter principle was
mixed with carbonate of lead, dried and boiled with spirit of wine.
This after evaporation furnished an amorphous, very bitter mass, not
soluble in water, but readily so in absolute alcohol. The solution
is _not_ precipitated by an alcoholic solution of acetate of lead.
By purifying the bitter principle with chloroform or ether, it is at
last obtained colourless. This bitter matter is probably the active
principle of _Calotropis_; we ascertained by means of the usual tests
that no alkaloid occurs in the drug. The large juicy stem, especially
that of _C. gigantea_, ought to be submitted to an accurate chemical
and therapeutical examination.[1581]
=Uses=—Mudar is an alterative, tonic and diaphoretic,—in large doses
emetic. By the natives of India, who employ it in venereal and skin
complaints, almost all parts of the plant are used. According to
Moodeen Sheriff,[1582] the bark of the root and the dried milky juice
are the most efficient; the latter is however somewhat irregular and
unsafe in its action. The same writer remarks that he has found that
the older the plant, the more active is the bark in its effects. He
recommends that the corky outer coat, which is tasteless and inert,
should be scraped off before the bark is powdered for use: of a powder
so prepared, 40 to 50 grains suffice as an emetic.
The stems of _C. gigantea_ afford a very valuable fibre which can be
spun into the finest thread for sewing or weaving.[1583]
[1580] It is evidently with a view to the retention of this juice, that
the _Pharmacopœia of India_ orders the bark to be stripped from the
roots when the latter are half-dried. Moodeen Sheriff remarks of _C.
gigantea_, that although it is frequently used in medicine, no part
of it is sold in the bazaars,—no doubt from the circumstance that the
plant is everywhere found wild and can be collected as required.
[1581] List’s _Asclepione_ (Gmelin’s _Chemistry_, xvii. 368) might then
be sought for.
[1582] _Supplement to the Pharmacopœia of India_, Madras, 1869. 364;
for further information on the therapeutic uses of mudar, see also
_Pharm. of India_, 458.
[1583] Drury, _Useful Plants of India_, 2nd ed. 1873. 101.