386. Coriandrum.—Coriander.

The dried ripe fruit of Corian'drum sati'vum Linné without admixture of more than 5 per cent. of other fruit, seeds or other foreign matter.

BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS.—An annual herb about two feet high, with an offensive, bedbug-like odor, with smooth stem and bipinnate leaves. Calyx 5-toothed; petals obcordate (the exterior ones bifid), white, often with a pink tinge. Capsules with primary ridges obsolete, the four secondary ones prominently keeled. Fruit globose; seed covered with a loose membrane.

HABITAT.—Italy; cultivated in all parts of Europe and United States.

DESCRIPTION OF DRUG.—Almost globular, about 3 mm. (⅛ in.) in diameter, slightly pointed at the apex (style) and with the persistent calyx-teeth around the pedicel-scar at the base. The two concave, hemispherical mericarps are closely united at the edge by the woody pericarp; their outer surface is pale yellowish-brown, sometimes purplish-tinted, with five primary ribs merely indicated by wavy, slightly raised lines, and four more prominent secondary ribs. The interior of the fruit is a lenticular cavity. Odor fragrant (the odor of the fresh plant and fruit is foetid, resembling bedbugs); taste aromatic.

Powder.—Characteristic elements: See Part iv, Chap. I, B.

CONSTITUENTS.—Volatile oil, ½ to 1 per cent., containing coriandrol, C₁₀H₁₈O. also dextropinene, fat, mucilage. Ash, not exceeding 7 per cent. Soluble ether extract, 0.5 per cent.

ACTION AND USES.—Feeble aromatic and stimulant; mostly used as an aromatic addition to, or a corrective of, purgative preparations. Dose: 8 to 30 gr. (0.5 to 2 Gm.).

386a. OLEUM CORIANDRI.—An almost colorless or yellowish volatile oil with the characteristic aromatic odor and taste of the fruit; specific gravity 0.863 to 0.875; neutral in reaction. It is one of the most stable of the volatile oils in its power of resisting oxidation when exposed. It consists mainly of d-linalool or coriandrol, C₁₀H₁₈O. Stimulant and carminative, like the other aromatic oils. Dose: 1 to 5 drops (0.065 to 0.3 mil).

OFFICIAL PREPARATIONS.

Spiritus Aurantii Compositus (2.0 per cent.) Dose: 1 to 4 fl. dr. (4 to 15 mils) linalool.

Syrupus Sennae (0.5 per cent.) 1 fl. dr. (4 mils) .

A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.