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COMFREY ( SYMPHYTUM OFFICIN ALE L.) ROOT; ITS ANATOMY AND ITS DETECTION IN ADMIXTURE WITH CHICORY IN DANDELION COFFEE
Author(s) -
Rowson J. M.
Publication year - 1955
Publication title -
journal of the royal microscopical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0368-3974
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1955.tb00417.x
Subject(s) - dandelion , xylem , phloem , mucilage , botany , biology , taraxacum officinale , anatomy , chemistry , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , traditional chinese medicine
SYNOPSIS The detailed anatomy of the roots of Symphytum officinale L. is described and figured. The diagnostic microscopical characters which may be used to identify these roots when present in the crushed or powdered condition are: large cork cells, irregular in outline, up to 250μ in tangential width; abundant parenchyma of phelloderm, phloem, and xylem, including medullary rays, of sub‐rectangular cells arranged in radial files and containing mucilage, also starch granules both simple and 2‐ to 4‐ compound; xylem vessels solitary or in groups of 2 or 3 (rarely more than 3), with many rows of bordered pits; corrected vessel number per mm. 2 is 40‐ 56‐ 85; absence of calcium oxalate crystals, laticiferous tissue and lignified elements other than vessels. The diagnostic features which enable the roots of dandelion and of chicory to be distinguished from that of comfrey when in admixture are tabulated. A method for the quantitative examination of dandelion coffee is described. Nine commercial samples of dandelion coffee were found to contain between 50 p.c. and 80 p.c. of roasted dandelion root: each sample contained roasted comfrey root and some also contained roasted chicory root. Such material was not considered to be of the nature, substance, and quality of dandelion coffee, which earlier workers have regarded as composed of pure roasted dandelion root.