442. Frasera.—American Columbo.

Botanical name: 

442. FRASERA.—AMERICAN COLUMBO. The root of Fra'sera wal'teri Michaux, a plant growing extensively in Southern and Western United States, especially in Arkansas and Missouri. Its root is long and spindle-shaped, but comes into market in transverse slices, irregularly circular, about 25 mm. (1 in.) in diameter; these disks consist of a central, medullary matter, yellowish-brown, shrunken in the middle, and a reddish-brown exterior; inodorous; taste at first sweet, then bitter., It may be distinguished from columbo by its greater uniformity of internal structure, the absence of concentric and radiating lines, and its purer yellow color without the green tinge. It occasionally comes into the market in longitudinal slices under the name of American gentian. It contains gentiopicrin and gentisic acid, but no starch or tannin. Simple bitter tonic like columbo and gentian. Dose: 15 to 30 gr. (1 to 2 Gm.).


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