Skimmia. Skimmia japonica.

Skimmia. Skimmia japonica Thunb. Miramashikimi. (Fam. Rutaceae.)—From this dwarf-growing holly-like shrub, which is cultivated on account of its dark, shining, evergreen leaves and clusters of bright-red berries, Eykman separated a glucoside, skimmin, and a decomposition product, skimmetin. (Abhandl. d. Tokyo Diagaku., No. 10, Tokyo, 1883.) J. Honda (A. E. P. P., Oct., 1904), however, finds that the activity of the plant depends upon the presence of the crystalline alkaloid, skimmianine. It is a muscle poison, producing no primary excitement in the muscle, but an increasing paralysis, the influence of the alkaloid extending to involuntary muscles, such as the heart, so that in mammals arterial pressure is progressively decreased.

The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.