f 



66 



TEREBINTHACE^. VIII. Pistacia. 



t 



figure. Native of the Levant, and is said to be cultivated in the 



garden of Nemaus. 



north of Africa, both wild and cultivated in gardens. Woodv. 

 med. bot. t. 152. Blackvv. t. 195. Duh. arb. ed. nov. 4. t, 18. 



Turpentine Pistacia or Venetian or Chian Turpentine-tree. Leaves with 3 or 4 pairs of small leaflets. Both male and 



female flowers come out in loose racemes from the sides of the 



Clt. 1G56. Tree 30 feet. 



Fl. June, July 



4 P. AxLA NTicA (Desf. atl. 2. p. 364.) leaflets usually 9, Ian- branches ; they are of a green colour. The fruit when ripe is 



ceolate, tapering to the base; petiole between the terminal pair brownish. Fabricius remarks, that the male plant in time pro* 



a little winged. Fj . H. Native of Barbary, very common in duces hermaphrodite flowers, with 3 stamens and 5 styles. It 



sandy uncultivated fields near Coffa, w^here many being in has been observed by Gouan that the buds are different from 



rows it is plain that this tree was cultivated at the foot of the those of the other sorts, the branch-bearing buds being termi- 



mountains near Mayane and TIemsen, &'c. This is a large tree, nating, the flowering buds in both sexes axillary and in pairs; 



with a thick roundish head. Leaflets 7 to 9. Male flowers hence the aments are also in pairs. The leaves have sometime! 



disposed in terminal thyrse-like racemes. Stamens 5, but some- 5 leaflets on each side. The petioles are so much winged tk 



times 7. Anthers deep red. Pollen yellow. Female flowers the leaves may be called articulately-pinnate ; they are usually 



disposed in loose panicled racemes. Style purple. Drupe rather terminated by a thread instead of a leaflet. Desfontains informs 



fleshy, about the size of a pea when ripe, blueish, containing a us that the Lentiscus or Mastick-tree in Barbary is little if at 



roundish nut. From the bark of the trunk and branches all resinous, though the branches and bark of the trunk were 



flows at different seasons of the year, but especially in summer, wounded at different seasons ; that the wood, however, yields an 

 a resinous juice, hardening in the air, of a pale-yellow^ colour, of 

 an aromatic smell, and taste that is not unpleasant, scarcely to be 

 distinguished from oriental mastick, and known by the same 



aromatic smell on burning ; and that the berries yield an oil fit 

 both for the lamp and the table. In the island of Chio the officinal 

 mastick is obtained most abundantly by making transverse inci- 

 sions in the bark of the tree, whence the mastick exudes in drops, 

 which is suflTered to run down to the ground, and after they are 

 concreted, they are collected for use. These incisions are made 

 or thumb, some of which drop from the tree, and are found scat- at the beginning of August, when the weather is very dry, and 

 tered on the ground. The Arabs collect this substance in are continued to the end of September. Mastick is a resinous 

 autumn and winter, and make the same use of it as of the mas- substance, brought to us in small, yellowish, transparent, brittle 



name of Heulc among the Moors. It is inspissated into lamellae 

 round the branchlets, or into irregular globules, differing in 

 thickness and shape, frequently as big as the end of the finger 



tick from Chio, chewing it to give a pleasant smell to the mouth 

 and brightness to the teeth. At the foot of Mount Atlas this 

 tree is larger than any other which grows there, but the 



grains or tears ; it has a light agreeable smell, especially when 

 rubbed or heated ; on being chewed it first crumbles, soon after 

 sticks together, and becomes soft and white like wax, without^ 

 juice is softer, and of a much less pleasant smell and taste than impressing any considerable taste. It totally dissolves, except 



the earthy impurities, which are commonly in no great quantity) 

 in rectified spirit of wine, and then discovers a greater degree 

 of warmth and bitterness, and has a stronger smell than theresiD 

 in substance. Boiled in water, it impregnates the liquor with 

 its smell, but gives out little or nothing of its substance ; distilled 

 with water, it yields a small quantity of limpid essential oil, ^; 

 smell very fragrant, in taste moderately pungent. Rectifies 

 spirit brings over also in distillation the more volatile odoron5 4 

 matter of the mastick. It is a common practice with the Turkisii 

 women to chew this resin, especially in the morning, not onlyW 

 render their breath more agreeable, but to whiten the teeth, aiw 



that which flows from the trees of the desert, which is probably 

 occasioned by the climate being cooler, and the soil more moist 

 and fertile. The leaves have often red galls on them resem- 

 bling berries. The Moors eat the drupes, and bruise them to 

 mix with their dates. 



Far. (3, latifdlia (D. C. prod. 2. p. 64.) leaflets rounded and 

 broader at the base than in those of the species. \ . F. Native 

 of the island of Chio, and is said to be the same as that which 

 grows about Constantinople. 



Atlas Mastick or Turpentine-tree. Clt. 1790. Tree 40 feet. 



5 P. Mexica'na (H. B. et Kunth. nov. gen, amer. 7. p. 22. 

 t. 608.) leaflets 16-20, alternate and opposite, oblong, unequal- 

 sided, acute at both ends, mucronate, membranous, smoothish, 

 pubescent on the middle nerve beneath, as well as on the inside 

 of the rachis ; fruit turgid, lenticular. Tj . G. Native of Mexico, varnishes. 

 near Chilpancingo. 



stre'ngthen the gums ; they also mix it with their fragrant watery 

 and burn it with other odoriferous substances in the wayoi 



It is used in Europe by japanners in some of tneij 

 As a medicine, mastick is considered to be a ttiW 



fumigation. 



ft' 



Mexican Turpentine-tree. Tree 30 feet. 

 6 P. FAGARoloEs (Willd. cuum. suppl. QQ.^ leaflets ovate, 

 blunt ; petioles winged. ^2 • G. Native of? Fruit unknown. internal ulcers. ' Chewung this drug has 'likewise been said to be 



corroborant and astringent ; and as possessing a balsamic poVi^' 

 it has been recommended in haemoptysis proceeding from ulcer*' 

 tion, fluor albus, debility of the stomach, and in diarrhoeas an^ 



Fagara-like Pistachia-tree. Shrub 10 feet. 



7 P. OLEOSA (Lour. fl. coch. 615.) leaves imparl or abruptly 



pinnate ; leaflets 4-7, ovate-lanceolate ; young fruit echinated. 



Vl . G. Native of Cochin-china, a's well as the Moluccas. 



Cussambium, Rumph. amb. 1. t. 57. The nuts of fruit contain 



a yellow, bitterish, sweet-scerited, thin oil, which thickens on 



exposure to the air. It is used to anoint the heads of the These are rather neater than if made of common deal, 

 natives, and also to scent ointments. 



of use in pains of the teeth and gums, and in some catarrhal cotc* 

 plaints ; it is now, however, seldom used either externally f 

 internally. The wood is received into the Materia MedicaW^ 

 some foreign Pharmacopoeias, and is highly extolled in dyspep"' 



but Its c 



hiet 



gouty, hsemorrhagic, and dysenteric affections; — .. 

 fame at present is in Portugal, where it serves for toothpicP- 



Oily Turpentine-tree. Tree 20 feet. 



§ 2. Lentiscus (from lentesco, to be clammy; it is from the 

 P. Lentiscus that mastick is obtained, which comes from the 

 word masticOf to chew ; because it is thus used in Chio, and by 

 the Turkish women to sweeten their breath). Town. inst. p. 380. 

 Leaves permanent J abruptly pinnate. 



8 P. LENTi'scus (Lin. spec. 1455.) leaflets 8, lanceolate; which yields little or no resin. 



petiole winged. Vi . H. Native of the south of Europe and 



Var. /3, angustifolia (D. C. prod. 2. p. 65.) leaflets aM 

 linear. Tj. H. P. Massihensis, Mill. diet. P. angustifo^ 

 Massiliensis, Tourn. 580. This shrub scarcely ever e%c^ 

 1 feet in height. • 



Far. y, Chia (Duham. ed. nov. 4. p. 72.) leaflets ovate, v 

 F. Native of the island of Chio. P. Chia, Desf. cat.hort.p 

 This is the tree from which they procure the resin called m 

 tick. It is probably a distinct species from the true Lentisc 



' ' ' " ' ' See the preceding account. 



Tree 20 feet. 



Mastick-tree. Fl. April, May. Clt. 1664. 



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