aiS 



i. 



•J 



for fupport :' the leaves are roundifh, indented at 





^•^^^ top, al)out flti 



inch and a half long, two inches broad, entire, covered with f f 

 downy hairs,'' and hang" upon round fimple downy footftalks wh°i! 

 are inferted into the back of the leaf: the flowers are extremal 

 minute, of a greeniih colour, placed in clufters upon long axilla/ 

 fpikes, and are male and female in different plants : the calyx of th 

 male flower is divided into four fmall oval fegments : it has 



but the nedary is wheel-ihaped and membranous : the filaments 



four, very fmall, united, and furnilhed with broad flat antherse 



the female flower the calyx is flrap-fhaped or ligulated : the eermen 

 is roundifli, and fupports three fhort ftyles, furniflied with pointed 

 fligmata : the fruit is a fmall one-celled berry, containing a roundifh 

 rough comprefl^ed feed. It is a native of S. America and theWeft Indies. 



The plant, which we have here reprefented, v/ as drawn from a dried 

 fpecimen in the pofl^eflion of Mr. Aiton at Kew, to which a feparate 

 difplay of the parts of frudification was intended to have been intro- 

 duced, but from their extreme minutenefs and drynefs it was found to 

 be impradicable : the general appearance of the plant is however fo 

 charaderiftic as in fome meafure to compenfate for this deficiency. 



The medicinal ufe of the roots of this plant was firft learned 



from the Brazilians, who infufed them in water, which they 

 drank freely in all obfirudions in the urinary paflages ; *" and to- 

 wards the end of the laft century thefe roots were brought Into 

 Europe by the Portuguefe, w^ho recommended them to phyficians as 

 the moft eff*edual remedy hitherto difcovered in all calculous and 

 gravelly complaints ; and various accounts of their eflicacy were foon 

 after publiihed.' This root " has no remarkable fmell ; but to the 



In Jamaica " this plant grows In great plenty, commonly amongfl the ebony trees, 

 elmibmg about them." Long's Jam. vol. Hi. 



p. 7 



V 



d 



" From this villous covering of the leaf, It is ufually called Fehet leaf. 

 According to Browne, it is ftill ufed with this intention by the negroes at Jamaica. 



" Parifiosper Regis Galllae legatum, Aneht, a. 1688. pervenit (Hift. de I'Acad. 

 hcien. de Pans, 17 10, p. 56.) tumque varil medici Galll ejus ufum fecere, interque 

 J^eivehus, qui m Traite des maladies les plus frequentes et des remedes fpecijiques, ejus 



ficam iniicit." In G 



ftimationem contulit Lochner 



bravaNorimb. 1719. Ed. 2. in 4.) cafibus potlus diftlnae proh 



eruduionis ornamentis, quibus obvelantur," Y i^q Murr ay Jp - Md 



\ 



tafte 



\y 



