4-74 7) 
purplifh anther. Germen roundith, downy. © Style fhort,. fimpley 
terminated -by a round ftigma. Fruit too well known to Fite 
defcription. | | 
The varieties of this fpeciés are ay fruétibus laleibgibofi,. Contig 
Peach. @, frudtibus glabris, Nectarine. +, flore pleno, the double- 
flowered Peach-tree. , 
It is not known of what loners this tree is a native, but it was. 
cultivated here in the time of Turner, 1 562, and probably long be- 
fore that period. From the name Perfica, it may be fuppoted to have 
been brought from Perfia; but this is conjecture, nor is it afcertained 
to be the Mion worse of Diofcorides, OF Megorx Of Theophraftus. 
The fruit is known to be grateful and wholefome, feldom difagree- 
ing with the ftomach, unlefs this.organ is not in a healthy ftate, or 
the fruit has been eaten to excefs, when effects fimilar to thofe of 
the other dulco-acid fummer fruits may be produced. © 
The flowers, including the calyx, as well as the jeecdin, are the 
parts of the Perfica ufed for medicinal purpofes; thefe have an agree-. 
able but weak {mell, and a bitterith tafte. Boulduc ‘* obferves, “ that 
when diftilled without addition by the heat of a water bath, they 
yield one-fixth their weight, or more, of a whitifh liquor, which 
communicates to a confiderable quantity of other liquids a flavour 
like that of the kernels of fruits.” 
Thefe flowers have a cathartic effe&t, and efpecially to children 
have been fuccefsfully given in the chara@ter of a ‘vermifuge ; for this 
purpofe an infulion of a dram of the flowers dried, or half an ounce 
in their recent ftate, is the requifite dofe. The leaves of the Perfica 
are alfo found to poflefs an anthelmintic power, and from a great — 
number of experiments appear to haye been given with invariable 
fuccefs both to children and adults. 
However, as the leaves and flowers of the Perfica manifeft in fome — 
degree the quality of thofe of the laurocerafus, they ought to be ufed., 
with caution. 
We find a “ eyrapue florum perficorum,” ordered in the Pharm, 
Wurt. 
* Mem. de L’Acad. 1714. p. 37. 
* See Coffe et Willemet. Eff. de Mat. Med. indig, p- 32 
Menifpermum 
