384 KEW GARDEN MUSEUM. 
Ord. MentsperMace®. Moow-sEED FAMILY. 
This Natural Family derives its name from the lunate form of the 
seed and especially of the embryo, and consists chiefly of tough climb- 
ing shrubs, the wood often without zones or concentric layers. They 
possess powerfully bitter and narcotic qualities, and are nearly all tro- 
pical, and chiefly Asiatic, plants. 
Calumba or Kalumb root. Jateorrhiza palmata, Miers. (Cocculus, 
De Cand.) “One of the most useful stomachies and tonics.” Native 
of Mozambique and the adjacent Eastern coasts. The large thick 
roots are dug up by the natives, and the offsets are cut in slices, 
strung on cords, and hung up to dry in the shade, (See figure and 
description in the ‘ Botanical Magazine,’ tab. 2970 and 2971.) 
Cocculus Indicus. Anamirta Cocculus, Colebr. (Menispermum Coc- 
culus, Z.) Native of Malabar and the Malay Islands. Seeds. A 
highly poisonous drug, extensively employed for intoxicating fish, and 
by unprincipled brewers in the-manufacture of beer. The greater part 
of the large quantity imported is indeed used for illegal purposes. 
Pareira brava, or Velvet-leaf. Cissampelos Pareira, Z. Root 
(D. Hanbury, Esq.) Native of the West Indian Islands and South 
America. Possesses a tonic power, and occasionally acts as a diuretic. 
Cissampelos Capensis, Th. Root. Cape of Good Hope. (Great Ex- 
hibition; part of a collection of Cape drugs.) 
False Calumba root (or rather stem). Coscinium fenestratum, Colebr. 
(Menispermum, Gertn.) Ceylon (D. Hanbury, Esq. and G. H. K. 
Thwaites, Esq.). A root of some interest, on account of the frauds 
that have been practised with it, large quantities having been sent to 
this country from Ceylon, which have found ready purchasers, as true 
Calumba-root ; whereas though it is, as Mr. Thwaites tells us, “em- 
. ployed in Ceylon mixed with other things, in a great many complaints, 
and applied externally'in some cases, its healing virtues are very pro- 
blematical.” In the volume of the ‘Pharmaceutical Journal’ for 1852 
will be found a history of this fraud upon the public by Daniel Han- 
bury, Esq. The internal organization of this stem is very curious. 
Ord. BERBERIDE®. BERBERRY FAMILY. 
~ „Acidity of fruit, owing to the presence of malic acid, and yellow dye 
afforded by the wood and root, exist probably in all the species of 
Berberry. The fruit of Berberis aristata is said by Dr. Royle to be 
