348 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



tains of Abyssinia, of which it is a native, and from which it 

 was transported, about the middle of the fifteenth century, to 

 the mountains of the happy Arabia. 



The East India coffee plantations are derived from a single 

 plant raised in Batavia, from seed introduced from Mocha in 

 1690 ; and those of the West Indies are said to have been pro- 

 duced, also, from a single plant, presented, in 1714, by the 

 Dutch, to Louis XIV. This was multiplied in the Royal Gar- 

 dens, whence three plants were despatched on board a ship des- 

 tined for Martinique. Two of them perished in the long and 

 dangerous passage, and the third was kept alive only through 

 the self-sacrificing generosity of the Captain, Declieux, who 

 shared with it his allowance of water. Probably the propaga- 

 tion of no single plant has produced, in modern times, so great 

 an effect upon the habits of mankind.* 



Ipecac, one of the most universal emetics, is the creeping, 

 brownish, or grayish root of Cfphaelis Ipecacuanha, (D. C, IV, 

 535,) of Brazil, where it is known by the name of Poyas. 



Several of the genera, Nauclca and Hymcnody'ction, furnish 

 woods which vie with box and mahogany in delicacy and beauty; 

 of another, Siderodejidron, iron wood, the hardest of American 

 woods, is the produce. Several others yield valuable fruits, 

 and a still greater number are remarkable for their magnificent 

 and often odoriferous flowers, and their beautiful foliage. 



The coloring properties of this family are found to reside 

 chiefly in the root, the tonic and astringent properties in the 

 bark, the valuable emetic principle in the root, the aromatic 

 principle of the coffee, in the horny seeds. It is in correspond- 

 ing parts of plants of this family, growing among ourselves, 

 that we are to look for similar properties. 



The distinguishing characters of the family are. that the ovary 

 is more or less completely united with the four or five-cleft 

 calyx, into the tube of which the corolla is inserted; the sta- 

 mens are equal in number to the lobes of the corolla, alternate 

 with them, and growing from the throat of the corolla; and 



* The name affords a curious instance of derivation. The Arabic name is 

 Quahoueh, or Kahoueh, the Persian, Cahiva, the Turkish Cahvey, French, Cafe, 

 English, Coffee. 



