502 Miscellaneous Intelligence, 



14. Echites Suberecia or Havana Flower of Jamaica. — Mr. Sells 

 has published an account of this plant and its poisonous effects, 

 principally from his own knowledge, with a view to the more per- 

 fect history of the plants in the East Indies affording the poisonous 

 " Upas tieute*' and **Tshittik,'' and those of South America yield- 

 ing " Ticunas '' and " Woorara :" one or more of these poisons he 

 thinks is derived from the above plant. 



The Echites suberecta is of the class pentandria, order monogy- 

 nia, the natural order Contortae of Linnaeus, or Apocinea of Jussieu. 

 Generic characters, — calyx, perianth small j deeply five cleft, acute. 

 Corolla of one petal, funnel-shaped, pervious j limb, five cleft, flat, 

 widely spreading. Nectary, five glands, placed round the germens. 

 Stamens, filaments five, slender, erect j anthers rigid, oblong, 

 pointed, converging. Pistils, germens two j style single, thread- 

 shaped, the length of the stamens ; stigma, oblong capitate, two- 

 lobed, connected with the anthers by a viscid juice. Pencar/?, fol- 

 licles two, very long, each of one cell and one valve ; seeds nu- 

 merous, imbricated, crowned with long down, and affixed to a 

 linear receptacle. 



The habit of echites is climbing, hot only being found in sa- 

 vanas, but growing commonly in the live fences, creeping over 

 them, winding round trees to a height of 15 or 20 feet. The flowers 

 of the species suberecta are of a bright yellow, and resemble in 

 sha{)e that of the convolvulus ; the seed-vessels are from 5 to 10 

 inches in length, slender and somewhat curved; the leaves are 

 of a dark green and very shining, the plant abounds with an acrid 

 milky juice. 



With regard to the poisonous powers of this plant, it appears 

 that 2 drachms of the expressed juice killed a dog in eight minutes. 

 Some of the vine of this flower being thrown carelessly into a 

 horse-trough when dry, rain afterwards fell, the trough filled, and 

 mules drinking of the water, a great many were destroyed. A 

 jug of rum having had its mouth stopped with a handful of the 

 leaves, two of the men who afterwards drank of the S{)irit died. 

 In the green state, animals never touch it j but when cut with the 

 grass and dried, animals eat it sometimes, and are then killed by it. 

 Some negroes endeavoured to poison an overseer by putting a por- 

 tion of the powdered roots into some water intended for drinking, 

 but the intention was discovered and some of the powdered root 

 found. After exposure to rain and air, being examined, 4 grains 

 given to a dog made it very ill, but the animal recovered ; 6 grains 

 of the recently powdered root killed the dog in less than three 

 hours. — Med. Repos. vi. 301. 



15. Height of Mmt Blanc— The height of Mont Blanc and of 

 the Lake of Geneva has lately been carefully ascertained by M. 

 Roger, an officer of engineers in the service of the Swiss Confe- 

 deration. The summit of the mountain appears to be 4435 metres^ 



