134 M. B. Lewy's Expedition to New Granada. 



settled many dubious points in the natural history of the 

 species of that tribe. 



Botany. 



The collections of Plants, and their seeds and fruits, made 

 by Mr Lewy, and the live plants brought by him to Europe 

 promise to be of great importance. We may notice, amongthe 

 vegetables of New Granada which of late years have attracted 

 particular attention, the Cedron, a large tree growing in the 

 warmer parts of the country. The grains of the Cedron con- 

 tain an extremely bitter principle, which is employed with 

 success as a very energetic febrifuge, and as an antidote 

 against the bite of serpents. This plant appears to belong 

 to the genus Simaba (Simaba Cedron, &c.)* 



* We find the following notice by M. B. Seemann, on the Simaba Cedron, in 

 the Pharmaceutical Journal for December 1851 : — '*A tree, which has attained 

 great celebrity, is that called Cedron (Simaba Cedron, Planch.) The most ancient 

 record of it which I can find is in the History of the Buccaneers, an old work pub- 

 lished in London in the year 1699. Its use, as an antidote for snakes, and place 

 of growth, are there distinctly stated ; but whether on the authority of the natives, 

 or accidentally discovered by the pirates, does not appear. If the former was the 

 case, they must have learned it while on some of their cruizes on the Magda- 

 lena, for, in the Isthmus, the very existence of the tree was unsuspected un- 

 til about 1845, when Don Juan de Ansoatigui ascertained, by comparison, that 

 the Cedron of Panama and Darien was identical with that of Carthagena. The 

 virtues of its seeds, however, were known years ago from those fruits imported 

 from the Magdalena, where, according to Mr Wm. Purdie, the plant grows in pro- 

 fusion about the village of San Pablo. In the Isthmus it is generally found on 

 the outskirts of forests in almost every part of the country, but in greater 

 abundance in Darien and Veraguas than in Panama. The natives hold it in 

 high esteem, and always carry a piece of the seed about with them. When a 

 person is bitten, a little mixed with water is applied to the wound, and about 

 two grains scraped into brandy, or, in the absence of it, into water, is admi- 

 nistered internally. By following this treatment, the bites of the most veno- 

 mous snakes, scorpions, centipeds, and other noxious animals, have been unat- 

 tended with dangerous consequences. Doses of it have also proved highly bene- 

 ficial in cases of intermittent fever. The Cedron is a tree from twelve to 

 sixteen feet high ; its simple trunk is about six inches in diameter, and clothed 

 on the top with long pinnated leaves, which give it the appearance of a palm. 

 Its flowers are greenish, and the fruit resembles very much an unripe peach. 

 Each seed, or cotyledon I should rather say, is sold in the chemist's shops in 

 Panama for two or three reals (about Is. or Is. 6d. English), and sonjetimes 

 a much larger price is given for them. 



