Thymelee.] THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 321 
greatest elevations, as P. sequar, in Nepal, and at Turanda in Lower Kunawur; P. 
capitata, on Gossainthan, and on Surkunda between 7,000 and 8,000 feet of elevation. 
Several of the Amarantacea, like so many of the Chenopodee, though without taste, 
are, on account of the mucilaginous nature of their leaves, used as vegetable pot- 
herbs, and cultivated in India, as Amarantus polygamus, polygonoides, tristis, oleraceus, 
gangeticus, and polystachyus. A. frumentaceus is cultivated for its seed in Mysore, 
as A. Anardhana is in the Himalayas. Some of the plants of this family have 
slightly astringent, expectorant, and diuretic properties ascribed to them in India; 
but it is doubtful whether they possess any. Gomphrena officinalis and macrocephala 
are esteemed useful in all kinds of diseases in Brazil (Lindley.) Mr.W. Crawford, of 
the Bengal Civil Service, informed me that Achyranthes aspera (chirchita) was consi- 
dered by some of the natives a cure for snake-bites. 
140. THYMELEZ. 
_ The Thymelee@ are allied to Santalacee, participate in their affinities, and like the 
majority of that family, affect the central parts of the temperate zones, as Europe, 
Northern Asia, and North America, the Straits of Magalhaens, the Cape of Good Hope, 
and New Holland. They are also found in mountainous situations, as in the East and 
West Indies, and in S. America. Daphne, which has the most extensive distribution, 
and nearly that of the order itself, is found in various parts of India, as D. eriocephaila, 
in the mountains of the Peninsula and of the Dukhun (Sykes), and from Pundua to — 
the most northern portion of the Himalayas, where Daphne cannabina, Lour., is found 
at elevations of 8,000 and 9,000 feet, this Mr. Don thinks does not differ from D. odora, 
Thunb., and of which his own, D. Bholua, appears to be only a variety. In Kunawur 
there is a new species, D. mucronata, nob., and in Cashmere, D. coriacea, nob., 
the former somewhat resembles D. Gnidium, yielding the Grana Gnidia, and used, like 
Passerina tinctoria, in the S. of Europe, to dye wool yellow (Lindley.) Cansiera, 
referred to this order, is found in Madagascar, and the southern parts of India. One 
species seems to have been collected by Dr. Hamilton as far north as Monghir. 
Linostoma is a new genus formed of Dr. Roxburgh’s Nectandra decandra, found in the 
mountains of Silhet (Wall. Cat. 4203.) Many of the Daphnes are known for the 
tic nature of their bark; hence their employment in medicine from very ancient 
caus 
times. D.Mezereon is called mazrioon, in Persian works on Materia Medica, with 
khamela (sycoesrcctor) assigned as its Greek name; that of D. Laureola (Scepvoedss) ; 
Daphnoides is corrupted into zaknadeedus. D. eriocephala, found in the Peninsula, is 
likewise acrid; the bark applied to the skin causes a burning heat, with some swelling 
(Wall. E. I. Herb. No. 1351.) Daphne Lajetta, or lace bark tree of Jamaica, is remark- 
able for the beautiful net-like appearance of its several easily separable layers of 
park, whence it has received its English name. As the fibres of the bark possess a_ 
considerable degree of tenacity, cordage has been manufactured from several species 
(Lindley, p. 76); so, in Nepal, as in Cochin-china, a soft, smooth, and very tough 
2T paper, 
