324 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [Laurinee. 
fixed oil, contained in their nuts. The latter is so abundant in Virola sebifera, as to 
be extracted for economical purposes. Like many of the Laurinee, the Myristicee 
exude an acrid reddish-coloured juice from incisions in their bark. 
145. LAURINEZ. 
The Laurel, famed for its employment in crowning poets, philosophers, and heroes, 
in ancient, and, figuratively so, in modern times, has given its name to this rich and 
valuable family, which is abundant in the hot parts of Asia and America, but (except 
Cassytha) absent from the continent of Africa. Like other tropical families, the Laurinee 
send a few species northward, as Laurus nobilis, the Sweet Bay, to the S. of Europe; 
L. indica, Royal Bay, to Teneriffe and Madeira; Camphora to Japan; Sassafras and 
Benzoin to North America; and southwards to New Holland species of other genera. 
In Asia, the Laurine@ extend northwards from the tropical islands along the Malayan 
Peninsula to China and Japan, and from Ceylon into the Indian Peninsula, where 
they ascend to elevations of 2,000 and 3,000 feet on the Dindygul, and probably 
higher on the Neelgherry mountains. From Silhet species extend all along the base of 
the Himalayas, even to near the banks of the Sutlej, and ascend elevations of 7,000 
feet, in 30° of N. latitude. The majority of species of this family were formerly 
referred to the genus Zaurus; but Professor Nees Von Esenbeck, in an elaborate 
monograph on the East-Indian species, published in Dr. Wallich’s Pl. As. Rar. vol. ii. 
and iii., has formed a number of new, and circumscribed the old genera. Of the 
former, Polyadenia, Tetradenia, Cylicodaphne, Actinodaphne, Beilschmeidea, Cecidodaphne, 
and Alceodaphne, are confined to the southern parts of India, and from Silhet along the 
Malayan Peninsula. ndiandra and Cryptocarya, two of Mr. Brown’s New Holland 
genera, are also found in Silhet and Pundua. Gyrocarpus is found on the coasts of 
India, as well as of Asia generally, of New Holland, and of S. America; the species 
are distinct. The anomalous Cassytha, sometimes separated into an order, occurs in 
the same countries, as well as in Africa. Daphnidium, Dodecadenia, and Machilus, 
extend to more northern latitudes along and on the Himalayas in Nepal, Kemaon, 
and Sirmore. Machilus odoratissimus is found as high as Mussooree, and another species 
on the Neelgherries. Ocotea, common in S. and N. America, with one or two species 
in the island of Madeira, extends from Silhet to the Deyra Doon, and ascends to 
7,000 feet. etranthera, found in China and New Holland,. is so almost every where in 
the warm parts of India, 7. apetala and Roxburghiana extending up to the Doon. 
Benzoin, so called, because B. odoriferum, with a stimulant and tonic bark, smells 
of Benzoin, with three species in N. America, has also one, B. Neesianum, in Nepal, 
of which the berries smell strongly of Cajeputi oil. _Camphora, of which the officinal 
species yields the camphor of China and Japan, inferior to that of Sumatra, v. p- 106, 
has one species, C. Parthenorylon, in Penang and Sumatra, which yields an oil 
useful in rheumatic affections, and has an infusion of its roots drank as sassafras; with 
another, C. glandulifera, in the mountains of Nepal, containing camphor in its wood. 
Cinnamomum, 
