-!t HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. bak-ktkbia 



the blood ; ai"e good in ^vandering pains, ol>striicti<)ns, and venereal cases : from the 

 liesh roots, mixed v.ith tobacco ieav(;s and betcJ, in equal proportion, and infused and 

 macerated for some days in oil, is prepared an ointment of great efficacy in discussing 

 iiard and scbirrous sueliings. 



The baniljoo is a very ornamental as well as useful plant, and may be formed into 

 most Ijeautiful arbours. Its growth is very rapid, for, jn a rich soil, the 3'oanii; shoots, 

 growing in a large clump, have been found, on several days measurement, to have 

 grown seven and a half inches every twenty- four hours. From the nature of tlieir roots, 

 wlien planted along the edges of such roads as are made on the sides of stet-j) iiiils, 

 they not only prevent the road from breaking away, but form an agreeable siiade, and 

 Ilitie any frightful precipice from the eye of the traveller. As a live fence they are ex- 

 c'elient, coming ijuicki}- to maturity, and when full grown, which tlsey will be in four 

 rii\e years, are not only im])enetra!;le to cattje, bet aiford them food in their leaves 

 and young shoots, whicli they eat heartily. 'I'he old stalks grow to live, six, or seven,, 

 inches diameter, and are then of a shining yellow colour, they are very hartl and dura- 

 ble, and very useful in buildings ; the long dm^ation of these canes was fully exempii- 

 fied in the lathing of an old house in Spanish Town, which stood near the spot wnere 

 Rodney's Temple is now erected, and was pulled down to make room for some of the 

 new buildings. It was a Spanish building, came into our possession at the reduc- 

 tion of the island in 1635, and was taken down about the year 1790 or 1701, when the 

 wood of the wild caire, a kind of bamboo, was found perfectly sound. In the East all 

 sorts of household furniture are made ui it, as also briclges,. masts for their boats, rails, 

 fences, gates. It is also converted into pipes for conveying water : pajjer is also said 

 to be made of it, by steeping it in water, and thereby forming a paste. They also make 

 poles of it to carry their palanquins ; and the smaller stalks ttirnish good walking siicks. 

 The inhabitants of Otaheite make flutes, of them, about afoot long, wuh two holes oidy, , 

 which they stop with the fir.st finger of the left hand, and the middle one of the right, 

 and they blow through their nostrils. The wood is a good fuel, and it has been sug- 

 gested that, on estates, where copper wood is scarce, t'.venty or thirty acres planted m 

 bamboos, would afford an ine.xhaustible supply of that necessary article, as, when cut 

 down, they grow up again very rapidly and as vigorous as ever. 



See Reeds. 



B.4N.\NA .SVe Plantain. 



No E7iglisk Na77ie. BANISTERIA. 



Cl. 10, OK. 3. Decandria-trigynia. Nat. or. Trihilatte, 



This was so named by Dr. Houston, in meir.ory of the Rev. John Banister, a curious 

 botanist, who lost liis life, in the search alter plants, in Virginia. 



Gen. char. The calyx four or five parted, with nectarious pores on the outside of 

 the base; corolla five-petals, very large, roundish, and angulaied; the stamina 

 are small and coalescent at bottom ; styles simple, stigmas obtuse ; capsules three, 

 with membranous wings ; seeds solitary, covered, toothed Bt the lateral edge. 

 Four species have been discovered, in Jamaica ; 



1. LAURirOLU, 



