CASS.\BX K<5RTUS JAMAICENSIS. Itl 



CASSADA. JATROPHA. 



Cl. 21, GR. !:'. Monocr/a mcjuuk'lphia. NaT. os. TruvcCi-p. 



This generic name is derived from tuo Greek words, signifying an eatable poison. 



*Gen'. char. Male askyx a scarcely manifest perianth-; corolla one-petaied, funnel 

 form; tube very shoitt ; border five- parted ; divisions roundish, spreading, con~ 

 vex, concave beneath ; stamens ten filaments, awl-shaped, approximated in the 

 middle ; the five alternate ones shorter, upright, shorter than the corolla ; anthers 

 roundish, versatile ; the pistil is a weak rudimejit, latent in the bottom of the 

 flower. The female, in the same umbel with the males, has no caivx ; corolla 

 iive-petalled,i rosaceotis ; the pistil has a roundish germ, three-furro\ved ; stvlea 

 three, bifid ; stigraas simple ; the peritavp is a roundish capsule, tricoccous, three- 

 celled, cells bivalve ; seeds solitary, roundish. To this genus belong the physiq 

 nuts. There are two varieties uf the following species : 



1. MANIHOT. 



Leaves palmate ; lobes lanceolate, quite entire, even. 



S* Var. BlTTEfi C ASSAD A Bicinus m iywriiticis obtuso folio, caide verrucosa, flore pcnta~ 



.peUilo albido, ex cujus radice tuberosa, succo venenato turt^ida, Anie- 



:ricanipatiin co7iJicimti. Sloane, v. 1, p. ISO, t. 85. Foliispabnatis 



^pentadact^UbuSy radice conico-oblonga^ came suhlactea:. Browne, 



.p. 349. 



"This plant shoots fr<-!m a tough, branched, woody, root, whose slender collateral fibres 



tfirvell into those fleshy conic masses, for which the plant is cultivated ; and rises bv a 



! slender, woody, knotted, stalk, to the height of four, five, or six, feet, or more. The 



'leaves are alternate, smooth, on long petioles, six or seven-lobed ; lobes narrow at the 



base, growing broader till within an inch and a half at the top, where they diminish 



to an acute point; die three middle lobes are about six inches long, and two broad 



where broadest ; the two next are about an inch shorter, and the two outside lobes are 



tnot more than three inches long ; the middle lobes are sinuated on each side near the 



vtop, but the two others are entire. Tlie flowers are produced in small umbels at the tops 



? of the stalks, some male and others female; petals five, spreading; in the male flowers 



stamens ten, united; in the females germ round, with three furrows in the centre ; 



styles three, two distant, and one rising between taeni sliorter, ail crowned by a single 



stigma ; capsule roundish. 



The root of this plant makes a verj^ good and Miolesome bread, notwithstanding the 

 ; yuice is a deadly poison, called manipuera, wherefore great care is taken to press out 

 . all its juice ; and then, dried in the sun, beat, and finely sifted, and baked upon a flat, 

 broad, round, iron, commonly called a baking stone, they make the cakes as broad as 

 a hat, which, buttered while hot, eat like an oat cake. I have seen several bad acci- 

 dents happen to negroes newly come to Jamaica, and strangerc to the roat, who have 

 eat of it only roasted with ite juice, which hath poisoned them : The symptoms- are, 

 first, a pain and sickness of the stomach, a swelling of the whole abdomen, then violent 

 vomitifig and purging, giddiness of the head, then a coldness' and shaking, dimness of 

 sight, swoonings, and death, and all in a few hours. The expressed juice of the root 

 is very sweet to the palate, but soon putrifies and breeds worms, called topuea, which 

 oiire a vioicat poisonj and vvliicli Indians too well know the use of : They dry these 



y worms 



