eiLANWIFTj PORT us JAMAICANS IS, Ht 



This is nameu in honour of Paolo Boccone, M. D. a Sicilian author of several bota 

 nical works. 



Gen'. char. Calyx a two-leuvecl perianth, ovate, obtuse, concave, caducous ; there 

 is 110 corolla; the stamens are twelve filaments, with linear large anthers ; the style 

 has a roundish germ, contracted bothvvajs, large, pedicelled : style bifid; stig- 

 mas simple, retlex ; the pericarp sub-ovate, attenuated at each entl, compressed, 

 one-celled, tvvo-valved ; seed one, globular, the base involved in the pulp, fixed to 

 the bottom ot'tlie capsule. There is only one species, which is a native of Jamaica ; : 



FRufecENS. . SHRUBBY. 



Ch^lidoneum majiis arhoreum foliis, quercr'ms. Sloane, v. 1, p. 195, , 

 t. 125. Bamosa, foliis wajoribus sinucttis, racemis terminalilms, 

 Browne, p. 244. 

 This shrub is very common in Jamaica, and rises to the height of ten or twelve feetj , 

 with a straight trunk as large as a man's arm, covered with a white smooth bark, and 

 branched towards the top. The trunk is hollow, filled -with a pith like the elder, 

 abounding in thick yellow acrid juice, as are all parts of the plant, like argemone and 

 celandine. At the top it divides into several branches, on which the leaves are placed 

 alternatel}', they are eight or nine inches long, and five or six broad, and deeply sinu- 

 atecl or gaslied, sometimes almost to the midnb, of a yellowish green colour. They 

 are sub-serrate, with rotmdish petioles. Racemes terminating, papiiled, a foot oi^ 

 more long, diffused, nodding ; peduncles one-fiowered ; bractes, under the flowers', 

 small, lanceolate. It is common in ail the shady gullies that lie among the hills and 

 mountains in the inland parts. The following has been recommended for the cure of a 

 film on the eye, or fungus : Take the root of this plant, peel off the bark, then scrape 

 and strain it through a fine rag, when it may be put into a phial for use. Drop three 

 or four drops in the eve, twice a-day, and it will take off any film, occasioned by^ the 

 small pox or otherwise, fimgus, proud flesh, &e. Its. root is also a cure for ulcers, by 

 scraping-off the bark, and bruising and spreading a cataplasm on rag or lint : this must 

 be laid on the sore, after clearing it of proud flesh, and it will make a perfect cure in a 

 very short time. The juice stains a deep j-ellow, and is very bitter and biting to the 

 taate. . 



I have often met with this plant, and wondered how they came to call it celandine, it 

 differing so much from the English sort ; for this generally grows six or seven feet high 

 with a very thick stalk, covere;i with a wiiite smooth bark, branching with a great many 

 large leaves, and deeply divided at the ends, of a yellowish-green colour on the uppei- 

 side, and whitish underneath ; on the top comes out a branch of a fijot long, full of" 

 bunches of flowers, each standing on a short foot-stalk, and hath in it many stamina ov" 

 threads of a yellow colour, and seed-vessels of an oval shape, in the middle of which is 

 a small brown oblong seed : All part-; of this yield, in breaking, a yellow juice, like 

 common celandine, from which it hath its name, as I suppose. Hernandez calls ili 

 quaulichilli, sive Chilli species, from its sharpness like Indian pepper, and saith it w?ls, 

 planted by the Indian kings in their gardens. It is much stronger than English celan- 

 dine, being very hot and drying. The juice cures tetters and ring-worms, and take>x. 

 off warts and films of the eyes ; but I should not care for using it to the eye, being so> 

 very sharp. Barham, p. 37. 



Celery i^ee Parsley, 



Z2 iT. 



