24i IIORTUS JAMAICENSIS. e>wiTCit 



ton; its green bark, he says, made into a poultice,, is good against iaflaramations. 

 Piso Siiys tlie prickles being- taken o(Fand their j,uice Sijueezed out, a little quantity put 

 into tile eyes cures lliem when inflamed, and strengtiiens tiie sight. 



2. PfiNTANDRUM. FIVE-STAMEjrKD; 



FoUis digitiitis, brachiis hori.zontalitcr poirectis, Browne, p. 277. 

 Flowers five-stamened; leaves in sevens- 

 This species is principally distinguished from the forrner by its horizontal branches., 

 thase of liie cciba bum^ erect. Tlicy are both very corauion in Jamaica. 



COWITCH. DOLICHOS. 



Cl. 17, OR. 4. Diaddphia decandria. KaT. or. Fapilionacear, 

 Cek. char. See Cat-Claws, p. 166. 



I'KUKIENS. PURPLE. 



Phascohis u/)'his(fue Indite lohis viUosis puvgenfibtis vu'nor. SIoaB^^ 

 V. 1, p. C(7. SlizoloLjium. Pedunculis Uipartitis ularilms. Browne, 

 p. 2'>0. 



Legumes in racecnes ; valves somewhat keeled, rough-haired ; peduncles by 

 threes. 

 This hatii a fibrous root, and an herbaceous, climbing stalk, which is naked, divid- 

 ing into a great number of branches ; and rises to a great heigiit, when properly sup- 

 ported. The leaves are alternate and trilobate, rising from the stem and branches 

 about twelve inches distant from each other. Tlie footst;ilk is cylindrical, from six to 

 fourteen inches long. From the axil of the leaf descends a pendulous ^ioiitary spike, also 

 from six to fourteen inches long, co'/ered with long purple or blood-C(jloured papiliona- 

 ceous Howers, rising by threes in a doul)le akernate manner, from small fleshy protuber- 

 ances, each of wiiich is a short peduncuius of three flowers. These are succeeded by legu- 

 minous, coriaceous, pods, four or live inches long, crooked like an Italicy'.- densely co- 

 vered with sharp hairs, which penetrate the skin, and cause very painful itching.-^ 

 Tills plant grows among fences and ruinate, being seldom allowed to grow in cultivated 

 ground, because tiie hairs of the pods fly with tlie winds, and torment every aiiimal 

 tiiey touch. 



A decoction of the root of this plant is reckoned a powerful diuretic and cleanser of 

 the kidneys ; and a vinous infusion of the pods (twelve in a nuiirt) is said to be a cer- 

 tain remedy for tlie dropsy ; the dose half a pint, when made in beer Broivne. > 

 Grainger says that a fowl stuffed with cowitch, and made into broth, has sometimes 

 carried oflf the dropsy by stoul and urine. The roots of ail the species of this genus are 

 said to be diuretic. 



The very valuable pronerties of the cowitch as a vermifuge, have been fully des- 

 cribed by Mr. Wiiliain Chamberiaine, surgeon, in his ingenious treatise upon worm 

 comjiiaiiits, from which the following extracts are made : 



" The ill success of the cabbage-bark in a few cases, induced me to make some en- 

 quiry concerning a medicine which I had heard of, as being successfully given, ia 



inaiiy 



