J5WARF HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. 273:- 



ointment made of this plant, mixe 1 with hogs- lard or snakes- fat, proves of what great 

 service ihii may be in dropsies, and ))ossir)ly might ^ive the hint cf rubbing the abda- 

 nien witlj oil of ohves for the cure of the same, uuil may shew tiiai frictions with oil 

 anay be of greater sejvice in medicme tlian is commonly imagined, laongn I must con- 

 fess I am at a loss to account for its mode of acting in tiiis case. Nu insect feeds upoii 

 any part of the dumb-cane. It continues imcorrupted for a considerable; time after 

 taken out of the earth, but the juice loses its acrimony and becomes sour in two days." 



lU English Name. DURANTA. 



Ct. 14, OR. 2. Didyimmia angiospermia. Nat. or. Perxonaice. 



So named in memory of Castor- Durantes, physiciaa to Pope Sextus Y. who pub* - 

 lisijed an Herbarium, 1534>. : 



Gen. char. Calyx a five-clefi siiperior perianth, one-leafed ; corolla one-petaled, , 

 border five-partei! j stamens four filaments, t\\j longer, within the tube ; anihi?ra 

 roundish ; the pistil has a roundish inferior germ, filiform style, and tliickish stig;-- 

 ma ; the pericarp a roundish berry, covered by the calyx j seed four kernels, two 

 celled. I.. One species is a native of Jamaica. 



ELtlSlA. ELLIS. 



Jdsminiim folio integro obtuso, fiore coerulco racemoso, fructu flavn.^ 

 Sloane, v. 2, p. 97. Frutescens quandoque spinosa ; Jcliis vxa!{s\ 

 utrinque acutis, ad apiceui serratis ; spicis uianbus. browne, p- 

 262, t. 29, f. 1. 



Fruiting calyxes er.pct. . 



This grows ten or twelve feet high, having near fts top severs! branches with leaves 

 opposite to one another ;, petioled, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, neiTef!, 

 smooth on both sides. Racemes compound, terminating, brachiate, many-flowered i 

 flawers bine, on short peduncles. Browne made this a distinct genu-s, under the name , 

 ellisia, in honour of Rlr. Ellis, the author of a Treatise on Zoophytes. It seems doubt- 

 ful whetlier Browne's and Sloane's plants be the- same, although they agree in many 

 pai-ticulars, for Sloane describes the leaves to be in tufts like those of the caiabasii, 

 ^vhich IS not the-case iji Browne's figure, the leaves being single and opposite. He 

 says it grows chiefly in the lowlands, and rises only six or seven feet ; and that they 

 were so very like the leaves of green tea, he tried some experiments before he was con- - 

 ^dnced it was not the same plant ; he adds the branches were sometimes beset ivitlxr- 

 thoriis Uutoften. without ; and named it the tea-leaved ellisia. 



Dutch Gr.a,ss See Dog's-Tail Grass. 

 Dutchman's Laudanum Se-j Bull-Hook- 



DWARF ELDER. - URTICA. 



Ct, 21,, OR. 4. Monoccia tetraniria. Nat. Oil. Scabridv. 



Nu2 - iGEN.3f 



