eoe-euM H O R T U S J A M A I C E N S I S. 7^ 



PEDlfNCULATA. PEDUXCLED. 



This was discovered hy Svvartz in Jamaica, but he has given no farther description 

 of tile plant limn its generic characters, 



HOG-GUM TREE. . RHUS. 



Cl; 5, OR. 3. PentandriaJrigyniitr N.\T. or. Dumos,e. 



CrENv CH \R. Criiyx a five-parted perianth, inferior, erect, permanent ; corolla five 

 avate petals,, from uprigh', spreading ; the stamens are five filaments, very short, 

 with small anihers.; the pistil has a superior roundish germ, the size of tiie ca- 

 To.ia ; styles scarcely any ; stigmas three, cordate, small; the pericarp is a round.. 

 isli Que-celled berry ; seed one, roundisli, bony. . 



IvIETOHUM. 



Ter/iiuit/ius via.rima, pinnis pauciorilrjs vuijoribus alque rotundiovi^ 

 buSy fntctu yuct'moso sparse. Sloane, v. 2, p. 90, t. 199, f. 3. 

 Foiils subyotundis, pinnato-guinatis, racemis aiuriius. Browne, 

 p. 177, t. 13, f. 3. .. 



Leso'cs pinnate-quinat^, quite entire, roundish, smooth. ' 

 This. tree seldom risers to more than twenty-five or thirty-five feet, and is very 

 irprea.Ling towards the top. It is furnished with njund pinnated leaves, which are sel- 

 <iom above fi\e on every rib ; and the flowers which grow in clusters are succeeded by 

 so many reddish sucEulent capsules. . The root runs a great way on the surface of the 

 eartli. ^ It sheds its-leaves about the months of N'ovember and December, gettmg flow- 

 ers. and leaves jn. January and February, the flowers sprouting first at the ends of the 

 twigs, of a purplish brown. colour ; the lepves follow, which are winged, for the most 

 part made up of two pair of pinnas, set opposite to one another, -and a fifth at the end. 

 Tiie bark of the tree is whitish or grey, hawng on several places olack spots of shining 

 gum ; which, if wetted by the rain, sticks to the skin, and brings it oi^" wiih it. Pigeons 

 are.fond of the berries. On wounding the bark a pellucid juice issues out, vvhiclr, after 

 a sliort time, acquires a hard fragile, consistence, that is used with success in strength- 

 ening plaisters, in the room of Burgundy pitch. Being of a warm discntient nature 

 it may be used with great propriety in all sweiimgs arising from colds, vveakress cf lite 

 vessels, or poverty of the juices, both externally and internally. It is thought to' i)e 

 an extraordinary diuretic, an.d an admirable vulnerary. INlade into pills, it acts like 

 balsam of capivi in stopping gleets. It is caMed hog-gum or /log-doctur I ree, because 

 it is asserted that wild hogs rub themselves with the juice when wounded, which cures 

 them. When tlie gum is dry it is a good substitute for shoemaker's wax. Boiled up 

 with castor oil it makes a good salve, or if the salve is intended to dry up a sore, the 

 juice of the cats-claw may be added. When the tree dies- there is a great quantity of 

 the drj' gym found at the roots. 



This gum and its uses are well known in Jamaica. It is so called because hogs, when 

 OTCunded by the hunters, run to the tree, lance the bark, and rub themselves with the 

 juice, which not only prevents flies coming to the wound, but also heals it. Tfce jaite, 

 wien it Srst comes outj is of a yellowisli white, and then turns wore yellaw, and after- 



warcb 



