\m n out us jAmaicunsis. pm&fi 



PHYSICSKUfc sTATROPILA.' 



C'l. Si, or. 9. Monoecia monaddphia. Nat. or. Tricctae. 

 Ges. chjr. iVe Cassada, /;. 16 1. 



l.-cyiiCAS. 

 Ji.'ci)ius,.faisJ'rlio, f?oie pentapelalo viridi, Jrwctu'ievi pYndfilo-^ 

 Sloane, v. , , p. 1k7. Assurgfis, f.cus JvUq, dove fccrbactv.~ 

 Browne, p. 38. 



Leaves cordate, angular. 



Stem from seven to cu;ht feet high, surTrutesceiit, round, smooth, and branched?; 

 leaves five-angled, the.angles at the base rounded, there a ute; flowers in termin-" 

 ating cymes ; peduncles alternate, upright, many-flowered ; flowers almost aggregate^ 

 on very short pedicels. Mates copious ; females sessile, fewer, solitary in tiiejiiiddie 

 bf the cyme. In il>e males the calyx is five-leaved, with ovate convex leaflets ^ c** 

 rolla five- parted to the base, pale yellow; filaments ten to fourteen, connected from 

 the base. to. the, middle.; anthers .oblong, upright ; .glands five, at the base of the fila- 

 ments. Theifemalos have the calyx and corolla as in the- male; the latter green and 

 larger ; germ roundish, bluntly three-cornered ; style three- parted above the middle, 

 v;ia bifid tips..;, stigmas blunt. SV. Capsule oblong, obtusely three cornered, large, 

 when ope wrinkled and rugged cu the outside; the rind thick -and coriaceous; the 

 three grains or cells papery, whitish, two-valved ; receptacle central, columnar, 

 slender, thickened at to] > into a flatted fungous head; seeds solitary, large, ovate- 

 oblong, convex on one side, on the other very obscurely angular, insomuch that they 

 are almost cylindric, produced at the tip into a hollow dagger point, on which there fS 

 a white fungous umbilicus ; they are black with minute chinks, and rough to the touch. 

 Gartner. The physic-nut tree is very common in all the sugar colonies, but dies 

 -after a few years. The leaves are much used in resolutive baths and fomentations, and 

 the deeds sometimes as a purgative; hut they operate very violently, ami are there- 

 fore but little used. Browne. The nuts contain an almond-like kernel, divided into 

 two parts, between which lie two milk-white thin membranaceous leaves, easily separ- 

 able from each other, and are perfect in every part, having the stalk middle riband 

 veins very visible. Grainger says the Spaniards name these nuts-aveilanos, or purga- 

 tives. By roasting they are supposed to lose part of their virulenry, and this is also 

 destroyed by taking out the little leaves between the lobes, but this Hughes says is an 

 error, in sweetness and agreeableness of flavour these nuts exceed an almond, but 

 three or four of them will operate briskly both up and down ; and the oil prepared from 

 them, in the same manner as from the oil nut, is recommended in dropsy ; the dose a 

 table-spoonful. A decoction of the leaves, Br. 'Wright informs us, is often used wisfc 

 advantage in spasmodic belly-ache, attended with vomiting, -its easier on the. stom&h 

 than any thing else, and seldom fails to bring on a discharge by stool. The leaves, 

 pounded and boiled in hoys-lard, applied warm on hard swellings, are a good resol- 

 vent. The following remarkable i ase, which shews the great virtues of the juice of 

 this plant, has been communicated to the compiler by a gentleman of great respecta- 

 bility (Oliver llcring, Esq.) of the parish of Westmorland : 



. " i was attacked by the piles, I believe in consequence of taking aloes with calomel, 

 and suffered for several weeks incredible torments. The sphincter and rectum were 



violently 



