U8 HOllTUS JA.MA1CENS.IS. wstwoBM 



RINGWORM SHRUB. CASSIA. 



Cl. 10, qr. 1. Decandria rrumegyme. Nat. on. Lomentacea. 

 Gen. cha&. See Cane Piece Sensitive, p. 151. 



AL.ATA. WINGED. 



l $i!i</uis quadrlalafis, spicis terminalibus ; foliis phirimis pinnatis, 

 majoi ibus obovatis. Browne, p. 224. 



Leaflets eight pairs, oval-oblong', the lowest smaller} petioles without glands; 

 v. !iu.;s spreading. 



Stem sub-litrbaceous, six feet high and more, branched, upright, furrowed, smooth, 

 with simple striated branches ; leaves large, from one to two feet in length, with six 

 pairs of leaflets [six to ten) ; common petiole thickened at the base, three-sided, ex- 

 cavated at top, in a manner winged ; leaflets gradually larger from the base to the tip, 

 on very short petioles, oh-ovate, obtuse, entire, nerved, smooth on both sides, paler 

 underneath, pubescent; glands none ; stipules semi-cordate. Racemes terminating, 

 spiked, from one to two feet in length, solitary, round, upright, many-flow:ered-; 

 flowers large, yellow, pedicelled; bractes roundish, ovate, concave, entire, the colour 

 of the flowers, and covering them, loosely imbricate like scales; pedicels scattered, 

 short, round, smooth ; calycine leaflets oblong, concave, coloured, tender ; petals 

 unequal, with claws roundish, concave, entire; the superior fifth petal a little larger 

 lhari the others, waved with a fringed border. The three lower filaments very small, 

 with barren anthers ; the four middle ones smaller and fertile ; the two upper ones 

 longer, with very large recurved anthers, bifid at the base, refuse at the tip; germ 

 shortly pedicelled, long, declined, recurved, striated ; style short, recurved ; stigma 

 obtuse ; pods two-valved, quadrangular, the opposite angles winged, the margin cre- 

 pate; seeds seperated by alternate membranaceous partitions, rhomboidal, compressed. 

 Sw. This plant is a native ot Jamaica, and common about the Ferry and in the 

 upper parts ot Sixteen-Mile- Walk. It lives but a few years, though it puts on the ap- 

 pearance of a shrub in its growth; and, when cultivated, rises sometimes to the height 

 of seven or eight leet, but seldom exceeds four in its native soil. Ants are very fond 

 of the flowers. The juice of the leaves or buds is said to cure ring-worms. Brozpnc. 

 The most certain remedy which the West Indies afford for the cure of ring-worms, is 

 an epiihem made of the flour of brimstone and the juice of the ring-worm bush. But, 

 thougn these applications will remove this ailment, yet the remedies which Europe 

 affords are both more certain and more speedy. Among these, a strong solution of 

 bluestone in lime-water, or corrosive sublimate, in the same menstruum, deserve die 

 preference. Purgatives are scarce ever necessary in this disorder; but sweating, espe- 

 cially in a warm bath, is Highly expedient at the close of the distemper. There are 

 other remedies used as follow : by rubbing the parts with a coarse cloth, till they begin 

 to bleed, and then squeezing into them the zest of a Seville orange : by mixing two 

 drachms of gunpowder, with as much lime-juice as will bring it to the consistence of a 

 thin liniment ; tins rubbed in morning and evening, after hard friction, often proves 

 effectual. When me ring-worms are not numerous, an application of salt water and, 



urine 



