*Vur^' HORTUS J \M AI C EN <US. ' 21.7 



riivj; . il ' . i pi le, thetresh, s iffronoploured, with a bitterish taste, andsmellof 



' "saive.'Sten ... leai i broad- lanceolate, large, quite entire, smooth, annual, suppot- 

 ti g an i> ii.ru mg- each other. Scape external, slender, nearly erect, almost naked, ap- 

 j oxim ting to the bundle of leaves ; spike thick, sub ovate, three inches long ; flowers 

 S ile, white, with a yellow nectar)-, solitary, and inclosed within the scales of the 

 s| k Border of the coyolla four-parted, two lateral segments blunt, the upper acute ; 

 -See sfew; no barren rilameikts. Linneus. 



Thi; plai ' thrives very well in Jamaica, but has not been much cultivated, though it 

 may ii<'< ' found in almost a wild state -in --many places where it formerly has been 

 planted, since its introduction by Zachary Bay ley Edwards, esq. in the year 1783, 

 The mode of curing it for marked is simply by drying it in the sun, either whole, or, to 

 expedite the> process, cut in pieces. The roots should be -dug as soon as the flower 

 Stems fade. 



Turmeric has a slight aromatic and not very agreeable smell, and a bitterish some- 

 what warm taste. It readily gives out its active matter both to aqueous and spirituous 

 menstrua : communicating to the former its own deep yellow, and to the latter a fine 

 yellowish red tincture. Distilled, with water it yields a small quantity of a gold coloured 

 essential oil, of a moderately strong smell and pungent taste: the remaining decoi turn 

 inspissated leaves a bitterish, considerably saline, mass. The inspissated extract from 

 rectified spirit i> moderately warm and bitter, ami not a little nauseous. In the eastern 

 countries, this root, besides its use in colouring and seasoning their food, is much re- 

 commended as a medicine; being accounted one of the most effectual remedies iu ob- 

 structions of the viscera and mesentery, which are there frequent ; in uteririe disorders, 

 difficulties of water, and affections of the kidnies. Among us it has only been employed 

 by way of decoction, infusion, and powder, as a deobstruent, in hypochondria, leuco 

 phlegmatic, and cachectical constitutions ; and esteemed by some as a specific in the 

 jaundice ; the dose in substance is from a scruple to a drachm ; in decoction or infusion 

 *wice a> much. It tinges the urine of a deep yellow colour. Lewis' Mat. Med. 



A plaster of turmeric, well bruised, top and roots, is thought to be good against the 

 JkJte of the rattle-snake. Phil. Tran. No. 479,. p. 144. 



TURNIP. BRASSICA. 



Vt. 15, or. 2. Tetradynalnia siliquosa. Nat. or. Crucifera^ 

 "CJen. CHAR. -See cabbage, vol. 1, p. 130. 



RAPrf. 



Root caulescent, orbicular, depressed, fleshy. 

 This useful culinary plant is generally cultivated in Jamaica from seeds imported 

 Trom Europe or America, which produce turnips of a very sweet flavour, but never of 

 that size they commonly arrive to in their natural soil. In new burnt oft" grounds,- how- 

 ever, when die seeds are scattered among th. ashes, they grow to a considerable size, 

 nd are of a much milder consistence and taste than in their native soil. Unless the 

 ground * here they are sown be prett , hard, they are apt to run into long roots, from 

 not receiving sufficient resistance in their vegetation ; it is therefore better not to dig 

 the teas in which they are sowed. 



Turnips 



