FAMILY HERBAL. 27 



The Bean. Faba. 



THE common garden-bean is sufficiently 

 known; it grows to a yard high, its str^lks 

 are angular, and the leaves^ which are of the 

 winged kind, stand one at each joint ; the flowers 

 are white spotted with black, and are finely 

 scented. The pods and their seeds need not be 

 described. 



It has been customary to distil a water from 

 bean-flowers, and use it to soften the skin, but 

 common distilled water does as well. It is other- 

 wise w ith the water of the bean-pods. These 

 are to be bruised, w^hen the beans are half ripe in 

 them, and distilled with water in a coraraoa 

 alembic. The water is a very gentle carminative,^ 

 without any heat or acridness ; this is excellent for 

 children's gripes. 



The Malacca Bean-Tree, Anacardium k^ 



gliimum. 



THIS is a large tree, native of Malabar and 

 the Philippine islands ; it ^rows io the height 

 and bigness of our tallest elms, and has much of 



the 



The 



leaves are vastly large, of an oblong figure, 

 and obtuse ; the flowers are saiall and white, they 

 grow in bunches, and have somewhat of the smell 

 of the syringa flower but fainter. The fruit is 

 of the bigness of a peat, and much of the ?9me 

 shape ; it is of a deep red, when ripe, and of a 

 pleasant taste; the kernel is not within this, 

 as is commonly the case in fruits, but it haug« 

 out loose at the end. This kernel or seed is of 

 the shane of an heart; it is as big as an olive. 



