CEANOTHUS AMERICANUS. 
a little cordate at base, ovate or oblong-ovate, somewhat 
acuminate at the apex, serrate, nearly smooth above, and 
whitish, tomentose beneath, the pubescence of the veins and 
petioles somewhat reddish, they are thrice as long as broad, 
very downy, with soft hairs beneath. Flowers minute, in 
crowded panicles from the axils of the upper leaves. The calyx 
is white, five-cleft, and the upper portion separates by a trans- 
verse line, leaving the tube adhering to the fruit. The corolla 
is formed of five saccate, arched petals, which are longer than 
the calyx, and with filiform claws at base. The stamens are 
_ five, enclosed in the curiously vaulted corolla, exserted and 
bearing ovate, two-celled anthers, The ovary is three-angled, 
and surrounded with a ten-toothed disk. The styles are three, 
united to the middle, but diverging above. The fruit is dry and 
coriaceous, obtusely triangular, three-celled and three-seeded. 
The seeds are convex externally, and concave within, the cavity 
marked with a longitudinal line. 
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES. 
The Cranoraus Americanus is a well-known plant and is © 
considerably celebrated for having been much used during the 
Revolutionary war of the United States, as a substitute for the 
Chinese tea, whence its common name. The leaves when 
dried have an odor very much resembling that of the black tea 
of commerce, and are said to form an excellent substitute for it. 
_ The leaves of the Jersey tea plant are slightly bitter, and — 
somewhat astringent. The root is mach more active, and was 
very highly esteemed among the Indians who used it as an 
astringent and febrifuge. It was afterwards very much em- 
ployed also as a remedy in gonorrhcea, and even syphilis. In 
the first of these complaints, it is stated by Ferrien that a cure 
is effected in two or three days, and in the latter, even inveterate 
cases yield to it in fifteen. It is given in the form of decoction 
made in the proportion of two drachms of the root to a pint of 
water. Adamson also observes that he has employed it in these 
diseases with considerable success, These statements receive 
confirmation, in part at least, from the success that has attended 
this method of cure in private and domestic practice, as well as 
by several physicians and practitioners of the On ae 
__ In a communication to the Boston Medical and Surgical 
Journal (Sept., 1835), Dr. Hubbard speaks in very high terms 
