BOTANIC MATERIA MEDICA, 153 
lance-shape leaves, tapering and smooth; the 
flowers appear before the leaves. The flowers 
infloresce in spikes, and are of a light-pink color; 
the stamens, eight in number, lie within the tube 
of the corolla; stigma of the pistil shield-shaped; 
fruit red, fleshy and one-seeded ; whereas, in the 
Daphne Laureola the leaves are spatulated, 
flowers drooping and yellow in color, with black 
fruit. The bark of the Mezereon, as found in 
commerce, occurs in long, thin bands, rolled or 
folded into irregular discs. It is of a brownish- 
yellow color externally, exhibiting a number of 
dots or scars on the surface, whilst the inner 
surface is smooth and silky. Taste very acrid; 
odor none. It contains an unfermentable sugar 
(glucoside), resin, wax, otl, and an active prin- 
ciple, Daphnin, which occurs in colorless pris- 
matic crystals and has an acid reaction. Its 
medical properties are stimulant, alterative, di- 
uretic, sialagogue and local irritant, with a ten- 
dency to blister. Enters into combination with 
the following officinal preparations: Lxtract 
Mezereon, Extract Meszerit Aithereum and Ex- 
tractum Sarsaparilla Compound, rarely found 
in the stores of the present day. The name is 
partly derived from the Greek and Latin word 
‘*Daphne,” the daughter of the river god Pe- 
neus, who was changed into a laurel tree. 
Nectandra Berbeeru, Nectandra Rodizi, 
Greenheart Tree.—Natural order Lauracez. 
This is a very lofty evergreen forest tree; native 
of British Guiana. It has acute, oblong, shin- 
ing leaves; flowers hermaphrodite, yellow in 
color, with an odor not unlike the Jasmine; 
calyx five-parted. The flowers have twelve sta- 
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