liUTACE.'E. 195 



Lunan's Hortus, tliat tlie roots are covered with a light soft 

 powdery substance of a yellow colour, and an agreeable scent : 

 and it would appear that it is in it, that any medicinal powers, 

 the roots may possess, reside. The expressed juice of the young 

 roots is said to be a remedy for colic or dry bellyach. The 

 bark of the tree which bears the same specific designation in 

 North America, is considered as a powerful stimulant and su- 

 dorific, diuretic, and febrifuge. Barton mentions, that it is 

 bitter to the taste, slightly odorous, colouring the saliva yellow, 

 exciting salivation when chewed, and that it has been employed 

 with success in rheumatism, paralysis of the tongue, &c. Dr 

 Gillespie, a West-India practitioner, found the tincture to be a 

 good febrifuge ; and Manguet states that the decoction is anti- 

 syphilitic. The analysis of Chevallier and Pelletan, gives a pe- 

 culiar crystalline substance which they call Zanthopicrite ; a yel- 

 low colouring matter, which appears to be the source of the bitter 

 taste of this bark ; another red colouring matter ; some salts. 

 (Journal de Chimie Med. II. 314.) According to the authors 

 of the Dictionnaire de IVIati^re Medicale, however, there is 

 some question, as to the species of Zanthoxylum to which the 

 bark analysed belonged. 



This is a valuable timber-tree : the wood is yellow, and 

 used in house-building. 



9. Zanthoxylum Sumach. TV^est-India Sumach. 



Unarmed, leaves hnpari-pmnate G-jugate, leaflets 

 oblongo-lanceolate serrated, flowers polygamous ape- 

 talous, stamens 10. 



HAB. St Andrew's and Port-Royal mountains. 



FL. May, June. 



A tree 20 feet in height ; branches spreading, lax, ferrugi- 

 neo-tomentose at their extremities. Leaves impari-pinnate ; 

 leaflets opposite, shortly petiolulated, oblong, lanceolate, sub- 

 acuminate, broad at the base, serrated, penni-nerved, reticulato- 

 venose, glabrous above, flavescent and villoso-tomentose along 

 tlie raid-rib beneath, 4 inches long and 2 broad : common 

 and partial petioles terete, ferrugineo-tomentose. Corymbs 

 towards the ends of the branchlets, axillary, one-fourth short- 

 er than the leaf, dichotomously branched : common flower- 

 stalk compressed, ferrugineo-tomentose. Flowers numerous, 

 crowded, pedicelled, small, yellow. $ FL Calyx of 5 sepals ; 

 sepals ovate, acute, coriaceous, externally tomentose, internally 

 with a ridge. Petals 0. Stamens 10, twice the length of the 

 sepals. Filaments hairy at the base : anthers elliptic ; pollen 

 plentiful. Ovaries minute, 5, ovate : styles 5 rostrate. 5 Fl. 

 Calyx and stamens as in the barren. Ovaries more distinct. 

 Carpels 5, or by abortion fewer, generally only two distinct at 



