HYPERICACEiE. 



purplish black, fleshy. — The leaves once much esteemed as vulnerary, 

 and still employed with great confidence in the cases of recent wounds 

 by rustic nurses. 



VISMIA. 



Berry membranous. Styles 5; stigmas peltate. Stamens 

 numerous in 5 parcels, alternating with 5 glands. Sepals 5. 

 Petals 5, usually shaggy internally. — Shrubs or trees, with 

 quadrangular branches. Leaves usually protected by rusty 

 down, rarely with pellucid dots. Flowers in branched panicles. 

 Leaf-buds round or oblong. 



234. V. guianensis Pers. synops. ii. 86. DC. prodr. i. 542. — 

 Hypericum guianense Aubl. ii. 784. t. 311. — Guiana. 



A small tree, with a stem about 8 feet high. Stem quadrangular. 

 Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, dilated at the base, rufous beneath, 

 smooth above, filled with transparent dots. Petiole short. Calyx 

 ovate, blunt, villous. Flowers corymbose, yellow. Berry yellowish, 

 ovate, soft, somewhat 5-cornered. — Bark when wounded yields a gum 

 resin, which when dry resembles Gamboge. The leaves and fruit equally 

 yield such a secretion. It is purgative in doses of 7-8 grains. A decoc- 

 tion of the leaves taken internally is valued as a cure for intermittent 

 fevers. Aub'et. 



Several other species of Vismia yield a similar secretion, which has 

 found its wav to Europe under the name of American Gamboge. 



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