LAURACE^. 



3 interior stamens. Stigma peltate. Fruit berried, placed on 

 the expanded tube of the calyx. — Involucres deciduous. Leaves 

 variable, with pinnate veins, in some nearly opposite. 



700. T. Roxburghii Nees Laurin. 515. — Sebifera glutinosa 

 Lour cochin, ii. 783. Litsea sebifera Pers. synops. ii. p. 4. To- 

 mex sebifera Willd. sp. pi. ii. 840. Tetranthera apetala Roxb. 

 corom.pl. ii. t. 147. — Mountains of India; the Circars, Goal- 

 para, Monghir, Chittagong, Sylhet, Cochin-china, Java. 



A variable plant. Leaves ovate-oblong, acute at the base, smooth 

 and shining above, more or less downy beneath. Umbels rather com- 

 pound, nearly white. Flowers apetalous. Stamens more than 9. 

 Involucre 4-leaved : the leaves roundish, concave, hoary on the outside. 

 Fruit globose, black, about the size of a pea. — The fruit yields a greasy 

 exudation, from which the Chinese manufacture candles of bad quality, 

 and which serves as the basis of salves. The leaves and branches are 

 full of a glutinous matter which is readily communicated to water in 

 which they are bruised. 



LAURUS. 



Flowers dioecious or hermaphrodite, involucrated. Calyx 

 4-parted; segments equal, deciduous. Fertile stamens 12 in 

 3 rows ; the outer alternate with the segments of the calyx ; all 

 with 2 glands in the middle or above it. Anthers oblong, 

 2-celled, all looking inwards. $ with 2-4 castrated males 

 surrounding the ovary. Stigma capitate. Fruit succulent, seated 

 in the irregular base of the calyx. — Umbels axillary, stalked. 

 Leaf buds with valvate papery scales. Leaves evergreen. 



701. L. nobilis Linn. sp. pi. 529. N. and E. handb. 

 ii. 416. pi. med. t. 132. Nees Laurin. 579. Aa^vvj Dioscor. 

 — Asia Minor, Basin of the Mediterranean, Greece, Italy, 

 Spain and Portugal. Common ingardens. (Sweet Bay.) 



An evergreen bush or tree from 15 to 25 feet high. Branches 

 smooth, green, densely leafy, with an aromatic rather bitter bark. 

 Leaves alternate, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 

 wavy at the edge, rather leathery, quite hairless on both sides ; with a 

 small pore and fine beard at the axils of the lower veins, on the 

 under side. Umbels 4-6-flowered, somewhat globose, in small axillary 

 clusters; enclosed in papery, scarious, roundish, concave scales. 

 Flowers yellowish-white, glandular-dotted, membranous. Stamens 

 smooth. Fruit the size of a very large pea, ovate, black, covered with a 

 succulent coat. — Leaves and fruit are both aromatic; the latter enter 

 into the composition of the emplastrum cumini of the London Pharma- 

 copoeia. The fixed oil is sometimes employed externally as a stimulant. 



*** Daphnidium Cubeba Nees. Laurns Cubeba Lour, is an obscure 

 plant, known to no one since the time of Loureiro. Its fruit, the size of 

 a pepper corn, is reported to be a powerful aromatic. See Nees p. 616. 



340 



