222 



LEGUMINOSvE. 



the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius, with the latter of whom he is said 

 to have visited Britain, a.d. 43, uses the expression " Casiw rufce fi'^H- 

 lariim" in the receint for a. rnllvrinm Onlpn' flocr.riVii'nrf fi^a ri;flfn..n«f 



!ipt 



collyi 



^- 



& 



cinnamon or even better ; and also names a well-known cheaper sort, 



having a strong taste and odoui 

 rolled up like a tube. 



ailed fistula 



Oribasius, physician to the Emperor Julian in the latter half of the 

 ^tn and beginning of the 5th century, describes Cassia fistula as a harl 

 of which there are several varieties, having pungent and astringent 

 properties (" omnes cassice fistulce vires Jiahent acriter exalfacientes et 

 stnngentes "), and sometimes used in the place of cinnamon/ 



It is doubtless the same drug which is spoken of by Alexander 

 Irallianus* as Kaaia'; crvpiy^ (casia fistula) in connexion with costus, 

 pepper and other aromatics ; and named by other Greek writers as 

 Kaaia o-iy/ityyto^?;? (casta fistularis). Alexander still more distinctly 

 calls it also Kacrm a'cyvTrrl a.'^ 



The tree under examination and its fruit were exactly described in 

 the beginning of the 13th century by Abul Abbas Annabati of Sevilla f 

 the fruit, the Cassia Fistula of modern medicine, is noticed by Joannes 

 Actuarius, who flourished at Constantinople towards the close of the 

 13th century ; and as he describes it with particular minuteness," it is 

 evident that he did not consider it well known. The drug is also 

 mentioned by several writers of the school of Salernum. 



The tree 



if 



would appear to have found at an early period its way to America, 

 we are correct in referring to it the Cassia Fistula enumerated by Petrus 

 Martyr among the valuable products of the New World.' The drug 

 was a familar remedy in England in the time of Turner, 1508." 



Iho tree was figured in 1553 by the celebrated traveller Belon who 

 met with it in the gardens of Cairo, and in 1592 by Prosper Alpmus 

 who also saw it in Egypt. 



Description— The ovary of the flower is one-celled with numerous 

 ovules, which as they advance towards maturity become separated by 

 the growth of intervening septa. The ripe legume is cylindrical, darJJ 



h 



by I 



, ^ - . ... ..x.^ ^j -i to 1 inch in diameter, ^^'ith a 



strong short woody stalk, and a blunt end suddenly contracted m o a 

 point The fibro-vascular column of the stalk is divided into t^o 

 broad parallel seams, the dorsal and ventral sutures, running down m 

 whole length of the pod. The sutures are smooth, or slightly striated 

 longitudinally; one of them is formed of two lio-neous bundles coalescing 



cena adjicimus, atqtie qiiippiam f^r^ fj^s 

 nominatre casia?. Est autem ^^ctus j 

 fistulus et oblongiis, nigrum intus 1^^""'^^^^,^ 



concretum gestans, qui ha"^''!"'''^?^ tenui- 

 continiiitate coaluit, sedex mtervauo .^^^_ 



bus lienosisfiue membranulis f"" „a 



^^Be Antldot i. c. 14. 



i;.i?°!'"^?'^i'^*''^i^^ ^"^""g *^e commodities 

 liable to duty at Alexandria in the 2nd cen- 



S?i2~ '''''^''*' ^""'""^""^^ ^/ ^^^ Ancients, 

 \ ^.^'y«"ca inidfyardis. Argent. ] 533. 227 



^^^« Meyer, Ge.chlclUeder BotaniJc, iii. (185C). 



J '; Quemadmodum si ventrem mollire 

 f uent animus, pn„m, et pr^eip^^ Dama^! 



habens ad speciei propagationem, s j^j, 

 quasdam seminalia, siliquie jljj "i";; ,^„rf,; 



innotuit, adsimilia. " — Method 

 lib. Y. c 2, 



'«£>€ nuper sul D. Carolo reper 



Basil. 1521. 



9 Herhall, part. 3. 20. 



lis in 



fuUs, 



