26 MEDICAL BOTANY. 
DAPHNE MEZEREUM. 
LINNAUS. 
Sex. Syst.—Octandria, Trigynia. 
Gen. Cuar.—Calyz tubular, withering. Tube cylindrical, coriaceous, longer than the limb, imperforate at the 
base, containing the stamens, limb divided into four deep, ovate, spreading coloured segments. Filaments short in two 
rows, from about the middle of the tube. -Anthers roundish, oblong, of two cells, simple, enclosed within the tube. 
Ovary ovate. Style short, terminal. Stigma capitate, depressed, entire. Berry oval, of one cell. Seed solitary, sus- 
pended, oval, large, with a thin brittle skin. (Lendley.) : : 
Specir. Cuar.—Stem bushy, four or five feet high, with upright, alternate, smooth, tough and pliant branches, 
leafy while young. Leaves scattered, stalked, lanceolate, smooth, two inches long, appearing after the flowers, and soon 
accompanied by flower buds for the next season. Flowers highly, and to many persons, too powerfully fragrant, 
seated in little tufts on the naked branches, with several brown, smooth, ovate bractes underneath. Calyz like a 
corolla in texture, crimson all over ; the tube externally hairy. Berries scarlet. (Smith, Eng. Flor.) 
This plant is an inhabitant of the north of Europe. It flowers very early in the season, sometimes before the 
snows have melted. There is a variety with white flowers. 3 
The bark of the root and of the stems is used for medicinal purposes. The former is tough, pliable, and fibrous, 
externally brown and corrugated, internally white. The latter is smooth and shining externally, the epidermis in ° 
dried state peeling off in transparent lamine, with a green substratum of cellular tissue covering the fibrous ee 
is very tough, and is peeled off in long pieces, which are dried and rolled into balls or masses for use. The taste o 
these is at first sweetish, afterwards highly acrid. They possess no odour. 
Mezereon contains waz, acrid resin, daphnin, volatile oil, yellow colouring principle, &c. ; hen 
The local effects are irritating, the internal administration is followed by increase of the secretions, write a * 
tive action. It frequently purges, and in too large doses is productive of inordinate irritation of the throat, stom 
bowels, and bladder. It is given in infusion, and decoction. 
Pirate LXXII.—Represents the plant in flower, in leaf, and the enlarged flower and frutt. 
MYRISTICACEA., 
LINDLEY. 
NUTMEGS. 
Myristicez.—R. Brown. ? 
; ifid, rarely 
EssenTia Cuar.—Calyz coriaceous, mostly downy outside. Flowers completely unisexual. Calyx trif 
quadrifid, with valvular estivation. Male. Filaments either separate or completely united in a cy linder. 
3-12 or more, two-celled, turned outwards and 
ae .C 
‘ bursting longitudinally ; either connate or ona es mgt i 
deciduous. Carpels solitary, or many, with a single erect anatropal ovule. Style very short. bryo small, 
lobed. Fruit baccate. Albumen ruminate, between fatty and fleshy. Stigma somewhat oe 
orthotropal. Cotyledons diverging. Radicle inferior. (Lindley.) ; ; ules, not dotted, 
The plants belonging to this order are found in the tropics. The leaves are alternate without stipules, 
entire and coriaceous. The inflorescence is axillary or terminal, various; the flower is small. 
Their medical properties are aromatic and stimulating, due to the great quantity of volatile 
oil in their structures 
hence many of them afford spices. 
