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have: The Indian Red Saunders in the wood of Pterocarpus santalinus, Linn., 
valued in India as a red dye for silks and other fabrics; Brazil Wood (Ces- 
alpina echinata, Lam.) affords a red dye; Braziletto Wood, from C. Brazzliensis ; 
Sappan Wood, from C. Sappan, and Camwood, from Laphia nitida, are all well- 
known dyes. 
The fibres of the Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum), whose seeds are emetic 
and purgative, are used in Southern Europe for cordage, and also for the manu- 
facture of gunny-bags. The Prayer Bead, the seed of the Indian Liquorice (Adrus 
precatorius, Linn.) is a beautitul little scarlet oval with a black spot. These seeds 
are used by the Hindoos as a standard of weight called Aa, and are celebrated 
as having been used to determine the value of the great Koh-i-noor diamond; 
they are also used in the manufacture of rosaries. Valuable timbers, elegant 
perfumes, fine balsams, brilliant varnishes, and numerous articles of commerce, 
difficult to classify, are products of this most varied order. 
History and Habitat.—Genista is indigenous to Northern Asia and Europe, 
but has become thoroughly naturalized in eastern New York and lower New 
England, especially, however, in Essex County, Massachusetts, where it has 
become an actual pest on dry, sandy hillsides, which it renders positively yellow, 
in June and July, with its profusion of flowers. 
Though once vaunted in Russia as a prophylactic in hydrophobia, this plant 
has nearly dropped out of medical thought. Its leaves and seeds are mildly pur- 
gative, its seeds alone often emetic, and the whole plant sometimes diuretic. Ray 
says that after cows have browsed upon this plant their milk becomes bitter—a 
property communicated also to butter and cheese if made from such milk. 
As its common names denote, Genista is one of the many leguminose plants 
yielding dyes. The flowers, and indeed the whole plant, yield a clear, greenish- 
yellow coloring-matter, that, in conjunction with Woad (/saéis tinctorta—Cruci- 
ferze), gave fine results in the dyeing of wool green. 
PART USED AND PREPARATION.—The whole plant, while in flower, is 
chopped and pounded to a pulp and weighed. Then two parts by weight of alco- 
hol are taken, the pulp thoroughly mixed with one-sixth part of it, and the rest 
of the alcohol added. The whole is then placed in a bottle, tightly corked, and 
allowed to stand eight days in a dark, cool place. 
The tincture, separated from this mass by filtration, has a deep reddish- 
orange color by transmitted light; a strong herbaceous odor; an astringent 
taste; and an acid reaction. 
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS.—No analysis of this species has, so far, resulted 
in the isolation of its active principle, the general constituents of plants and a vola- 
tile oil only being separated. 
PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION.—Our provings of Geoista by Dr. E. B. Cushing 
are the only data obtainable, so far, for the determination of its action, These 
