MEDICAL BOTANY. 
sessile, two to five-celled. Ovules in pairs, side by side in each cell, suspended from the apex of the central angle, 
Style simple or wanting. Stigma undivided, two to five-lobed. Fruit hard, bony, one to five-celled, often si 
seeded ; epicarp dry, usually resinous, sometimes splitting into valves. Seeds without albumen, pendulous ; cotyledons 
wrinkled or plaited ; radicle small, superior, straight, turned towards the hilum. ( Royle.) 
Trees or shrubs, with resinous juice, leaves alternate, impari-pinnate, or ternate. 
BALSAMODENDRON MYRRHA, 
NEES VON ESENBECK. 
MYRRH TREE. 
Sex. Syst.—Octandria, Monogynia. 
Gen. Cuar.— Flowers irregular. Calyz four-toothed, persistent. Petals four, linear, oblong ; zstivation indupli- 
cate, valvate. Stamens eight, inserted under the annular disk; elevated warts between the stamens. Ovary one. 
Style one, short, obtuse. Berry or drupe ovate, acute, with four Sutures, one to two-celled ; cells one-seeded. Leaves 
pinnated ; leaflets three to five, sessile, without dots. (De Candolle.) 
Specir. Cuar.—A shrubby plant, with Squarrose, spinescent branches, covered with a pale ash-gray bark, Ki 
proaching white. Wood yellowish-white ; both it and the bark have a peculiar odour. Leaves on short stalks, ternate; 
leaflets obovate, obtuse, obtusely toothletted at the apex, the lateral smooth. Flowers unknown. Fruit ovate, acumi- 
nate, smooth, brown, somewhat | 
arger than a pea, surrounded at the base by a four-toothed calyx, and supported on 
a very short stalk. | 
This plant is figured and described by Nees von Esenbeck in his great work, Beschr. Office. Planz., by a — 
given above. He obtained his information and Specimen from Ehrenberg, who met with it on the borders pe 
Felix, and procured the true Myrrh from the plant. According to him, the substance exudes from the bark of the tree, 
at first soft and oily, and of a yellow colour, but becoming hard and dark-coloured by exposure. 
Prof. Lindley has called the genus Protium to which this plant belongs, and supposes the Amyris Kataf of 
Forskal, which is the Balsamodendron Ka 
taf of Nees, to be identical; the reasons, however, given by Pereira, for 
differing from him are satisfactory, viz 
., the thornless character of the A. kataf, the larger size of the leaves, and the 
round, depressed, umbilicated point of the fruit, 
th 
return of Ehrenberg and Hemprich from their travels. Wi 
,» Some mystery has still to be removed. eae 
Myrrh is a gum-resinous substance, and, from the places whence shipped, is called Turkey Myrrh, and East India 
Myrrh. It has an aromatic odour and a bitter taste. It contains gum, resin, hard and soft, and volatile oil. The hard 
resin 1s acid, and has been called Myrrhic acid. : 
‘ona ate a i 
The article is tonic and stimulating, employed for its roborant effects, and as an emmenagogue. It is given 
powder, mixture, or tincture. | 
PLATE XX.—Represents the plant in leaf, and the Sruit. 
