106 



used in decoction of the recent plant as an antisyphilitic,*and in cases of 

 suppression of the menses. Hamilt. Prodr. Fl. Ind. 43. The root, leaves, 

 and young shoots of Phyllanthus Niruri are considered, in India, deob- 

 struent, diuretic, and healing. The leaves are very bitter, and a good 

 stomachic. Ainslie, 2. 151. Some other species, particularly Ph. urinaria, 

 are powerful diuretics. The fruit of Phyllanthus Emblica is frequently 

 made into pickle; it is acid, and, when dry, very astringent. Ibid. 1. 240. 

 The bruised leaves of Phyllanthus Conami are used for inebriating fishes. 

 Aubl. 928. The boiled leaves of Plukenetia corniculata are said to be an 

 excellent potherb, for which purpose it is cultivated in Amboyna. Rumph. 

 The purgative quality of Ricinus, the Castor oil plant, is well known ; 

 the root is said to be diuretic. The juice of Sapium aucuparium is reputed 

 poisonous. A case is mentioned by Tussac {Journ. Bot. 1813. I. 117.) of 

 a gardener whose nostrils became swollen and seized with erysipetalous 

 phlegmasis, in consequence of the fumes only of this* plant. The root of 

 Tragia involucrata is reckoned, by the Hindoo doctors, among those medi- 

 cines which they conceive to possess virtues in altering and correcting the 

 habit in cases of cachexia, and in old venereal complaints attended with 

 anomalous symptoms. Ainslie, 2. 62. There is reason to believe that tlie 

 timber imported from the coast of Africa, under the name of African Teak, 

 belongs to some tree of this order. From a species of a tree, stated by 

 Mr. Brown to be of an unpublished genus, it is said that a substance resem- 

 bling caoutchouc is procured in Sierra Leone. Congo, 444. 

 Examples. Euphorbia, Crotou, Buxus, Jatropha. 



LXXXIX. RESEDACEiE. The Mignonette Tribe. 



Resedace^e, Dec. Thior. ed. 1. 214. (1813); Lhidl. Synops. 219. (182!).) 



Diagnosis. Apetalous dicotyledons, with indefinite ovules, a 1-celled 

 ovarium with parietal placentse, dehiscent fruit, irregular flowers partly 

 sterile, and a reniforni embryo. 



Anomalies. 



Essential Chahacter — Florets included within a many-parted involticrum, neuter 

 on the outside, hermaplirodite in the centre. Caly.v 1 -sided, undivided, f^landular. Stamens 

 of the sterile florets linear, petaloid. Stamens of tlie fertile Horets perigynoiis, definite ; 

 filuments erect; autlterx 2-celle(l, opening longitudinally. Ocarium sessile, 3-liihed, 1-ceIled, 

 many-seeded, with '.i parietal placents. Stigmata .'1, glandular, sessile. Frait dry and 

 membranous, or succulent, opening at the a])ex. Seeds several, reniforni, attached to 3 



parietal placenta;; embryo taper, arcuate, without albumen ; radicle superior Herbaceous 



plants, with alternate leaves, the surface of which is minutely papillose ; and minute, 

 gland-like stipule. 



Affinities. The character which is here assigned to Resedacca; is 

 in conformity with an opinion I published some years ago, that the part 

 called calyx by botanists is an involucrum, the supposed petals neutral 

 florets, and the disk or nectary a calyx surrounding a fertile floret in 

 the middle. The reasons I assigned for this opinion were, firstly, "That 

 there is a difference in the time of expansion of the neutral florets and of 

 the stamens of the fertile one ; the former being quite open in very many 

 capitula, before one anther of the latter has burst in a single flower. Se- 

 condly, That there is an evident analogy between the appendages of the 

 neutral florets and the stamens of the perfect florets ; inasmuch as in Reseda 

 odorata those of the upper sterile florets arc of nearly the same number as 



