2*> 



XXI. LAURINE/E. The Cinnamon Tribe. 



Lauri, Juss. Gen. 80. (1789); Laurineas, Vent. Tab!. (1799); 7?. Brmcn Prodr. 401. (1810). 



Diagnosis. Apetalous aromatic dicotyledons, with definite suspended 

 ovules, and anthers bursting by recurved valves. 



Anomalies. Cassytha is aphyllous and parasitical. 



Essential Character.— Calyx 4-6-cleft, with imbricated aestivation, the limb sometimes 

 obsolete. Stamens definite, perigynous, opposite the segments of the calyx, and usually twice 

 as numerous •• the 3 innermost, which are opposite the 3 inner segments of the calyx sterile or 

 deficient; the 6 outermost scarcely ever abortive; anthers adnate, 2-4-celled ; the cells burst- 

 ing by a longitudinal persistent valve from the base to the apex; the outer anthers valved 

 inwards, the inner valved outwards. (Hands usually present at the base of the inner fila- 

 ments. Ovarium single, superior, with a single pendulous ovulum ; style simple ; stigma 

 obtuse. Fruit baccate or drupaceous, naked or covered. Seed without albumen; embryo 

 inverted ; cotyledons large, plano-convex, peltate near the base !; radicle very short, included, 

 superior ; plumula conspicuous, 2-leaved.— Trees, often of great size. Leaves without stipu- 

 le, alternate, seldom opposite, entire or very rarely lobed. lvjloresccnce panicled or umbelled. 

 Sometimes leafless twining under shrubs or parasitical herbs, with spiked flowers, each having 

 3 bractcre. JR. Br. 



Affinities. Distinguished from all apetalous dicotyledons, except Athe- 

 rospermeae, by the peculiar dehiscence of their anthers, and divided from that 

 order by the ovulum being pendulous, not erect. In sensible qualities they 

 resemble Myristiceae, which are at once known by their diclinous flowers and 

 columnar stamens. The genus Cassytha, a parasitical leafless plant, is 

 remarkable for differing from the order in nothing whatever, except its very pe- 

 culiar habit. 



Geography. Trees inhabiting the tropics of either hemisphere ; in a very 

 few instances only, straggling to the northward in North America and Eu- 

 rope. No genus is known to exist in any part of the continent of Africa, ex- 

 cept the paradoxical Cassytha. This is the more remarkable, as several spe- 

 cies of Laurus have been found both in Teneriffe and Madeira, and some other 

 genera exist in Madagascar, and in the Isles of France and Bourbon. Broum, 

 Congo, 464. 



Properties. It would be difficult to name another order at once so impor- 

 tant and uniform in its qualities as this, the species being universally aro- 

 matic, warm, and stomachic. Cinnamon and Cassia are the produce of various 

 species ; the most genuine are yielded by Laurus Cinnamomum and L. 

 Cassia ; but L. Culilaban and Malabathrum can both be substituted for these 

 spices : the Cinnamon of the Isle of France is Laurus cupularis, that of Peru 

 is L. duixos. The Cinnamon of Santa Fe is produced by Laurus Cinnamo- 

 moides. Humb. Cinch. For. 27. Eng. ed. The Sassafras nuts of the London 

 shops are the fruit of the Laurus Pucheri of the Flora Peruviana. Ibid. 

 Camphor is yielded by Laurus Camphora and other species ; even by the 

 Cinnamon tree itself. The properties of all these are due to the presence of a 

 volatile oil ; but they also contain in many cases a fixed oil, which is supposed 

 to constitute the principal part of the fruit of Persea gratissima, so much 

 esteemed in the West Indies under the name of the Avocado Pear ; the same 

 oil appears in the form of a greasy exudation in the fruit of Litsea sebifera. 

 A species of Laurus in Sumatra, called by Dr. Jack, Parthenoxylon, yields an 

 oil useful in rheumatic affections ; and an infusion of the roots is drank as sas- 

 safras, the qualities of which it resembles. Ed. P. J. 6. 398. The bark of 

 Laurus Benzoin is highly aromatic, stimulant, and tonic, and is extensively 

 used in North America in intermittent fevers. The oil of the fruit is said to be 

 stimulant. Barton, 2. 95. A plant of this family found in the forests of Spa- 

 nish Guiana yields a volatile oil, with a warm and pungent taste and aromatic 

 smell. It is employed externally as a discutient, and internally as a diapho- 



