32 



tion gradually incurves its apex until the style touches the base of the peri- 

 carp, when the two surfaces being thus brought into contact unite, and a drupe 

 is formed, the seed of which is curved like a horse-shoe, and the cavity of 

 which is divided by a spurious incomplete dissepiment, consisting of two plates : 

 the attachment of the seed is at the top of the false dissepiment, on each side 

 of which it extends equally. PL Usuelles, no. 35. The whole order requires 

 careful revision by means of living plants, and is well worth the especial at- 

 tention of some Indian botanist. 



Geography. The whole of this order consists of fewer than a hundred 

 species, which are common in the tropics of Asia and America, but uncommon 

 out of those latitudes : all Africa contains but 5, North America 6, and Siberia 

 1. The species are universally found in woods, twining round other plants. 



Properties. The root of several species is bitter and tonic, and the seeds 

 of some of them narcotic. The root of Menispermum palmatum Lam. or 

 the Columbo root, is esteemed highly on account of its powerful antiseptic, 

 tonic, and astringent properties. See Bot. JVfag. fol. 2970. Menispermum 

 cordifolium of Willd., called Gulancha in Bengal, is used extensively in a 

 variety of diseases by the native practitioners of India, especially in such as 

 are attended by febrile symptoms not of a high inflammatory kind, and in 

 fevers of debility . the parts used are the root, stems, and leaves, from which a 

 decoction called Pdchana is prepared. A sort of extract called Palo is obtained 

 from the stem, and is considered an excellent remedy in urinary affections and 

 gonorrhoea. Trans. M. $ P. Soc. Calc. 3. 298. Cocculus platyphyila is 

 used by the Brazilians in intermittent fevers and liver complaints. Its pro- 

 perties, like those of Cocculus cinerescens, are highly esteemed, and appear 

 to be due to the presence of a bitter and tonic principle. In the seed of Coc- 

 culus suberosus the bitter crystallizable poisonous principle has been detected, 

 called picrotoxia. PL Usuelles, 42. The roots of the Orelha de Onca of 

 Brazil, Cissampelos ovalifolia, are bitter, and their decoction is employed with 

 success in intermittent fevers. Ibid. no. 34. Cissampelos ebracteata, also 

 called Orelha de Onca, is reputed an antidote to the bite of serpents. lb. no. 

 35. The root of Cissampelos pareira and Abuta amara is both diuretic and 

 aperient, and known under the name of Pareira brava. Dec. The Abuta 

 candicans of Cayenne, where it is known by the name of Liane amere, is 

 extremely bitter. Ibid. The drug called in the shops Cocculus indicus is 

 the seed of Menispermum Cocculus, and is well known for its narcotic pro- 

 perties, especially in poisoning fishes. Nevertheless, according to Decandolle, 

 the berries of Menispermum edule Lam. are eaten with impunity in Egypt ; 

 but they are acrid, and a very intoxicating liquor is obtained from them by 

 distillation. The bitter poisonous principle of Cocculus indicus is the above- 

 mentioned vegetable alkali, picrotoxia. It has been supposed that a peculiar 

 acid, called the menispermic, also existed in the same plant ; but this is now 

 known to have been merely a mixture of sulphuric and oxalic acids. Turner, 

 653. 



Examples. Cocculus, Menispermum, Cissampelos. 



XXIV. MALVACE^. The Mallow Tribe. 



Malvace*, Juss. Gen. 271. (1789) in part.; Brown in Voi/. to Congo, p. 8. (1818); Kuntk 

 Diss. p. 1. (1822); Dec. Prodr. 1. 429. (1824); Lindl. Synops.pAO. (1829); Malvace*, 

 § Malvea;, Aug. St. Hit. Ft. Bras. mer. 1. 173. (1827.) 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with hypogynous raonadelphous 

 stamens, concrete carpella, an ovarium of several cells, uud the placentae in 



