119 



Affinities. This order is not well understood. It is apparently akin to 

 Sapindacerc, with which it agrees in habit, but from which it is distinguished 

 by its stamens and symmetrical flowers. To Cedreleee it is most closely allied, 

 and therefore connected with Rutaceae through Flindersia. Humiriaceae are 

 principally distinguished by their highly developed connectivum and partially 

 united stamens. Styraceoe are very nearly akin to Meliaceee, but they are 

 monopetalous. 



Geography. Found principally in the hotter parts of the East and West 

 Indies, South America, and Africa. The common Bead-tree, Melia Azeda- 

 rach, has the most northern position, in Syria. 



Properties. The false Winter's Bark, a good tonic and stimulant, not 

 much known, is yielded by Canella alba ; it is aromatic, and used as a condi- 

 ment in the West Indies. The bark of Guarea Trichilioides is, according to 

 Aublet, purgative and emetic. The root of Melia Azedarach is bitter and 

 nauseous, and is used in North America as anthelmintic ; the pulp that sur- 

 rounds the seeds is said to be deleterious ; but this is denied by M. Turpin, 

 who asserts that dogs which he has seen eat it experienced no inconvenience ; 

 and children in Carolina eat thern with impunity. Ach. R. [The fruit of 

 this tree is said to yield, by destructive distillation, a large quantity of inflam- 

 mable gas, fit for illumination and free from any disagreeable smell] It is 

 supposed that the Melia Azedarachta, or Neemtree of India, possesses febri- 

 fuge properties. See Trans, of the M. and Ph. Soc. of Calcutta, 3. 430. 

 A kind of Toddy, which the Hindoo doctors consider a stomachic, is obtained 

 by tapping this, which is also called the Margosa-tree. Ainslie, 1. 453. From 

 the fruit of the same plant an oil is obtained, which is fit for burning and for 

 other domestic purposes, and, as Ach. Richard well observes (Bot. M£d. 70S.), 

 is another instance, after the Olive, of the pericarp yielding that substance 

 which is usually obtained from the seed. This oil is said to possess antispas- 

 modic qualities. Dec. A warm pleasant-smelling oil is prepared from the 

 fruit of Trichilia speciosa, which the Indian doctors consider a valuable exter- 

 nal remedy in chronic rheumatism and paralytic affections. Ainslie, 2. 71. 

 Some delicious fruits of the Indian archipelago, called Langsat, or Lanseh, 

 and Ayer Ayer, are species of the genus Lansium ; they have a watery pulp, 

 with a cooling pleasant taste. Milnea edulis is another plant of the order, 

 with eatable fruit. 



M. Decandolle has the following sections (Prodr. 1. 619.) : 



1. Melie^e. 



Cotyledons flat and leafy. 

 Examples. Melia, Turrsea. 



2. TrichiliejE, 



Cotyledons very thick. 

 Examples. Ekebergia, Guarea. 



CVI. CEDRELE.E. 



Cedbele.s:, Brown in Flinders, 64. (1814.)— Meliace*, § Cedrelca;, Dec. Prodr. I. 



624. (1824.) 



Diagnosis. Polypctalous dicotyledons, with definite hypogjnous stamens 

 combined in a tube, concrete carpella, an ovarium of several cells with the 



