125 



Affinities. Differ from Anacardiacese, to which they are closely allied in 

 their compound ovarium and pinnated leaves, and also in the very generally 

 valvule aestivation of the calyx. 



Geography. Exclusively natives of tropical India, Africa, and America. 



Properties. They have all an abundance of fragrant resinous juice, which 

 is, however, destitute of the acridity and staining property of Anacardiacere. 

 The resin of Boswellia is used in India as frankincense, and also as pitch. It 

 is hard and brittle, and, according to Dr. Roxburgh, is boiled with some low- 

 priced oil, to render it soft and fit for use. The native doctors prescribe it, 

 mixed with ghee, (clarified butter,) in cases of gonorrhoea, and also in what they 

 call Ritta Kaddapoo, which signifies flux accompanied with blood. The wood 

 is heavy, hard, and durable. Ainslie, 1. 137. The Boswellia serrata, called 

 Libanus thurifera by Colebrooke, produces the gum-resin Olibanum, a substance 

 chiefly used as a grateful incense, but which also possesses stimulant, astrin- 

 gent, and diaphoretic properties. Ibid. 1. 267. A kind of coarse resin is 

 obtained from Boswellia glabra, and is used boiled with oil for pitching the 

 bottoms of ships. Ibid. The Bursera paniculata, called Bois de Colophane in 

 the Isle of France, gives out, from the slightest wound in the bark, a copious 

 flow of limpid oil of a pungent turpentine odour, which soon congeals to the 

 consistence of butter, assuming the appearance of camphor. Breivster, 2. 182. 

 The gum 'of Canarium commune has the same properties as the Balsam of 

 Capaiva ; the three-cornered nuts are eaten in Java both raw and dressed, 

 and an oil is expressed from them, which is used at table when fresh, and for 

 burning when stale. The raw nuts, however, are apt to bring on diarrhoea. 

 Jlinslie, 2. 60. Balsam of Acouchi is produced by Icica acuchini, Gum elemi 

 by Icica heptophylla, Balm of Gilead by Balsamodendron Gileadense, Opobal- 

 samum, or Balsam of Mecca, by B. opobalsamum, a substance like Gum elemi 

 by Icica Icicariba and Carana, and a yellow concrete essential oil by Bursera 

 acuminata. 



Examples. Boswellia, Bursera, Balsamodendrum. 



CXIII. ANACARDIACEiE. The Cashew Tribe. 



Terebintaceje, Juss. Gen. 368. (1789) in part. Cassuvieje or Anacardiete, Brown in 

 Congo, 431. (1818).— Terebintace-k, Kunth in Ann. des Sc. Nat. 2. 333. (1824.) Trib. 1 

 and 2. Dec. Prodr. 2. 62. tf-c. (1825) ; Juss. Diet, des Sc. Nat. v. 53. (1828.) 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with perigynous stamens, a su- 

 perior simple ovarium, solitary exalbuminous seeds, and alternate exstipulate 

 leaves without pellucid dots. 



Anomalies. There is according to Mr. Brown (Congo, 431.) an unpub- 

 lished genus of this order, with ovarium inferior. The stamens of Melanorhaea 

 are indefinite and hypogynous. 



Essential Character. — Mowers usually diclinous. Calyx usually small and persistent, 

 with 5, or occasionally 3-4, or 7 divisions. Petals equal in number to the segments of the 

 calyx, perigynous, (occasionally wanting,) imbricated in aestivation. Stamens equal in num- 

 ber to the petals, and alternate with them, or twice as many or even more, equal or alter- 

 nately shorter, or partly sterile ; filaments distinct, or in the genera without a disk cohering at 

 the base. Disk tleshy, annular or cup-shaped, hypogynous,_ occasionally wanting. Ovarium 

 single, very rarely 5 or 6, of which 4 or 5 arc abortive, superior, (very rarely inferior,) 1-cclled ; 

 styles I or 3, occasionally 4", sometimes none ; stigmas as many ; ovulum solitary, attached by 

 a cord to the bottom of the cell. Fruit indchisccnt, most commonly drupaceous. Seed with- 

 out albumen ; radicle either superior or inferior, but always directed towards the hilum, 

 sometimes curved suddenly back ; cotyledons thick and flesny, or leafy. — TVees or shrubt, 

 with a resinous, gummy, caustic, or even milky, juice. Leaves alternate, simple, or ternate 

 or unequally pinnate, without pellucid dots. Flowers terminal or axillary, with bractesc. 



