Ll>'Ni;A\ SOCIEXT OJf LONDOX. 73 



ABSTRACTS. 



A Note on Siec/esheclia orientaUs. 

 By the Eev. H. Pueefoy JFitzgerald, F.L.S. 



[Bead 6th December, 1906.] 



My chief object in sending the exhibit and note of Siegesbecl-ia is not 

 to convey any tresli information but to gain it, and to invite evidence 

 of its medicinal virtues from any wiio are acquainted with it. 



Last spring, my friend M. Sers from Reunion supplied me with 

 seed, askuig vxhether I would try and raise it in this country ; he 

 also sent some to Jvew Gardeus, and a large crop has been grown 

 near San iVancisco for experimental purposes. M. Sers tells me 

 that the natives in Reunion make very great use of the plant 

 for all kinds of skni diseases ; it is there known by the name 

 Guerit-vite (the quick-cure). He tells me also that he has seen 

 a dog, which w as so bad with mange that it was ordered to be 

 killed, cured in three weeks by being washed with water ni which 

 this plant had been boiled. Siegeshechia oritntalis is a native of 

 India, but Lieut.-Col. Prain, the Director of Kew Gardens, tells 

 me he has never heard of its being used for any purpose in India, 

 and this is confirmed by Sir George Watt, the authority on Indian 

 economic plants. 



In the 2nd vol. of the ' Pharmacographia Indica ' (Dymock, 

 Warden & Hooper) there is a short account, of some of the uses 

 to which the plant has been applied in the islands of Mauritius 

 and Reunion, and it is further stated that it appears to have been 

 known for a long time in Chiua as a remedy for agite, rheumatism, 

 and renal colic. 



The account further states : — " In Reunion it {SiegesbecJcia 

 07'ientalis) has a considerable local reputation as a sialologue 

 (exciting saliva), vulnerary, tonic, aperient and depurative ; it is 

 aajingredient in Perichon's 8irop depuratif vegetal, which is used 

 as a remed}^ in scrofulous affections. The juice of the fresh herb 

 is used as a dressing for wounds, over which, as it dries, it leaves a 

 varnish-like coating. A decoction of the leaves and young shoots 

 is used as a lotion for ulcers and parasitic skin diseases." 



Undoubtedly, then, in Reunion the plant is largely used for 

 various purposes, and it seems likely that, if it retains its peculiar 

 virtues when grown in other countries, it may turn out to be a 

 plant of much value. 



The whole of my crop has been sent to a skin hospital, where it 

 is being experimented with in various ways, but sufficient time 

 has not yet elapsed for any statements to be made. 



I have supplied a decoction to a woman who has for years 

 suffered from an extremely irritable sort of erysipelas, and she 

 has found considerable relief by using it. 



