Z 
‘STRYCHNGS NUx vomica. ORD. XII. Solanacew, seu Lurid. 293 
It is a native of the East Indies, and, according to the Hortus 
Kewensis was introduced into England in 1778, by Dr. Partrick 
Russel; but it has not yet been cultivated with success in this coun- 
ity. The plate prefixed is taken from a very perfect specimen in 
the possession of Sir Joseph Banks, to whose liberality every branch 
of natural knowledge is much indebted, and this work for some of 
its most valuable figures. » 
The nux vomica, lignum cdc and faba sancti Ignatii, have 
been long known in the Materia Medica as narcotic poisons, brought 
from the East Indies, while the vegetables which produced them 
were unknown, or at least not botanically ascertained. 
By the judicious discrimination of Linnzus, the Nux vomica was 
found to be the fruit of the tree described and figured in the Hortus 
-Malabaricus under the name Caniram, now called Strychnos. To 
this genus also, but upon evidence less conclusive, he likewise justly 
referred the colubrinum.* But the faba sancti Ignatit he merely 
conjectured might belong to this family, as appears by the query 
an Strychni species?” which subsequent discoveries have enabled us 
to decide in the negative; for in the Supp. plant. it constitutes the 
new genus Ignatia, which Loureiro has lately confirmed, changing 
the specific name amara to that of philippinica.© The Strychnos 
and Ignatia are’ POWEVET. nearly allied, and both rank under the 
order Solanacez.’ 
We have thought it necessary to idee thus far into the botanical 
origin of these productions, from finding that by medical writers 
they are generally treated of under the same head, and in a very 
confused and indiscriminate manner. 
The seed of the fruit or berry of this tree is the officinal nux 
vyomica: it is flat, round, about an inch broad, and near a quarter of 
an inch thick, witha prominence in the middle on both sides, of a 
grey colour, covered with a kind of woolly matter, and internally 
hard and tough like horn; to the taste it is extremely bitter, but has 
no remarkable smell. It consists chiefly of a gummy matter, which 
@ Contendunt Indie Botanici hanc a $. Nuce vomica non esse diversam, Sh 
Plant. 149. b Vide Mat. Med. Lin, ‘ Flor, Cochin. 125. 
