MORINGACESX. 525 
once distinguished from Senna leaflets by their two sides being 
equal and symmetrical at the base, those of Senna being unequal. 
Chemically they are also known from Senna by their infusion 
producing a very abundant blue precipitate on the addition of 
persulphate of iron. 
Order 7. Morincace®, the Ben-nut Order.—Character. 
Trees with bi- or tri-pinnate leaves, and thin deciduous 
stipules. Flowers white, irregular. |‘ Sepals and petals 5 each ; 
the former deciduous, petaloid, and furnished with a fleshy 
disk ; xstivation imbricate. Stamens 8 or 10, placed on the 
disk lining the tube of the calyx in two whorls, the outer of 
which is sometimes sterile; anthers 1-celled. Ovary stalked, 
superior, 1-celled, with 3 parietal placentas. Fruit long, pod- 
shaped, capsular, 1-celled, 3-valved, with loculicidal dehiscence. 
Seeds numerous, without albumen. 
Distribution and Nwmbers.—Natives of the East Indies and 
Arabia. There is only one genus (Moringa, Burm.), and 4 
species. 
Properties and Uses.—Pungent and slightly aromatic proper- 
ties more or less prevail in plants of the order, hence they have 
been employed as stimulants. 
Moringa pterygosperma.—The root resembles that of Horseradish in its 
taste and odour, and has been used internally as a stimulant and diuretic, 
and locally, when fresh, as a rubefacient and vesicant. A kind of gum 
somewhat resembling Tragacanth exudes from the bark when wounded. 
Its seeds are called in France Pots Quéniques and Chicot, and in England 
Ben-nuts. They yield a fixed oil called Oil of Ben, which is occasionally 
used by painters, and also by perfumers and watchmakers. The wood has 
been supposed, but on no trustworthy authority, to be the lignum nephriticum 
of the old Materia Medica writers. 
Artificial Analysis of the Orders in the Sub-class 
Polypetale. 
Series 2. DIscIFLOR.®. 
1. FLOWERS with more than 20 stamens. 
A. Leaves with stipules. 
Carpels more or less distinct, (at least as to 
the styles), or solitary, superior or parti- 
ally inferior. . . Anacardiacex. 
Carpels wholly combined (at least as to the 
ovaries), superior . ‘ ° : - Humiriacer. 
2. FLOWERS with less than 20 stamens. 
A. Leaves without stipules. 
a. Carpels more or less distinct, or solitary. 
Leaves without dots. 
Albumen abundant ‘ : : . Zygophyllaceex. 
Albumen absent . - : . Anacardiacex. 
Leaves dotted . . ° ; - . Burseracex, 
