LECYTHIDACEZ.—BARRINGTONIACEA. 557 
parts now commonly used as medicinal agents in this country ; but the latter 
is alone official in the British Pharmacopoeia. These are employ ed for their 
astringent properties, and the latter is also commonly regarded as a valuable 
anthelmintic; the fresh bark is preferred by some, but apparently without 
any good reason. The astringent properties are principally due to tannic 
acid, but also partly to gallic acid. The bark of the root has also been 
recently proved by Tanret to contain a volatile alkaloid, which is evidently 
its important anthelmintic principle ; this he has named pelletierine. The 
sulphate of pelletierine and tannate of pelletiert me have been found very 
efficient remedies for tapeworm. 
Sizygium Jambolanum.—The bark is employed in the East Indies as a 
useful astringent in chronic diarrhoea and dysentery. 
Order 4. LecyTHIDACE, the Brazil-nut Order.—Character. 
Large trees, with alternate dotless leaves, and small deciduous 
stipules. Flowers large and showy. Calyx superior. Petals 6, 
imbricate, distinct, or sometimes united at the base. Stamens 
numerous, epigynous; some of them cohering so as to form a 
unilateral petaloid hooded body. Ovary inferior, 2—6-celled ; 
placentas axile. Fruit woody, either indehiscent or opening in 
a circumscissile manner (fig. 685). Seeds several, large, and with- 
out albumen. This order is referred to Myrtacexr by Bentham 
and Hooker. 
Distribution and Numbers.—Principally natives of Guiana 
and Brazil, and also occasionally of other hot regions of South 
America. Illustrative Genera :— Lecythis, Léff.; Bertholletia, 
Humb. et Bonpl. There are about 40 species. 
Properties and Uses.—These plants are chiefly remarkable 
for their large woody fruits, the pericarps of which are used as 
drinking-vessels and for other purposes. Their seeds are fre- 
quently edible. 
Bertholletia excelsa, Berg. (B. nobilis, Miers), the Brazil-nut Tree.—The 
seeds constitute the edible nuts known as the Brazil, Juvia, Castanha, or 
Para Nuts. As many as 100,000 bushels are annually imported into this 
country from Brazil. An oil is obtained by expression from these seeds 
which is used by artists and watchmakers. The laminated inner bark is 
valuable for caulking ships and barges. 
Lecythis—The seeds of Z. Ol/aria are large and edible, and are termed 
Sapucaya nuts. They are now commonly sold in our fruit shops, and are 
generally thought to be superior in flavour to the ordinary Brazil nuts. The 
bark of this plant may be separated into thin papery layers, which are used 
by the Indians as wrappers for their cigarettes. The fruits of this and other 
species have been called Monkey-pots on account of their peculiar form. 
Order 5. BARRINGTONIACE, the Barringtonia Order.— Dia- 
gnosis.—This is a small order of plants frequently placed among 
the Myrtacez, but Lindley considered them as quite distinct 
from that order in the following particulars : namely, the presence 
of a large quantity of albumen in their seeds, and in their 
having alternate dotless and often serrated leaves. Thomson has, 
however, proved that the seeds are exalbuminous, so that the 
characters separating them from Myrtacez are very slight in- 
deed. But another character of distinction is to be found in 
y. 
