STANDLEY TKEES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO, 341 



daya " (Oaxaca, Mixtec, Reko) ; "xeugua" (Michoacitn, Le6n) ; " cerezo " 

 (Guatemala); "pa kshmuk " (Mixe, Bclmar) ; " detze," " gliohto " (Otomi 

 Buelna). 



The wood is of good quality and is much used for general carpentry and 

 cabinet work. The large juicy fruit is highly esteemed, and for this reason 

 the trees are sometimes planted about houses. In early times, at least, an 

 intoxicating drink was made from the fruit. The juice or the fruits are 

 sometimes mixed with cornmeal to make a kind of cake known as " capulta- 

 mal " or " capoltamalli." The bark, leaves, or seeds, when crushed in con- 

 tact with water, develop hydrocyanic acid, and under proper conditions they 

 may poison animals which eat them; the same is true of other members of 

 the genus. The distilled water of the leaves is substituted in Mexico for 

 cherry laurel water, and has the same antispasmodic properties. A decoc- 

 tion of the bark is employed for dysentery and is reputed also, without suf- 

 ficient basis apparently, to have febrifuge properties. The bark of Prunus sero- 

 tina Ehrh. of the United States, a closely similar species, is official in the 

 U. S. Pharmacopoeia. It has tonic properties and the power of calming 

 irritation and diminishing nervous excitability. It has been employed exten- 

 sively for the hectic fever which accompanies scrofula and tuberculosis. The 

 fruit of the same species has been much used for flavoring spirituous liquors 

 and various nonintoxicating beverages. 



The fruit of Prunus captiU is mentioned by the earliest Spanish visitors to 

 Mexico. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, in relating the hardships of the siege of 

 Mexico in 1521. when the Spaniards and their allies were often in the direst 

 straits for want of food, says. " Corn we had sufficiency of, but we wanted 

 refreshments for the wounded. What preserved us was the plant called 

 quilites, cherries while in season, and tunas or Indian figs." Sahaglin treats 

 of the tree under the name " eapulfn." The juice of the leaves and young 

 shoots, he states, was dropped into the eyes to heal inflammation, and the 

 kernels of the seeds were roasted and eaten. HernAndez also treats of the 

 plant in a chapter.* accompanied by a figure, entitled " De CapoUn, sen 

 Ceraso dulci iudica." " The fruits," he says, " are slightly acid and astringent, 

 although when fully ripe they are sweet and lose a great part of their harsh- 

 ness; and by some persons they are considered in no v.ise inferior to our 

 cherries. In nature they are hot, dry, and somewhat astringent. They are 

 made into bread and wine in times of scarcity. They furnish a sad food, and 

 one which is hurtful in a way to the heart : and they impart a black color 

 to the teeth if they are eaten for a long time, but this can be removed easily 

 with attention and dentifrices ; and there are not lacking persons who prefer 

 these to all the other spring fruits, even those of the Old World. The tree 

 flowers in spring and bears fruit nearly all summer long. It thrives in tem- 

 perate regions, such as Mexico, where these trees grow in the gardens and 

 plains, cultivated or wild. The decoction of the bark, put in the sun for 

 fifteen days, and drunk in a dose of a drachm, cures dysentery ; and the pow- 

 dered bark removes ulcers from the eyes, clears the vision, and relieves in- 

 flammation of the eyes ; and it moistens the tongue if it be dry from burning 

 fever, as does also the liquor or juice from the young shoots." 

 9. Prunus lyoni (Eastw.) Sarg. PI. Wilson. 74. 1911. 



Cerasus Ii/oni Eastw. Handb. Trees Calif. .54. 1905. 



Prunus ilieifolia intcgrifolia Sudw. Gard. & For. 4: 51. 1891. 



I'ruvus integrifoUa Sarg. Man. Trees N. Amer. 531. 1905. 



'Thesaurus 95. 1651. 



