848 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Tumera velutina Presl, Rel. Haenk. 2: 44. 1836. 



Turnera alba Liebm. Ann. Sci. Nat. III. 9: 318. 1848. 



Sinaloa to Tamaulipas, Yucatan, and Chiapas. Widely distributed in tropi- 

 cal America and naturalized in the Old World. 



Plants herbaceous or fruticose, usually 30 to 60 cm. high, sometimes as much 

 as 3.5 meters high ; leaves petiolate, extremely variable, linear to broadly 

 rhombic-ovate, serrate or dentate or subentire, densely or sparsely pilose or 

 glabrous ; flowers 2 to 3 cm. long, white, yellow, or pink, sweet scented ; capsule 

 about 6 mm. long. " Clavel de oro " (YucatS,n) ; "calendula," " amaranto " 

 (Yucatan, Dond^) ; " Marilopez " (Oaxaca) ; "Maria L6pez " (Cuba, Nica- 

 ragua) ; "San Juan," " margarita de los campos," " oreja de coyote" (Nicara- 

 gua) ; " malva " (Colombia). 



The plant is employed locally as a remedy for indigestion, for bronchitis and 

 other chest affections, and as a tonic. 



The species, as treated here and by other authors, is a remarkably variable 

 one, but the variations are chiefly in leaf shape and pubescence. A form with 

 linear or almost linear, glabrous or glabrate leaves is T. ulmifolia angustifolia 

 (Mill.) Willd. A form with broad leaves and white flowers is T. ulmifolia alba 

 (Liebm.) Rose.^ Tiirnera velutina, described from Acapulco, is a form char- 

 acterized by very dense and short pubescence. 



2. Tumera diffusa Willd.; Schult. Syst. Veg. 6: 679. 1820. 



Turnera microphylla Desv. in Haniilt. Prodr. PI. Ind. Occ. 33. 1825. 



Bohadschia humifusa Presl, Rel. Haenk. 2: 98. pi. 68. 1836. 



Turnera humifusa Endl. in Walp. Repert. Bot. 2: 230. 1843. 



Turnera aphrodisiaca Ward, Virginia Med. Monthl. 49. 1876. 



Turnera diffusa aphrodisiaca Urban, Jahrb. Bot. Gart. Berlin 2: 127. 1883. 



Turnera pringlei Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 5: 166. 1899. 



Nearly throughout Mexico, chiefly on dry hillsides. Texas, West Indies, 

 Central America, and South America. 



Shrub, 0.3 to 2 meters high ; leaves petiolate, obling to rhombic-ovate, mostly 

 1 to 2 cm. long, obtuse or acute, commonly cuneate at base, coarsely crenate- 

 dentate or serrate, tomentose beneath or merely pilose, often glabrate on the 

 upper surface ; flowers 8 to 12 mm. long, the calyx tomentose ; petals yellow ; 

 capsule 4 to 5 mm. long. " Damiana " (Sinaloa, Tepic, Baja California, Tamau- 

 lipas) ; " pastorcita," " hierba de la pastora " (Queretaro) ; " hierba del 

 venado " (San Luis PotosI, Tamaulipas); " xmisibcoc " (YucatSn, Maya); 

 " oreganillo " (Santo Domingo). 



The damiana plant has an aromatic odor and pleasant taste. It contains a 

 volatile oil with a warm, bitter, camphor-like taste, also tannin. The dried 

 twigs and leaves are imported into the United States and used in the prepara- 

 tion of medicine, although they do not constitute an official drug. They prob- 

 ably have only feeble tonic properties, and the aphrodisiac properties ascribed 

 to them are doubtful. In Mexico the plant is often used as a substitute for 

 Chinese tea and for flavoring liquors. It has a wide reputation as an aphro- 

 disiac and is administered also for dysentery, malaria, syphilitic diseases, pains 

 in the stomach and intestines, dyspepsia, and even paralysis. Diuretic, astrin- 

 gent, tonic, expectorant, and laxative properties are ascribed to it. The plant 

 was introduced into Europe about 1874 under the name damiana, and was for 

 some time recommended for all kinds of renal and vesical diseases. It should 

 be stated here that the name damiana is sometimes applied to other plants, 

 especially to species of Isocoma and related genera of the family Asteraceae. 



'Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 5: 166. 1899. 



