COMBRETACE. 
20 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
Several of the species are valuable timber-trees;! the bark of all is astringent and rich in tannin, 
and some produce astringent fruit used in dyeing and tanning.? Galls formed on the young leaves of 
Terminalia Chebula,? an Indian species, are strongly astringent and serve as a substitute for Oak-galls 
in ink-making.* Zerminalia Catappa,> the Indian Almond-tree, one of the largest and most beautiful 
members of the genus, is a favorite shade and avenue tree in all tropical countries; it produces valuable 
timber and edible fruit from which an oil with the odor and flavor of Almond-oil is prepared, and from 
the bark and leaves is extracted a black pigment used by the natives of India to color their teeth.’ 
The generic name, formed from terminus, was used by Linnzus in allusion to the usual arrange- 
ment of the leaves of these trees at the ends of the branches. 
1 Brandis, Forest Fl. Brit. Ind. 222.— Gamble, Man. Indian 
Timbers, 179. 
2 Under the name of myrobalans the dried astringent fruits of 
several Indian species of Terminalia once had a place in the Euro- 
pean pharmacopeeia (Dale, Pharm. 334.— Linneus, Mat. Med.178); 
in India they are still used medicinally (Honigberger, Mat. Med. 
313), and are exported in great quantities to China, where they are 
employed as a tonic and mild laxative (Smith, Chinese Mat. Med. 
215). For tanning leather the fruits of Terminalia are now largely 
imported from India into Europe ; two kinds are known, chebulic 
myrobalans, the fruit of Terminalia Chebula, and the beleric my- 
robalans, the fruit of Terminalia Belerica (Roxburgh, Hort. Beng. 
33.— De Candolle, Prodr. iii. 12.— Beddome, Fi. Sylv. S. Ind. i. 
19, t. 19. — Brandis, 7. c. 222. — Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 445) ; 
they contain from thirty to thirty-five per cent. of tannic acid in the 
pulp which surrounds the stones, and make soft porous leather of a 
yellow color (Guibourt, Hist. Drog. ed. 7, iii. 282, f. 665-670. — 
Spons, Encyclopedia of the Industrial Arts, Manufactures, and Raw 
Commercial Products, ii. 1226, 1987. — Balfour, Cyclopedia of India, 
ed. 3, ii. 1031. — Jackson, Commercial Botany of the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, 120.— U. S. Nat. Dispens. ed. 16, 1865). 
8 Retzius, Obs. v. 31 (1790). — Willdenow, Spec. iv. 969.— De 
Candolle, J. c. — Beddome, l. c. 27, t. 27. — Brandis, 1. c. 223, t. 
29. — Hooker f. J. c. 446. 
4 Voigt, Hort. Sub. Calcutt. 37. — Drury, Useful Plants of India, 
431. — Balfour, J. c. 850. 
5 Linneus, Mant. 519 (1771). — Willdenow, 1. c. 967. — Jacquin, 
Icon. Pl. Rar. i. 19, t. 197.—De Candolle, i. c. 11. — Nuttall, 
Sylva, i. 110, t. 32.— Bot. Mag. Ivii. t. 3004. — Beddome, J. c. 20, 
t. 20. — Hooker, f. 7. c. 444. 
8 Spons, J. c. 1396. — Balfour, 7. c. 850. 
