VENEZUELAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 319 
of its fruit, wliich medicinally are used to cure different skin-diseases. 
Tomatoes fluctuate very much in price ; at Christmas-time, ivhen the 
consumption is very great, a donkey's load is paid for at the rate of 
£2, 10s. and even £3, whilst at other times the same quantity may be 
had for 25. or 35, 
Tomillo (^Hficromerla varia^ Benth.; Saiureja ilipuoideSy Lowe; 
De Cand. Prod. xii. 215). Cultivated and lued as an aromatic. 
Toronjil {Ocymum micrantJiiim^ Willd.). An infusion is taken in 
diseases of the stomach caused by a cold, in colics, and as vehicle^ for 
repulsive remedies. 
Totumo {Crescentia Cujete^ L. ; Seemann, Synops. Crescentiarum, in 
Trans, of Linn. Soc. vol. xxiii. p. 20), The juice of the roasted fruit, 
mixed with honey, is said to be an emmenagogue, and very often used. 
The tree, as well as its congener C. aicurhitina^ L., is cultivated near 
Caracas, both growing originally near the seacoast. The word '*Tu- 
tuma '* is found in the language of the Chaymas Indians. (Humb. 
Eel. Hist.) 
Trompillo {Solamirn verhascifolhan^ L. ; De Cand. Prod, xiii. 1, 
p. 114). The leaves are used for making poultices. 
Tuatua {Jatroplia gos^yplfolia, L. ; Griseb. p. 36). A purgative, of 
which people believe that there follow just as many evacuations as leaves 
have been used for making the draught. (I never found the glabrous 
fonn, J", elegayis^ Kl.) 
Tuna {Opuntia Tuna, Mill., and 0. Ficiis-Indica, Mill. ; Griseb. 
p. 302). The fruit is refreshing and somewhat astringent, as is the 
whole plant. Tuna is a Chaymas word, and means "water" (Ilumb. 
Eel. Hist.). Is this plant indigenous to America or not? David 
Urquhart (^ The Pillars of Hercules ; or, a Nan*ative of Travels in 
Spain and Morocco in 1848,' New York, 1855) speaking of the Bar- 
bary Pig, claims it as an Eastern plant. He gives the Moorish name 
" Kermus ensure " (perhaps more correctly, Kermus-en-Nasra), and 
contends that the Spanish word Tuna is derived from " Tunis." " The 
Shillohs of Las call it Tacanarete, as if it had come to them from the 
Canary Islands," and the people of these islands call it Alcormas. 
These arguments break down when closely examined. The Moorish 
name, Kermris-en-Nasray indicates clearly that the plant was brought 
by the Christians ; the word Kermus^ meaning originally an insect, was 
transferred to a plant which nourishes another insect nearly allied to the 
