VERBENACE^E. 



erect. Cotyledons obovate-oblong. Radicle oval, inferior. The 

 leaves are a powerful discutient and employed by the Malays to remove 

 the boss. The leaves are given in decoction and infusion and formed 

 into a cataplasm which is applied to the enlarged spleen. Roxb. The 

 fruit is acrid, and called in India filfil burree or wild pepper. 



1031. V. Agnus castus Linn, has similar acrid fruit. Accord- 

 ing to Forskahl, the seeds are reputed at Smyrna to be a certain 

 remedy against colic, if powdered and strewed over half an onion 

 applied to the stomach. 



1032. V. Negundo Linn, sp.pl. 890. Roxb. fl. ind. iii. 70. 

 (Rheede ii. t. 12. Humph, iv. t. 19.) Various parts of the 

 East Indies. 



Trunk irregular, often as thick as a man's thigh or more. Branches 

 rather thin, opposite ; young shoots downy, slightly 4-sided. Leaves 

 opposite, petioled, ternate, and quinate. Leaflets, the exterior one or 

 all three, petioled; the lower two sessile; all lanceolate, entire, soft; 

 below of a very pale whitish green ; from 2 to 4 inches long, and less 

 than 1 broad. Panicles terminal, oblong, tapering to a point, erect ; 

 rachis straight, 4-sided; ramifications decussated, generally 3-forked, 

 or 2-forked with sessile flowers in the cleft. Flowers small, numerous, 

 a most beautiful blueish- purple. Calyx permanent, closely embracing 

 the bottom of the berry. Corolla with the lower lip large, entire ; 

 upper lip shorter, 4-parted. In India a decoction of the aromatic 

 leaves helps to form the warm bath for women after delivery ; bruised 

 they are apph'ed to the temples for headach ; pillows stuffed with them 

 are put under the head to remove a catarrh and the headach attending 

 it. Roxb. Fruit acrid as in the two others. 



1033. Gmelina parviflora Roxb. has the power of rendering 

 water mucilaginous, which is employed as a ptisan for the cure 

 of the heat of urine in gonorrhoea in India. Roxb. 



1034. Callicarpa lanata Roxb. is bitterish and subaromatic, 

 and is employed in Indian medicine. Royk. 



1035. Congea villosa Roxb. has leaves with a strong heavy 

 disagreeable smell, used by the natives of India in fomentations. 

 Roxb. 



STACHYTARPHA. 



Calyx tubular, 4-toothed. Corolla hypocrateriform, unequal, 

 5-cleft, with a curved tube. Stamens 4, of which 2 only are 

 fertile. 



1036. S. jamaicensis Vahl. enum. i. 206. R. and S. ii. 203. 

 Verbena jamaicensis Linn. syst. veg. 66. Willd. i. 115. Jacq. 

 obs. iv. t. 85. (Sloane, 1. 107. f. 1.) West India Islands. 



An undershrub with scattered hairy branches. Leaves about 2 inches 

 long, oblong-ovate, coarsely and sharply serrated, quite entire at the 

 base, obtuse, sometimes acute, with a few hairs on the midrib. Spike 

 a span long, dense, not so thick as a goose's quill. Bracts ovate, 

 shorter than the calyx, with their margin near the bottom membranous. 



496 



