MYRICACE^E. 



CASTANEA. CHESTNUT. 



Castanea vesca Linne. Chestnut. 



Description. Staminate flowers clustered upon long, pendulous cat- 

 kins ; calyx commonly 6-parted ; stamens 8 to 20. Pistillate flowers few, 

 usually three together in a scaly, prickly involucre, which encloses them, 

 and at maturity opens by 4 valves ; calyx with a 6-lobed border which 

 crowns the 3- to 7-celled, 6- to 14-ovuled ovary ; stigmas as many as the 

 cells of the ovary, and surrounded by 5 to 12 rudimentary stamens. Nuts 

 coriaceous, ovoid, flattened, 1 to 3 in number, sweetish, edible. 



A large tree, 30 to 50 feet in height, with a diameter of 3 to 6 feet. 

 Leaves 6 to 7 inches long, 1^ to 2 inches wide, oblong-lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, sharply serrate, very regularly feather-veined, when mature, smooth 

 and yellowish-green both sides. It blooms in June and July and matures 

 its fruit after frost, when the burrs open and the nuts fall. 



Habitat. In rocky and hilly places, and in alluvial or sandy soil ; 

 widely distributed, and often associated with oak and pine. 



Part Used. The leaves, collected in September or October while still 

 green. Official name Castanea. United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Constituents. Nothing save common vegetable principles have as yet 

 been detected in chestnut leaves. 



Preparations Extractum castanese fluidum fluid extract of castanea. 

 United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Medical Properties and Uses. There is much doubt regarding the medi- 

 cinal activity of chestnut leaves. Introduced as a remedy for whooping- 

 cough, the drug was considerably lauded for a time, but its slight popu- 

 larity seems already waning. In absence of anything to establish the 

 presence of a therapeutically active principle, or of physiological experi- 

 ments to prove its activity, the mere statement that it exerts a controlling 

 influence upon a disease of such uncertain course as whooping-cough may 

 well be received with caution. 



MYRICACE/E. 



Character of the Order. Monoecious and dioecious shrubs, with both 

 staminate and pistillate flowers in short scaly catkins. Leaves alternate, 

 resinous-dotted, and often fragrant. 



A small order having few representatives in North America. In general 

 they possess, to a greater or less degree, aromatic, astringent, and stimu- 

 lant properties. 



M YRIC A. BAYBERRY. 



Myrica cerifera Linne. P>ayberry, Wax-Myrtle. 

 Description. Flowers mostly dioecious. Staminate catkins oblong, 

 scattered ; pistillate ovoid, from scaly, axillary buds. Both kinds destitute 



