2b2 FAMILY HERBAL 



feet high, and on the upper part is covered with 

 a sort of mealy powder, of a bluish colour. The 

 leaves are large, and very beautiful. They are 

 somewhat like those of the vine, but they are di- 

 vided deeply into seven or more parts, which are 

 also sharply serrated at the edges, and they stand 

 upon long foot stalks, which are not inserted at 

 the edge, but in the middle of the leaf. The flow- 

 ers are small : they grow in bunches toward the top 

 of the plant. The seeds grow upon the trunk of 

 the plant in different places : three are contained in 

 husks, and they have over them severally a hard 

 shell. 



The kernels of these seeds are the part used, but 

 they are very little regarded at present. There 

 used to be three or four kinds of them kept by 

 the druggists, under different names, but nobody 

 now minds them : (hey are very violent in their 

 operation, which is both upwards and downwards, 

 and have been given in dropsies and rheumatisms. 



Oily Palm Tree. Palma oleosa. 



A very beautiful tree, native of Africa and 

 America. It crows moderately hmh. The trunk 

 is naked all the way to the top, where the leaves 

 grow in vast quantities : they are long and nar- 

 row, and the footstalks on which they stand are 

 prickly. The flowers are small and mossy. The 

 fruit is of the bigness of a plumb, oblong, and 

 flatfish, and is covered over with a tough and fibrous 

 coat. From this fruit the natives express what they 

 call palm oil : it is a substance of the consistence 

 of butter, and of a pleasant, though very little 

 taste. 



The oil is the only produce of the tree used : 

 They eat it upon the spot, but we apply it extcr- 



