264 



CAS 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



CAS 



plant, with a slender striated stem. Annual. Native of 

 India, Ceylon, and Egypt. 



4. Cassia Viminea; Weakly Senna Shrub, or Twiggy Cassia. 

 Leaflets two pairs, ovate-oblong, acuminate, an oblong gland 

 between the lowest ; spines subpetioled, obsolete, three- 

 toothed. Stem shrubby, climbing to the height of forty or 

 fifty feet, striated, stiff; branches divaricate, loose, stiffish, 

 round, striated, smooth ; flowers large, on peduncles longer 

 than themselves. Native of Jamaica, in the woods of the 

 higher mountains in the interior of that island ; it is also 

 called atao or attoo. Half a pint of the decoction of the 

 root, taken three or four times daily, is prescribed as a cure 

 for the dry belly-ache ; ground into a paste, and plastered 

 over the body, it cures the head-ache and fevers. 



5. Cassia Tagera. Leaflets three pairs ; gland petiolar ; 

 stipules ciliated, cordate, acuminate. A small procumbent 

 shrub, with filiform branches. Native of India. 



6. Cassia Tora; Oval-leaved Cassia, or Wild Senna. Leaf- 

 lets three pairs, obovate; the outer ones larger, a subulate 

 gland between the lower. Stem erect, less woody, roughish, 

 knotty from the scars of the leaves ; flowers pale yellow. 

 Native of the East Indies, Japan, and Cochin-china. Annual; 

 the leaves are substituted for Senna, in the natural place of 

 its growth. 



7. Cassia Bicapsularis ; Six-leaved Cassia. Leaflets three 

 pairs, obovate, smooth, the interior ones rounder and less, 

 a globular gland interposed. A shrub, six or eight feet high, 

 branched near the summit; with bright yellow flowers. 

 Native of South America. 



8. Cassia . Emarginata. Leaflets three or four pairs, cb- 

 ovate, almost entire ; flowers in racemes, irregular ; stem ar- 

 boreous. Height from ten to twelve feet. Native of 

 Jamaica, where it is called the Senna tree. Its leaves are 

 purgative, and are sometimes used instead of the true Senna. 



9. Cassia Obtusifolia ; Round-leaved Cassia. Leaflets three 

 pairs, obovate, blunt. Native of Jamaica. 



10. Cassia Falcata; Sickle-leaved Cassia. Leaflets four 

 pairs, ovate-lanceolate, back-sickled ; a gland at the base of 

 the petioles. Stem erect, roundish, obtusely grooved ; branches 

 scarcely pubescent. Perennial. Native of America. 



1 1 . Cassia Longisiliqua ; Long-podded Cassia. Leaflets 

 four pairs, the outmost lanceolate, a subulate gland below 

 the inmost, and between the outmost. Native of America; 

 and perennial. 



12. Cassia Occidentals ; Occidental Cassia. Leaflets five 

 pairs, ovate-lanceolate, scabrous about the edge, the outer 

 ones larger ; a gland at the base of the petioles. Stem a foot 

 and a half high; flowers pale yellow without any spot. It 

 is very common about Kingston in Jamaica, and is there 

 called stinking weed. The tops of it are commonly employed 

 in all resolutive baths ; and it is accounted a very powerful 

 ingredient on such occasions. According to Dr. Barham, 

 the whole plant is cooling and cleansing, and the decoction 

 of the root diuretic, and a powerful antidote against poison. 

 An infusion of it in water with juice of Tansy, and a small 

 quantity of garlic, is a good vermifuge. 



13. Cassia Planisiliqua. Leaflets live pairs, ovate-lanceo- 

 late, smooth ; a gland at the base of the petioles. Native 

 of South America. 



14. Cassia Fistula; Alerandrian Purging Cassia, Cassia 

 Stick, or Pudding-pipe Tree. Leaflets five pairs, ovate-acu- 

 minate, smooth ; petioles without glands. This tree rises 

 to the height of forty or fifty feet, with a large trunk, dividing 

 into many branches ; the flowers are produced in long spikes 

 at the end of the branches, each standing upon a pretty long 

 peduncle ; they are of a deep yellow colour, and are suc- 



ceeded by cylindric pods, from one to twofeet long, having 

 a dark brown woody shell, with a longitudinal seam on one 

 side, divided into many cells by transverse partitions, each 

 containing one or two oval smooth compressed seeds, lodged 

 in a sweetish black pulp; this pulp is an easy gentle laxa- 

 tive, opening the passages without irritating the intestines ; 

 but it grows rancid when it has been long out of the cells, 

 and then acquires an acrimony that renders it precarious, 

 and even dangerous. Nativ of both Indies : the seeds may 

 b3 procured from the druergists, who import the pods for use. 



15. Cassia Atomaria. Leaflets five pairs, ovate, subtomen- 

 tose ; petioles round, without glands. Stem the height of a 

 man, woody, ash-coloured, very branching. Observed by 

 Jacquin in America. 



16. Cassia Pilosa. Leaflets four or five pairs, with very 

 minute glands ; stipules semicordate, acuminate ; stem stiff, 

 hairy, from one to two feet high. Native of Jamaica; flow- 

 ering toward the end of the year. 



17- Cassia Senna ; Egyptian Cassia or Senna. Leaflets four 

 to six pairs, subovate; petioles without glands. The plant 

 which produces the leaves commonly known in medicine by 

 the name of Senna, is annual, and rises with an upright 

 branching stalk about a foot high ; the flowers are yellow, 

 and produced in loose bunches at the top of the stalk ; it 

 grows naturally in Persia, Syria, and Arabia, whence the 

 leaves are brought, dried and picked from the stalk, to Alex- 

 andria in Egypt, and being thence imported into Europe, 

 acquires the additional title of Alexandria. Senna is one 

 of the most general purgatives in the materia inedica ; forthis 

 purpose it is used in infusion, and is not unfrequently mixed 

 with other substances, as manna, &c. it operates without vio- 

 lence, and is sufficiently efficacious, but is sometimes apt to 

 excite tormina, and has the disadvantage of being nauseous 

 to the taste. But to remedy this inconvenience, compositions 

 of various kinds are prepared in the shops; thus, for exam- 

 ple, six drachms of tamarinds, and two of crystals of tartar, 

 are boiled in a pint and half of water till halfa pint is exhaled, 

 and the strained liquor poured boiling hot upon one, two, or 

 three drachms of Senna; after maceration for four hours, the 

 strained infusion is sweetened with an ounce of syrup of vio- 

 lets, and flavoured with half an ounce of simple cinnamon- 

 water : or three drachms of Senna are infused in a quarter 

 of a pint of boiling water for four hours, or till the liquor has 

 grown cold, with the addition of a scruple of ginger; or with 

 halfa drachm of lesser cardamom seeds, husked, and three- 

 fourths of a drachm of crystals of tartar, which last are pre- 

 viously boiled in the water till dissolved; or with two drachms 

 of fresh lemon -peel, and the same quantity by measure of 

 lemon-juice : the latter, which is the infusiim sentirp limoni- 

 atum, is considered the most agreeable form in which the in- 

 fusion of Senna can be contrived. Meyrick and Hill observe, 

 that the dried leaves of this plant are imported by our drug- 

 gi<ts from the East, and that they arc a moderately strong 

 and safe purgative ; they may be taken wherever cathartics 

 are necessary, either in substance reduced to powder, or in 

 a strong infusion ; but it will be advisable to add a little of 

 some warm aromatic to the dose, as they are otherwise apt 

 to gripe during the operation. It requires the same treat- 

 ment as the other sorts; but being an annual plant, unless 

 it is brought forward in the spring, it will not flower. 



18. Cassia Biflora ; Tiro-flowered. Cassia. Leaflets six 

 pairs, rather oblong, smooth ; the lower ones smaller, a 

 subulate gland between the lowest; pedicels two-flowered; 

 flowers yellow; pods linear, compressed. Native of the 

 West Indies. 



19. Cassia Ruscifolia. Leaflets six pairs, lanceolate, acute. 



