160 



MYR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



MYR 



berries as come to full maturity, like many other seeds, lose 

 that aromatic warmth for which they are esteemed, and 

 acquire a taste perfectly like that of Juniper berries, which 

 renders them a very agreeable food for birds, who are the 

 most industrious planters of these trees. The berries have 

 an agreeable, aromatic, subastringent taste, which recom- 

 mends them both in the kitchen and the druggist's shop. 

 A delicate aromatic oil is distilled from them, which answers 

 all the purposes for which the oils of Cinnamon and Cloves 

 have been generally used, and it is thought by some to be 

 better than either, as it joins an astringency with its warmth. 

 All parts of the tree are more or less aromatic, and sub- 

 astringent, but the leaves seem to abound most in volatile 

 warm particles. All-spice, which was at first brought over 

 for dietetic purposes, has been long employed in the shops 

 as a succedaneum to the more costly Oriental aromatics. It 

 is moderately warm, of an agreeable flavour, somewhat re- 

 sembling that of a mixture of Cloves, Cinnamon, and Nut- 

 meg. Distilled with water, it yields an elegant essential oil, 

 so ponderous as to sink in the water, in taste moderately 

 pungent, in smell and flavour approaching to oil of Cloves, 

 or rather a mixture of Cloves and Nutmegs. To rectified 

 spirits, it imparts by maceration or digestion the whole of its 

 virtue : in distillation, it gives over very little to this men- 

 struum, .nearly all its active power remaining concentrated 

 in the inspissated extract. Pimento can scarcely be consi- 

 dered as a medicine : being however an agreeable aromatic, 

 it is not unfrequently employed with different drugs requir- 

 ing such a grateful adjunct. This useful and most beautiful 

 tree is propagated by seeds, which in the natural places of 

 its growth are sown by birds, who eat the berries, and con- 

 vey them to a great distance ; nor is it at all improbable 

 that the seeds passing through them are rendered fitter for 

 vegetation than those which are immediately gathered from 

 the tree. The plants cannot be preserved in England unless 

 they are placed in a stove during the winter, but they will 

 thrive in a moderate degree of warmth, and should be planted 

 in a light soft soil, and have but little water in winter. In 

 summer they require a large share of air; and in July, if the 

 season proves warm, they may be placed in the open air, in 



a warm sheltered situation; but upon the approach of cold 

 nights they must be removed into the stove again. The ex- 

 posing of these plants to the open air for one month only, 

 will be of great service to clean their leaves from insects or 

 filth, which they are subject to contract, by remaining long 

 in the stove ; but if the season should prove very wet or 

 cold, it will not be safe to trust these plants long abroad, 

 therefore their leaves should be now and then washed with 

 a sponge to clean them, which will not only render them 

 more sightly, but also promote their growth. This tree .is 

 rather difficult to propagate in England, where the seeds do 

 not ripen : the only method by which this has been done, i? 

 by laying down the young branches, slitting them at a joint 

 in the same manner as is practised in making layers of Car- 

 nations. If this is carefully performed, and the layers are 

 regularly but gently watered, they will put out roots in one 

 year : then they may be carefully separated from the old 

 plants, and each planted in a small pot filled with light 

 earth, and plunged into the tan-bed, either in the stove or 

 under a frame, being careful to shade them until they have 

 taken new root, after which they may be treated as the older 

 plants. This plant being an evergreen, makes a fine ap- 

 pearance in the stove at all seasons of the year ; and the 

 leaves having such an agreeable fragrancy when rubbed, ren- 

 ders them as worthy of a place in the stove as any other ten- 

 der exotic plant which is preserved for ornament. It suc- 

 ceeds well in our stoves, if allowed a strong heat, and flowers 

 copiously in May and June. As these plants do not rise so 

 readily from seeds in England, the best way to obtain them 

 is to get some person of skill in America, to take up a num- 

 ber of young plants, and place them close in boxes of earth, 

 setting them in the shade till they have taken new root; then 

 remove them into an open situation, where they may have 

 time to. establish their roots before they are shipped for Eng- 

 land ; and in their passage they should be completely guarded 

 from the sprey of the sea and salt water, and but sparingly 

 watered ; by this n\eans the plants may be brought in good 

 health to England, provided they come over any time in the 

 summer, and have time to strike root before the cold wea- 

 ther sets in. 



N A J 



NAJAS; a genus of the class Monoecia, order Monandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, truncate at the base, cylindric, attenuated above ; at 

 the mouth with two opposite reflex segments. Corolla: one- 

 petalled, equal ; tube the length of the calix ; border five- 

 parted, with oblong revolute segments. Stamina : filamenta 

 none ; anthera oblong, erect. Female. Calix and Corolla : 

 none. Pistil: germen ovate, ending in an attenuated style ; 

 stigmas simple, permanent. Pericarp: capsule ovate, one- 

 celled. Seeds: ovate-oblong. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Male: Calix: cylindric, bifid. Corolla: four-cleft; fila- 

 mentum none. Female. Calix and Corolla : none. Stigma: 



two or three, undivided. Capsule : ovate, one-celled. 



The species are, 



1. Najas Marina. Stem wide, having triangular spines 

 scattered over it ; leaves firm, narrow, with very similar 

 toothed spines on each side; flowers solitary, from the axils 

 of the leaves, male and female near each other ; the males 

 drooping, on a short petiole, the females sessile, erect. 



NAM 



The whole plant floats under water, having the slender 

 branched stem, and narrow pellucid leaves of a Potamogeton. 

 Native of the sea-coast of Europe ; in the canal between 

 Pisa and Leghorn ; and in the Rhine near Basle. 



2. Najas Canadensis; Canadian Najas. Plant filiform, 

 smooth, with linear leaves like threads. Found by Michaux 

 in the lakes of Canada. 



Naked Ladies. See Colchicum Autumnale. 



Nama ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leaved, five- 

 parted, permanent ; segments lanceolate, acute, straight, 

 somewhat spreading. Corolla : one-petalled, wheel-salver- 

 shaped ; tube short ; border five-parted ; segments ovate, 

 obtuse, the length of the calix. Stamina : filamenta five, 

 filiform, ovate at the base, inserted into the middle of the 

 tube of the corolla, alternate with, and shorter than the seg- 

 ments ; antherae oblong, bifid at the base, revolute, incum- 

 bent. Pistil : germen ovate, superior ; styles two,_capillary, 

 erect, the length of the stamina; stigmas capitate. Pericarp: 



