420 



PS Y 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



P S Y 



rest of the roots collected by those Indians for food. This 

 root has been frequently found by travellers in the canoes of 

 the Indians, but the plant which produces it has not been 

 known until lately." Mr. Thomas Nuttall says, " The taste 

 of the root is rather insipid, but not disagreeable either raw 

 or boiled; the latter is its common mode of preparation 

 among the savages : its texture is laminated, always tena- 

 cious, solid, and never farinaceous ; it is also somewhat 

 medicinal, and operates as a diuretic." 



36. Psoralea Lupinellus. Leaves quinate-digitate ; little 

 leaves in very fine lines; spikes with few flowers ; legumes 

 ovoideous, uncinate-mucronate, nervose-rugose. Is found 

 in the barrren fields of Carolina. The leaves of the seven 

 last species of this genus are covered with resinous dots. 



37. Psoralea Canescens. The whole plant canescent; 

 leaves shortly petiolate, trifoliate ; spikes with loose flowers ; 

 flowers pedicelled ; calix very villose. Grows in the barren 

 sandy fields of Carolina and Georgia, and flowers in July. 



38 Psoralea Melilotoides. Plant slightly pubescent ; leaves 

 ternate ; little leaves lanceolate ; spikes oblong ; bractes lato- 

 cordate, acuminated at great length ; legumes rotund, very 

 much wrinkled, and nervose ; flowers blue. Grows in pine- 

 barrens from Carolina to Florida, and flowers from June to 

 August. 



39. Psoralea Tenuiflora. Plant pubescent, very branchy ; 

 leaves ternate ; little leaves elliptical, rugose-punctated on 

 both sides ; peduncles axillary, longer than the leaf, some- 

 what triflorous ; flowers very small, pale blue. Grows on the 

 banks of the Missouri. 



40. Psoralea Lanceolata. Plant pubescent; leaves tetnate; 

 little leaves elongate-lanceolate ; petioles thick ; spikes avil- 

 lary, scarcely lunger than the leaf, thick-flowered ; flowers 

 pedicellated, small, bright blue; bractes scarcely longer than 

 the pedicel ; teeth of the calix coloured. Grows on the 

 banks of the Missouri, and flowers in July and August. 



Psychotria ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth very small, 

 five-toothed, superior, permanent. Corolla: monopetalous, 

 salver-shaped or funnel-shaped; tube long; border short, 

 five-cleft; segments obovate, acute. Stamina: filamenta 

 five, capillary; anfhcrse linear, erect, uot exceeding the tube. 

 Pistil: germen inferior, roundish ; style filiform ; stigma bifid, 

 with the segments thickish, blunt. Pericarp : berry round- 

 ish, ovate, or oblong, one-celled, (or, according to Geertner, 

 two-celled,) crowned with the culix. Seeds : two, hemisphe- 

 rical or oblong, on one side convex and five-grooved, on the 

 other flat. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-toothed, 

 crowning. Corolla: tubular. Berry : globular. Seeds: two, 

 hemispheiical, grooved. The species are, 



1. Psychotria Asiatica. Stipules emarginate; leaves lan- 

 ceolate, ovate. Native of the East and West Indies. 



2. Psychotria Glabrata. Stipules acute, undivided, deci- 

 duous ; leaves ovate, very smooth, shining; flowers panicled, 

 erect. Native of Jamaica, in the interior of the island, upon 

 rocky places. 



3. Psyohotria Axillaris. Stipules acute, undivided ; leaves 

 ovate-acute; flowerg axillary. Native of the woods ol 

 Guiana. 



4. Psychotria Laurifolia. Stipules ovate, acuminate, deci- 

 duous ; leaves lanceolate, ovate, acute, thickish, smooth ; 

 panicles erect; berries roundish. Native of Hispaniola in 

 dry coppices, also of Jamaica. 



5. Psychotria Parviflora. Stipules ovate, cuspidate, deci- 

 duous ; leaves elliptic, ovate, acuminate, parallel, veined ; 

 panicles erect; berries oval. The trunk of this species is 

 ten or twelve feet high, with many branches at the top, anc 



;he bark reddish brown o the outside, and red within ; 

 lowers in terminating racemes ; corolla white. The bark 

 dyes silk and cotton of a fine red. Native of the great 

 'orests of Guiana, especially in wet places. 



6. Psychotria Hirsuta. Stipules lanceolate, entire, deci- 

 duous ; leaves lanceolate, ovate, acute, rough-haired ; stem 



xtremely hirsute ; panicle spreading. This differs from the 

 rest of the genus in its very remarkable shagginess and 



xtremely spreading habit. Native of old woods in the 

 southern parts of Jamaica. 



7. Psychotria Foetens. Stipules acuminate, entire, deci- 

 duous; leaves lanceolate, ovate, acute, smooth; panicle 

 spreading very much; branches reflex, filiform. This differs 

 from the preceding in its smoothness, and in having the 

 branches of the panicle reflex. A peculiar and very foetid 

 subacid odour proceeds from the bruised leaves or broken 

 branches, like that in Comocladia. Dentata and Schradera 

 Capitata. Native of Jamaica, in the mountainous woods of 

 the southern parts. 



8. Psychotria Citrifolia. Stipules ovate, permanent; leaves 

 elliptic, acuminate, subcoiiaceous ; panicles short; berries 

 oblong, ribbed. The leaves are very like those of the Lemon 

 in colour and consistence. Native of the West Indies. 



9. Psychotria Nitida. Stipules roundish, deciduous ; 

 leaves roundish, ovate, acuminate; panicle terminating; bor- 

 der of the corolla longer than the tube. It flowers in Sep- 

 tember, on the banks of the river Sinemari in Guinea, where 

 it is a native. 



10.. Psychotria Marginata. Stipules entire, acuminate, 

 deciduous ; leaves lanceolate, ovate, acute, cartilaginous- 

 bristly at the end ; panicle loose. Found in the woods of 

 Jamaica, flowering in spring. 



11. Psychotria Tenuifolia. Stipules ovate, emarginate, 

 deciduous; leaves oblong, acute, very thin, smooth ; panicles 

 erect, subsessile. Native of Hispaniola, in coppices. 



12. Psychotria Nervosa. Stipules oblong, emarginate, 

 deciduous ; leaves ovate, acuminate at both ends, nerved, 

 somewhat waved ; panicles sessile, almost erect. Willdenow 

 observes, that the leaves are not properly nerved, but have 

 prominent veins. Native of Jamaica, in coppices. 



13. Psychotria Carthaginensis. Stipules emarginate; leaves 

 obovate, acuminate ; panicle terminating. It is a suberect 

 branched shrub, the height of a man. It flowers in August 

 at Carthagena in New Spain, where it is a native ; very 

 common in coppices and hedges, and among bushes. 



14. Psychotria Myristiphyllum. Stipules ovate, deciduous ; 

 leaves lanceolate-ovate, nerveless, shining, rigid ; branches 

 directed one way; racemes compound, terminating. Native 

 of dry coppices, among Logwood, in the northern parts of 

 Jamaica. Browne says it is common about the ferry, and in 

 the savannas, near Hunt's Bay. 



15. Psychotria Laxa. Stipules ovate, acute, deciduous; 

 leaves ovate, acuminate ; racemes in threes, terminating, tri- 

 chotomous ; branches and pedicels s-ubcapillary, loose. 

 Native of Jamaica, on mountainous coppices. 



16. Psychotria Paiasitica. Stipules embracing, retuse ; 

 leaves ovate, acuminate, veinless, somewhat succulent ; ra- 

 cemes terminating or axillary, compound. Native of the 

 West Indies, in mountainous woods, where it grows for the 

 most part parasitically, on the trunks of aged trees. 



17. Psychotria Horizon talis. Stipules ovate ; leaves lan- 

 ceolate, ovate, acute ; branches, leaves, and branchlets of 

 the panicles horizontal. It may be distinguished from all 

 the rest at first sight by the disposition of the branchlets. 

 Native of Hispaniola, on open spots, in a cretaceous soil. 



18. Psychotria Nutans. Stipules two-toothed; leaves Ian- 



