636 



STR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



STR 



from one to two broad ; flowers towards the bottom of the 

 raceme, remote above, approximated, small, white. Found 

 in the vicinity of Samulcottah, on the terraces of old walls 

 of pagodas. The Telingas call it Obeera. 



Strumpfia ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Mono- 

 gamia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, five-toothed, superior, very small, permanent. Co- 

 rolla : petals rive, oblong, obtuse, spreading. Stamina : 

 filamenta none ; antheree five, united into an ovate body. 

 Pistil : germen inferior, roundish ; style awl-shaped, erect, 

 commonly longer than the stamina; stigma simple, obtuse. 

 Pericarp : berry crowned with the calix, roundish, one- 

 celled. Seed: one, roundish. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Cafe: five-toothed, superior. Corolla: five-petalled. Berry: 

 one-seeded. The only species yet discovered is, 



1. Strumpfia Maritima. Leaves in threes, very much 

 resembling those of the Rosemary. It is an upright shrub 

 three feet high ; common peduncles axillary, and only half 

 the length of the leaves, sustaining about five small flowers 

 with white petals, and on short peduncles ; berries soft and 

 white, the size of a pea. The whole plant has an unpleasant 

 smell. Native of Curacao, on rocks by the coast. 



Struthiola; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : none, unless the 

 corolla be taken for it. Corolla: one-petalled, shrivelling; 

 tube filiform, elongated; border four-parted, flat, shorter than 

 the tube; segments ovate; nectary of eight glands, ovate, 

 placed round the throat, surrounded with their proper pencil. 

 Stamina : filamenta four, very short, concealed within the 

 tube; antheree linear. Pistil: germen ovate ; style filiform, 

 length of the tube ; stigma capitate. Pericarp : berry coria- 

 ceous, ovate, one-celled. Seed: one, sharpish. Observe. It 

 is allied to Passerina. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: 

 none. Calix : tubular, with eight glands at the mouth. 

 Berry: juiceless, one-seeded. The species are, 



1. Struthiola Virgata. Leaves lanceolate, striated, the 

 upper ones ciliate; branches pubescent. This shrub has 

 long rod-like branches, and four-cornered branchlets; flowers 

 sessile, solitary, long, coriaceous, red, silky, tomentose with- 

 out. It varies with yellow flowers in whitish njembrnnaceous 

 calices, and yellowish antherse, dark yellow at the tips. 

 Native of the Cape. 



2. Struthiola Nana. Leaves linear, obtuse, hairy; flowers 

 terminating in bundles, tomentose. The bractes are blue. 

 Native of the Cape. 



3. Struthiola Juniperina. Leaves linear, acute, spreading; 

 corollas and calices naked; flowers from the middle of the 

 branchlets almost to the top, white, and fragrant. This is 

 a small shrub, smooth all over; branches slender, round, with 

 four-cornered branchlets; calix smooth, length of the tube of 

 the corolla. Native of the Cape. 



4. Struthiola Erecta. Leaves linear, smooth ; branches 

 smooth, four-cornered; flowers at the top of the branchlets, 

 lateral, sessile, within bractes, similar to the leaves, but nar- 

 rower, solitary. Native of the Cape. 



5. Struthiola Ovata. Leaves ovate, smooth ; branches 

 smooth, wrinkled, stiflf, round, naked, with four-cornered 

 branchlets ; flowers oppositely heaped at the tops of the 

 branches, white, each sessile, within a bracte narrower than 

 the leaves; calix pubescent. Native of the Cape. 



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

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five- 

 parted, very small, deciduous. Corolla : one-petalled ; tube 

 cylindric; border spreading, five-cleft, acute. Stamina: fila- 

 menta five, length of the corolla; antherse simple. Pistil: 

 germen roundish; style simple, longer than the stamina; 



stigma thickish. Pericarp : berry brittle, globular, smooth, 

 very large, one-celled, full of pulp. Seeds : orbicular, de- 

 pressed, villose, radiant with villose hairs towards the peri- 

 phery. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: five-parted. 

 Berry: one-celled, with a woody rind. The species are, 



1. Strychnos Nux Vomica; Poison Nut. Leaves ovate; 

 stem unarmed. It is a middling-sized tree, with the trunk 

 short and crooked, but pretty thick, and the branches irre- 

 gular; flowers small, greenish-white, collected in small ter- 

 minating umbels ; berry the size of a pretty large apple, 

 covered with a smooth somewhat hard shell, of a rich beau- 

 tiful orange colour when ripe, filled with' a soft jelly-like 

 pulp. Native of the East Indies, and common in almost 

 every part of the coast of Coromandel ; flowering in the cold 

 season. The wood is hard and durable, and is used for 

 many purposes by the natives. It is exceedingly bitter, 

 particularly the root, which is used to cure intermittent 

 feverTs, and the bites of venomous snakes. The seeds are 

 employed in the distillation of country spirits, to render them 

 more intoxicating. The pulp of the fruit seems perfectly 

 innocent, being greedily eaten by many sorts of birds. The 

 seed of the fruit is the officinal Nux Vomica : it is about an 

 inch broad, and nearly a quarter of an inch thick, gray, 

 covered with a kind of woolly matter, and internally tough 

 and hard like horn, extremely bitter to the taste, but without 

 any remarkable smell. It chiefly consists of a gummy matter, 

 which is moderately bitter; the resinous part, though very 

 inconsiderable in quantity, is intensely bitter ; hence recti- 

 fied spirit has been considered as its best menstruum. It is 

 classed among the most powerful poisons of the narcotic kind, 

 and proves fatal to dogs in a very short time. Loureiro 

 relates, that a horse died within a quarter of an hour after 

 taking an infusion in wine of the half-roasted seeds. It has 

 also been found to poison hares, wolves, foxes, rabbits, cats, 

 rats, and even birds, as crows and ducks. The effects, 

 however, appear to be rather uncertain, and not always in 

 proportion to the quantity given. With some animals, it 

 operates almost instantaneously; with others, not till after 

 several hours, when laborious respirations, followed by torpor, 

 trembling, coma, and convulsions, usually precede the fatal 

 spasms or tetanus with which life is usually extinguished. 

 From several detailed cases of its mortal effects upon human 

 subjects, we find that the symptoms corresponded nearly 

 with those already ascribed to brutes; and dissections, both 

 of the human subject and of dogs, not shewing any injury 

 done to the stomach or intestines, proves that it acts upon 

 the nervous system, and destroys life by the virulence of its 

 narcotic influence. A single scruple will generally kill a 

 strong dog; a rabbit has been killed by five, and a cat by 

 four grains. It was successfully tried in Sweden for the cure 

 of dysentery; but Bergius says, that it suppressed the flux only 

 for twelve hours. A female, who took a scruple of it night 

 and morning on two successive days, is said to have been 

 seized with convulsions and vertigo, notwithstanding which the 

 dysenteric symptoms returned, and the disorder was cured by 

 other medicines ; but she suffered by a pain in the stomach for 

 a long time afterwards. On this account, Bergius concluded 

 that it ought to be administered as a tonic and anodyne only, 

 in doses from five to ten grains, and not till after proper laxa- 

 tives have been employed. Loureiro recommends it as a valu- 

 able internal medicine in fluor albus.and roasted it till it be- 

 came black and friable, which renders its medicinal use safe, 

 without impairing its efficacy. 



2. Strychnos Colubrina ; Snake Poison Nut. Leaves ovate, 

 acute ; tendrils simple. The Indian botanists contend that 

 there is no difference between this and the preceding species. 



