638 



STY 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



STY 



sown in the latter end of summer, in pots kept in a moderate 

 hot-bed of tanners' bark all the winter, the plants will come 

 up in the succeeding spring; whereas those sown in the 

 spring, often remain in the ground a whole year. When the 

 plants are come up, they should be hardened gradually to 

 the open air, into which they ought to be removed in June, 

 placing them in a sheltered situation, and observing to weed 

 and water them in dry weather. In this place they may re- 

 main till autumn, when they should be placed under a com- 

 mon hot-bed frame, where they may be screened from hard 

 frost in winter, but in mild weather enjoy the free air as 

 much as possible. Their leaves fall off in autumn ; and in 

 the spring, before they begin to shoot, they ought to be taken 

 out of the pots, and their roots carefully parted, and be each 

 replanted in a separate small pot, filled with light fresh earth, 

 and plunged into a very moderate hot-bed ; observing to 

 water and shade them until they have again taken firm hold. 

 Then inure them gradually to the open air till June, when 

 they may be placed abroad, in a warm situation, and remain 

 there till the end of October, when they must be removed 

 into shelter for the winter. They are tolerably hardy, and 

 only require to be sheltered from severe frost while young. 

 When they have grown three or four years in the pots, and are 

 become strong, some of them may be turned out, and plant- 

 ed in the full ground, against a south wall, to which their 

 branches should be trained in the same manner as fruit- 

 trees: in this situation they will bear the cold of our ordinary 

 winters; but in severe frost, it will be proper to cover the 

 branches with mats, straw, or other light things. 



2. Styrax Grandifolium ; Large-leaved Storax. Leaves 

 obovate, villose beneath ; lower peduncles axillary, solitary, 

 one-flowered. Native of South Carolina. 



3. Styrax Benzoin ; Benzoin Storax, or Benjamin Tree. 

 Leaves oblong, acuminate, tomentose beneath; racemes com- 

 pound, length of the leaves. This tree rises quickly to a 

 considerable height, and sends off many strong, round, leafy 

 branches, which are covered with a tomentose or whitish 

 downy bark. In Sumatra, where it is a native, this tree is 

 reckoned of a sufficient age when it has stood six years, 

 or the trunk is about seven or eight inches in diameter, to 

 afford the Benzoin. The bark is then cut through longitu- 

 dinally, or somewhat obliquely, at the origin of the principal 

 lower branches, from which the drug exudes in a liquid state, 

 and by exposure to the sun and air soon concretes, when 

 it is scraped off from the bark with a knife or chisel. The 

 quantity which one tree affords, never exceeds three pounds; 

 nor are the trees found to sustain the effects of these annual 

 incisions longer than ten or twelve years. The Benzoin, 

 which issues first from the wounded bark, is the purest, being 

 soft, extremely fragrant, and very white ; that which is less 

 esteemed, is of a brownish colour, very hard, and mixed 

 with various impurities. In Arabia, Persia, and other parts 

 of the East, the coarsest sort is consumed in fumigating and 

 perfuming the temples, and in destroying insects. - The 

 Benzoin sold by the druggists in large brittle masses, is 

 composed partly of white, partly of yellowish or light 

 brown, and often also of darker-coloured pieces ; that which 

 is clearest, and contains most white matter, is most esteemed. 

 It has very little taste, only impressing upon the palate a 

 slight sweetness ; but its smell, especially when rubbed or 

 heated, is extremely fragrant and agreeable. It totally dis- 

 solves in rectified spirit, the impurities excepted, into a deep 

 yellowish-red liquor, and in this state discovers a degree of 

 warmth and pungency, as well as sweetness. It imparts by 

 digestion, to water also, a considerable share of its fragrance, 

 with a slight pungency : the filtered liquor, gently exhaled, 



leaves not a resinous or mucilaginous extract, but a crystalline 

 matter, seemingly of- a saline nature, amounting to one-tenth 

 or one-eighth of the original weight. Exposed to the fire in 

 proper vessels, it yields a quantity of a white saline concrete, 

 called fiores benznes, of an acidulous taste, and grateful 

 odour, soluble in rectified spirit, and in water by the assist- 

 ance of heat. As the trees which afford Benzoin and Storax 

 are congeners, and as their resinous products are very similar 

 in their external appearances, and not widely differing in 

 their sensible qualities, it is reasonable to suppose that they 

 are analogous in their medicinal effects. Benzoin, however, 

 though rarely employed in a simple state, has been frequently 

 prescribed as a pectoral, and recommended for inveterate 

 coughs, asthmas, obstructions of the lungs, and phthisical 

 complaints, where there is not much fever. Dr. Cullen says, 

 that the flowers are manifestly a saline substance of the acid 

 kind, possessing considerable acrimony and stimulant power; 

 and observes, that in asthmas he found it to be hurtful given 

 in doses of half a drachm only. Meyrick observes, that the 

 principal use of Gum Benjamin is in perfumes, and to beau- 

 tify the skin. It is, however, an excellent medicine in the 

 asthma, and other disorders of the breast and lungs, which 

 it relieves by removing obstructions in those parts, and pro- 

 moling expectoration : for these purposes, the preparation 

 known in the shops by the name of Flowers of Benjamin, is 

 most effectual, and may be taken with safety to the amount 

 of fifteen grains, or a scruple, for a dose. The same prepa- 

 ration snuffed up the nose, provokes sneezing, and a large dis- 

 charge of mucus from the head. The manner of preparing it 

 for a cosmetic, is to make a tincture of the gum with rectified 

 spirits of wine, in the proportion of four ounces of the former 

 to a pint of the latter. The ingredients must be set in a warm 

 situation for the space of three or four days, and then strained 

 o filtered through paper. One ounce of this tincture put into 

 twenty times the quantity of water, gives it a milky colour 

 and consistence ; from which circumstance the mixture has 

 acquired the appellation of Virgin's Milk; a little of which, 

 being rubbed on the face and arms every day with a soft 

 linen rag, makes them agreeably smooth, and removes blotches, 

 spots, and other eruptions, which discolour the skin, and ren- 

 der it unsightly. For its propagation and culture, see the 

 first species. 



4. Styrax Lsevigatum ; Smooth Storax. Leaves oblong, 

 smooth on both sides; peduncles axillary, one-flowered, soli- 

 tary, or two together. It flowers in June and July. Native 

 of South Carolina. 



Suber. See Quercus. 



Subularia; a genus of the class Tetradynamia, order 

 Siliculosa. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth four- 

 leaved ; leaves ovate, concave, spreading a little, deciduous. 

 Corolla: four-petalled, cruciform; petals obovate, entire, a 

 little bigger than the calix. Stamina : filamenta six, shorter 

 than the corolla, two of which are opposite and still shorter; 

 antheree simple. Pistil : germen ovate ; style shorter than 

 the silicic; stigma obtuse. Pericarp: silicle ovate, subcom- 

 pressed, entire, with a very short style, two-celled ; partition 

 contrary to the valves ; valves ovate, deeply concave. Seeds: 

 very minute, roundish. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Silicle: 

 entire, ovate; valves ovate, concave, contrary to the partition. 

 Style: shorter than the silicle. The species are, 



1. Subularia Aquatica; Awlwort. Leaves all radical, 

 smooth, awl-shaped, with a recurved point. Stalk seldom 

 more than two inches high, simple, smooth, bearing a clus- 

 ter of small white flowers, which are always immersed in 

 water, and so closed that the impregnation is accomplished 

 in safety, under the protection of the calix and petals; seeds 



