312 



BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



ALCE Oil is obtained from Bursera gravcolcns, and several species 

 of Bursera of Mexico are used as a substitute for Aloe wood. 



j. MELIACE^ OR MAHOGANY FAMILY. This is a 

 large family of tropical trees and shrubs with mostly alternate, 

 compound and exstipulate leaves, the leaflets being entire, with 

 secretion cells, but not glandular-punctate (Fig. i6i). The 

 flowers are complete, the filaments being united into a tube ; and 



Fig. i6i. Pride of China {Melia Azedarach) : A, flowering branch; B, a part 

 of the inflorescence. After Harms. 



they occur in axillary clusters or racemes ; the fruit is a capsule, 

 berry or drupe ; the seeds are sometimes winged and with fleshy 

 or leaf-like cotyledons. 



The bitter principle mangrovin is found in the bark of the 

 China Tree or Pride of China (Mclia Aacdarach) indigenous to 

 Asia, and extensively cultivated in tropical and warm-temperate 

 regions, and naturalized in the southern part of the United States 

 (Fig. i6i). A similar principle is found in other plants of this 

 family.. 



