MEDICINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. 189 



8. Arachis Hypogea. — Ground Nut. 



This is cultivated in gardens, and spreads on the ground. 

 It has a yellow pea-blossom, and the pods are under the sur- 

 face of the earth, containing two oblong seeds. 



The toasted nuts are preferable to chesnuts. They yield, 

 by expression, an oil as good as almonds ; and, when beaten 

 in a wooden or marble mortar, and mixed with water, form 

 an excellent emulsion, not inferior to that of almonds, ca- 

 shews, or any other. 



9. Argemone mexicana. — Yellow Thistle. 



This is a common and troublesome weed. The flowers are 

 yellow ; the leaves and stems prickly ; and, when wounded, a 

 yellow juice runs out, like a solution of gum gamboge. The 

 pods are prickly, and contain a number of small black seeds ; 

 a woman's thimbleful of which are emetic ; in a lesser dose 

 they are purgative. They are used in diarrhoeas and dysen- 

 teries. 



(The gamboge thistle, or prickly poppy, rises to the height 

 of three feet. The stem is herbaceous and hollow ; the leaves 

 are of a bluish green colour ; the blossoms are pretty large, 

 and of a deep yellow ; the pods are shaped like those of the 

 datura, and finely carved with cross spiral lines. I tried to 

 evaporate the yellow juice, but it became an unsightly green. 



The leaves have the virtues of the Carduus benedictus, 

 and, if beaten into a pulp and mixed with lime juice, they 

 make an excellent detergent in foul ulcers. The roots arc 

 said to be emetic.) 



10. Aristolochia triloba. 



odoratissima. 



Both of these are called contrayerva, and the latter is in 



