MEDICINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. ^ 201 



It bears its flowers on a slender pendulous spike : they arc 

 yellow and very small, and the male and female are on diffe- 

 rent vines. The fruit is a soft, flat berry : it is of a red co- 

 lour, and contains one flat seed curiously notched like the 

 wheel of a watch. 



The roots are black, stringy, and as thick as sarsaparilla, 

 running superficially under the surface of the ground. 



This root is agreeably aromatic and bitter, and is recom- 

 mended by Geoffroy in nephritic disorders, in ulcers of the 

 kidneys and bladder, in humoral asthmas, and in some spe- 

 cies of jaundice. 



The common people in Jamaica use a decoction of the 

 roots for pains and weakness of the stomach, proceeding from 

 relaxation. 



32. Citrus Medica. — Limes. 

 Limonum. — Lemons. 



The whole of the genus citrus are natives of Asia, and the 

 southern parts of Europe, from whence they have been car- 

 ried to and planted in the warmer parts of America and the 

 Sugar Islands. At present they are so common as to be 

 formed into hedges. 



The juice of lemons and of limes is nearly alike, and their 

 uses in medicine and drink well known. About fourteen 

 years ago I wrote a paper on the effects of lime juice, combin- 

 ed with sea-salt in various diseases in the torrid zone *. It 

 is proper to observe, that in all the disorders there mentioned, 

 a remitting fever either occasioned or accompanied them. 



In that paper I have slightly mentioned diabetes ; but 

 later experience enables me to assert, that in this medicine I 

 have found a specific for diabetes as well as for lienteria, both 



* Vide American Transactions, Vol. ii- and London Medical Jour- 

 nal, vol. viii. p. 100. 



