MASTICH OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 269 



and other parts of Europe. On low sanely shores they form 

 important agents in keeping back the inroads of the sea, and 

 they even extend seaward. The celebrated golf links of St. 

 Andrews have thus been gained from the sea, and people now 

 walk on ground that was sea not fifty years ago. 



Marvel of Peru (^Mirahilis Jalcqja), a strong-growing peren- 

 nial of the Marvel of Peru family (Nyctaginaceae). It has been 

 grown in this country as a garden plant for more than 250 years. 

 It is said to be a native of both Indies, but this must be con- 

 sidered uncertain. It has large black tuberous roots, supposed at 

 one time to be the medical Jalap Eoot. This and M. longiflora 

 are handsome garden plants, opening their pretty tube -like 

 flowers, or properly calyx, in the afternoon, hence called Four- 

 o'clock-flower. 



Massaranduba. {See Cow Tree.) 



Mastich, the name of the resin of Pistacia Lentiscus, a tree 

 of the Cashew Nut family (Anacardiaceoe). It attains a height 

 of 15 to 20 feet and a foot in diameter, having winged smooth 

 leaves of a pale colour, and inconspicuous flowers. It yields a 

 balsamic sap, which is obtained by making incisions in the 

 stems and branches ; it hardens, and is the Mastic of commerce. 

 It has a sweet resinous smell, and is chewed by the Turks to 

 preserve the gums and teeth, and to sweeten the breath, and it 

 is also used by them in the preparation of a liqueur called Eaki. 

 It is used by dentists in this country for stopping teeth. In 

 the arts it is chiefly employed as a varnish for pictures, maps, 

 etc., on paper and canvas. About eight or ten tons are yearly 

 imported, chiefly from Scio and other Greek islands. It is common 

 in the rocky countries of Gilead, and is supposed to have yielded 

 the balm that the Ishmeelites carried into EgyjDt. The resin 

 of the Lentisk was called by the ancients SeJmios, which has 

 been adopted by Linnreus as the name of a genus of American 

 shrubs of the same family (Anacardiacese). Seldnus MoUe, a 

 shrub, native of Peru, is called the Peruvian Mastich Tree. It 

 has light-green pinnate leaves, which contain a highly odoriferous 

 oily fluid, which naturally exudes, especially after rain, and fills 



