22 THAI. AM I FLORAE. 



which, on being exposed to the air, changes to a bright yellow, 

 and on drying assumes the appearance of Gamboge. The 

 native doctors of India drop the juice of the plant into the eye, 

 in cases of chronic Ophthalmia accompanied with opacity or 

 dulness of the cornea; and they also apply it to primary 

 syphilitic sores. The infusion of the plant is said to be diuretic, 

 and to give relief in Stranguary from blisters. 



ARGEMONE ALBIFLORA, a native of Georgia and Louisiana, 

 has of late been cultivated in our gardens, from seed sent by 

 Dr Hamilton of Plymouth. It is a very handsome plant, with 

 white flowers thrice the size of those of the common Gamboge 

 thistle. It appears to be perennial, and is correctly regarded by 

 some Botanists as a distinct species. 



II. BOCCONIA. 



Sepals 2, caducous. Petals 0. Stamens 8-24. 

 Ovary substipitate : stigmata 2, patent. Capsule 2- 

 valved, J -seeded : seed fixed to the bottom of the 

 capsule, erect. 



The species, belonging to this genus, which are natives of 

 China, are herbaceous ; those, which are indigenous to America, 

 are shrubby. They all abound in a yellow juice. Name ; in 

 memory of Paolo Boccone, M. D., a Sicilian monk, under the 

 name of Sylvius, of the Cistercian Order, Author of " ICONES 

 ET DESCRIPTIONES PLANTARDM," published by Morrison, at 

 Oxford, 1764. 



1. Bocconia frutescens. Parrot-weed, or Celandine. 



Suffruticose, leaves pinnatifid wedge-shaped at the 

 base. 



Sloane, I. 196. t. 125. Browne, 244. Jacq. Am. 146 

 Stoartz, Obs. 187 Lodd. Bot. Cab. 83. De Cand. Syst. II. 90. 



HAB. Common in the interior of the Island. 



FL. October January. 



Suffruticose, usually 6 feet in height, terete, marked with 

 the scars of the leaves which have dropt off, fragile, dividing 

 into a few simple branches which at their extremities are velu- 

 tino-tomentose : central pith large, white. Leaves at the ends 

 of the branches, a foot or more in length, ovali-oblong, wedge- 

 shaped at the base, pinnatifid ; lobes broad, subacute, subserrated, 

 green and puberulous with minute flocculent white tufts above, 

 glauco-cinereous and tomentoso-velutine beneath : petiole 

 nearly 2 inches in length. Panicle terminal, a foot or more in 

 length, erect, crowded : common peduncle 3-gonal, farinose, 

 branched : pedicels about i an inch in length, filiform. Bracteas 

 at the divisions of the panicle, and at the base of the pedicels, 



