J 24 NUTRITIVE PLANTS. 



to nine ; flowers yellow, not succeeded by berries in this country. 

 The tree is a native of Virginia, rising from fifteen to twenty feet. 

 It is sometimes confounded with the true BenzoinJrce* which is 

 the Styrax Benzoin. 



7. Sassafras-tree. L. Sassafras. Leaves entire, three Iobed, 

 downy underneath, from three to six inches long with small yel- 

 lowish flowers succeeded by black berries in its native country, 

 which is Virginia. The wood affords the sassafras of the shops. 



8. L. Castica. Leaves oval, wrinkled, perennial, reticulate with 

 veins ; flowers yellow and four-cleft. A poisonous tree of Chili. 



9. Deciduous Bay. L. JEstivalis. Leaves veined, oblong, point- 

 ed, annual, wrinkled underneath ; branches superaxillary. A native 

 of Virginia, with small white flowers succeeded by red berries. 



10. Indian Bay. L. Indica. Leaves veined, lanceolate, peren- 

 nial, flat ; branchlets tubercled with scars ; flowers racemed : trunk 

 upright, from twenty to thirty feet high, branching regularly ; flowers 

 whitish-green, succeeded in its native soil by large oval black ber- 

 ries. A native of Madeira. 



The leaves and berries of L. nobiiis, which is a native of Italy, 

 but cultivated in our own gardens, possess various medicinal qua- 

 lities, has a sweet fragrant smell, and an aromatic adstringent taste. 

 The laurus of honorary memory, the distinguished favourite of 

 Apollo, may be naturally supposed to have had no inconsiderable 

 fame as a medicine ; but its pharmaceutic uses are so limited in the 

 practice of the present day, that this dignified plant is now rarely 

 employed. 



[Watson, Phil. Trans, vol. xlvii. Woodville. Pantologia, 



SECTION XVIII. 



Ginger. 

 Amomum Zinziber. Linn. 



The ginger plant is a native of the East Indies, and is said to grow 

 in the greatest perfection on the coast of Malabar and in Bengal; 

 but it is now plentifully cultivated in the warmer parts of America, 

 and in the West India islands, from whence chiefly it is imported 

 into Europe. In 1731 it was first introduced into this country by 

 Mr. P. Miller, and is still carefully cultivated in the dry stoves of 

 the curious. The flowers have a sweet fragrant smell, and the 



* 



