13* MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



an odd one, pointed, serrated, veined, standing upon footstalks, of 

 an oval or oblong shape, and bright green colour. The flowers grow 

 in close thick branched spikes, and open in May and June. In the 

 specimens generally figured, the flowers are all hermaphrodite; the 

 corol divided into four narrow whitish segments, somewhat longer 

 than the stamens ; the two filaments tapering, and crowned with 

 large furrowed erect anthers ; the germen oval, and a little com- 

 pressed ; the style short and cylindrical j the capsule is long, flat, 

 membranous, and contains a single flat pointed seed. 



This tree is a native of thesouthern parts of Europe, particularly 

 of Sicily and Calabria*. It was first introduced into England about 

 seventy years ago, by Dr. Uvedale f ; and at present adorns many of 

 the gardens of this country. 



The Onnus is not the only species of ash which produces Manna ; 

 the rotundifolia and excelsior, especially in Sicily, also afford this 

 drug, though less abundantly. Many other trees and shrubs have 

 likewise been observed, in certain seasons and situations, to emit a 

 sweet juice, which concretes on exposure to the air, and may be con- 

 sidered of the manna kind %. In Sicily the three species of the Fraxi- 



* The Ornus is observed by Dr. Cirillo to be very common on the famous 

 mountain Garganus, so that the words of Horace may still apply ; 



aut Aquilonibus 



Querceta Gargani laborant, 



Et foliis viduantur orni. L. ii. Od. 9. 



-r Vide Hort Kew. 



% Dr. Cullen is certainly right in supposing " Manna a part of the sugar so 

 universally present in vegetables, and which exudes on the surface of a great 

 number of them ;" the qualities of these exudations he thinks are " very little 

 if at all different." The principal trees known to produce these mannas in dif- 

 ferent climates and seasons, are the larch, (vide Murray Jp. Med.i. p. n.) 

 the fir, (lac V. Engerstrom in Physiogr. Salskapets Handl. Vol. i. P. S.p. 144,) 

 the orange, (De La Hire Hist, de Vacad. d. sc de Paris, 1708.J the walnut, 

 (Hal. Stirp. Helv. 2V. 1624.J the willow, (Mousset in du Hamel. Physique des 

 arbres, P. i. p. 1520 the mulberry, (Micheli in Tragioni Tozzetti Viaggi, Tom. 

 6. p. 424.) oaks, situated between Merdin and Diarbekir (Niebuhr Beschreib. 

 v. Arab. p. 145. Otter, Voyage en Turquie et en Perse, Vol. 2. p. 2 fi 4.J also 

 oaks in Persia near Khounsar (Otter. 1, c.) the al hagi Maurorum, or the hedy- 

 sarum alhagi of Linnaeus ; of this manna Dr. Fothergiil presented a specimen to 

 the Royal Society, which he considered as the Tereniabin of the Arabians, 

 (Phil- Trans. Vol.43- p. 81.) the cistus ladaniferus in some parts of Spain pro- 

 duces a manna, which, in its recent state, has no purgative quality, and is eaten 

 by the shepherds : so that some fermentation seems necessary to give it a cathartic 

 power, Vide Dillon's Travels through Spain, p. 127.) 



