268 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



A. fcpfida and .^pincscens are considered good for curing cutaneous ulcers 

 and for maturing abscesses, by the Indians of tlie provinces of Rio 

 Negro ;' the bruised pulp of the fruit is applied topically. In these 

 climates a chill of any part of the body is followed by a painful 

 swelling that prevents the use of that part ; the Indians remedy this 

 by baths and warm affusions prepared with the bark oi A.fcetida. 

 The leaves of //. ninricatn, reticulata, squamosa, Marcgravii contain a 

 volatile oil of disagreeable odour, but infused in water or bruised 

 with oil they bring abscesses to a head. The leaves of A. palustris^ 

 have, according to Wright, the same odour as those of the Savin, 

 and possess the same vermicidal properties. The fruit of this 

 species, called Corossol cles marals, de la mcr, Pomme dc serpent, is con- 

 sidered as venomous, or at least injurious to the stomach.^ Its odour 

 is repulsive, and, says Pi son, like that of rotten cheese ; and the 

 Topinambous think that the sea crabs that eat this fruit become 

 poisonous as an article of food.'' However the negroes eat this 

 Pomme de serpent for want of better, and it appears that in Senegal 

 too the fruit of A. chri/socarpa, really the same plant as A. palustris,^ 

 is sometimes eaten. 



The seeds of Monodora J/f/n'stica'^' have nearly all the properties of 

 the nutmeg ; hence they are called Gn'uiea or Cala/jash Ant megs {Mus- 

 cades de Calabash). They are, indeed, more pungent, but they serve 

 exactly for the same culinary purposes ; and hence it has been con- 

 jectured that the negroes of Guinea transported this plant to Jamaica, 

 that they might be able to use the seeds as a condiment as in their 

 native country. The negroes of Guiana also use the fruit and seeds 



* Mabt., Reise in Bras., ii. 555. to malignant ulcers. His A. hngifolia (615, t. 

 ' Ij., Spec, 757. — Dun., Hon., 65. — DC, 218), which is an. -f/xremo**, has, he says, an edible 



%»<., i. 4(59 ; Prodr.,x\.Q.—\. S. H., PI. Us. fruit cuUeil P/»rto««rt by theUalibis. A. DK Saint- 



Braxil., n. 2'J (Araticu do brejo). — A. uliginosa Hilaikk also describes in his Plantes Usuellft 



\j. — A. ausfrti I is A.H.ll. — A.chrysocarpn llicH., des lirasilittis (n. 29), his A. sylvatica (Araticu 



(ji'lLL. & Vv.iiH. — A. Pisonis Maut. (see Adan- de nialo). 



aonia, viii. 290, :)80). « 1)U.\., Mon., 80.— DC, Si/sl., i. 477 ; Prodr., 



^ Si.oANK, Jam., ii. 109. — Makcok., lirns., i. 87. — 3/. (jiandijlura Hkniii., Linn. Trans., 



ed. a (10 IK), OH.— Pi80, Bras., 48.— SoAlus dk xxiii. 471, t. 52, Zli.—Anoiia Mi/risfica G.krtn., 



SoUZA, iS'o/. do Bras., 194 (ex Makt., Ft., 61). Fruct., ii. 191, t. 125, f. 1. — Xylopia undulata 



* De Mauthh remarks that at tlie same V\\.. \\r.\V\.. Fl.Owar.et Bri>.,'\.'2.1,\,.\&(e\c\. 

 season they eat the friiit of the Maiichinool, and fruct.) Tlie niultiplo fruit repra-enteil in this 

 uf Sapiiim aucupuriinn. ]>late is no doubt that of a Xiflopia (I*L., Ann. 



* AuBLET {(iiiian.) also points out several Sc. Nat., si'r. 4, ii. 202). The true fruit of 

 Jnona* with o<lible fruit. His .-I. />MMr/«/rt (Oil, Monodora .Mt/rislifa ha* only a sinjfle coll (seo 

 t. 247) is, ho says, the Corossol sniiragp, goiKl fit;. 299, p. 2U)). For everything relative to the 

 to eat. His A. Ambolay (010, t. 2 19) is usi-d Miniodoras in general seo ultove, pp. 2;i9-242, 

 for its pu::pcnt hitler bark, applied in decction ami Adaii\oiii<i, viii. 299, ;U4. 



