ii2 THE USES OF PLANTS. 



POLYGONACE^:. 



Rheum palmatum, L., the real source of the long- 

 used stomachic and purgative RUSSIAN or TURKEY 

 RHUBARB, was first found wild by Colonel Pre- 

 jevalsky, in the extreme North-west of China, in 

 1872-3.* 



R. officinale, Baillon,f found in South-east Thibet by 

 French missionaries, has been grown at Bodicott, near 

 Banbury, since 1873, where also R. Rhaponticum, L., 

 the species used for culinary purposes, is also grown 

 for its roots (see p. 56, supra). Our imports of 

 medicinal Rhubarb amount to about 350,000 Ib. 

 annually.J 



MONIMIACE^E. 



Atherosperma moschata, Lab., of Australasia, the 

 AUSTRALIAN SASSAFRAS bark, is used in asthma and 

 bronchitis as a sedative, and the leaves of Peumus 

 Boldus, Molin., the BOLDO, of Chili, have been 

 recently imported for use in liver complaints, syphilis, 



MYRISTICE^:. 



NUTMEGS, the seeds of Myristica fragrans, Hout- 

 tuyn, which grows chiefly on the Banda Islands, 

 Jilolo, Celebes, and Amboyna, though used chiefly as 



* Bentley and Trimen, iii., pi. 214. 



t Ibid.) pi. 213. ' Pharm. Journ.,' iii (1872), p. 301, and iv 

 (1874), p. 690. See also vol. viii (1878), p. 588. 



$ * Kew Museum Guide,' p. 107 ; ' Pharmacographia,' pp. 

 442-51. 



Christy, No. 4, p. 46, and No. 10, p. 38. 

 Bentley and Trimen, iii., pi. 217. 



