ANACARDIACE^E. 



fresh juicy bark is used in Brazil for rubbing newly-made ropes with, 

 which it covers with a very durable bright dark-brown coating. It is 

 said by Prince Maximilian of Wied Neuwied, to be employed by the 

 Indians in diseases of the eye. 



PISTACIA. 



Eowers dioecious, apetalous. $ . Raceme amentaceous with 

 1 -flowered bracts. Calyx 5-cleft. Stamens 5 ; anthers subsessile 

 4-cornered. ? . Raceme more lax. Calyx 3-4-cleft. Ovary 

 1-3-celled. Stigmas 3, rather thick. Drupe dry, ovate, with 

 a somewhat bony nut, usually 1-celled and 1-seeded ; sometimes 

 bearing 2 abortive cells at the side. Seeds solitary, erect, with- 

 out albumen. Cotyledons thick, fleshy, oily, with a superior 

 lateral radicle. Trees with pinnated leaves. 



596. P. vera Linn. sp. pi 1454. Lam. illustr. t. 811. f. 1, 2. 

 Ach. Rich. hot. med. 596. DC. prodr. ii. 64. Syria ; now 

 naturalised all over the South of Europe. (Pistacia Nut.) 



A small scrubby tree. Leaves alternate, unequally pinnate, coria- 

 ceous, smooth ; leaflets in 3-5 pairs, oval, obtuse. Flowers borne on 

 wood 2 years old, and proceeding from a scaly bud, the parts of which 

 are woolly at the edge. Males arranged in a branched raceme. Calyx- 

 lobes erect, membranous, linear-lanceolate, or subulate. Stamens 5, 

 larger than the calyx. Female flowers in little simple or 3-flowered 

 spikes. Calyx muclj as in the male. Ovary ovate, slightly stipitate, 

 1-celled, containing a single ovule borne by a long umbilical cord 

 springing from the bottom of the cell. Stigmas 3, nearly sessile, thick, 

 blunt, reflexed. Drupe oval, elongated, dry, opening into 2 valves 

 when quite ripe and about the size of an olive ; kernel large, fleshy, 

 of a bright pale green colour. Fruit commonly employed in the South 

 of Europe at dessert, for confectionary. It contains a considerable 

 quantity of fixed oil, and makes an excellent emulsion for irritation of 

 the urethra and for other purposes. 



597. P. Terebinthus Linn. sp. 1455. DC. prodr. ii. 64. 

 Woodv. t. 153. S. and C. iii. t. 129. Syria and the Greek 

 Archipelago. 



A rather smaller plant than the last, but very much like it. Leaflets 

 7-9, oval, lanceolate, acute, smooth, entire, deep-green and shining 

 above, whitish beneath. The scales from amongst which the male 

 flowers escape are closely covered with brown hairs. Fruit purple, 

 almost round, much smaller than in the preceding. Cyprus turpen- 

 tine is obtained from the trunk by incision. When pure this is very 

 thick, yellowish, sweet-scented, resembling Lemon or Fennel in some 

 degree, with an agreeable and by no means acrid taste. Follicular 

 horn-like galls are produced on this species in the, South of Europe, 

 which have been used according to Clusius in the manufacture of a 

 " sanative and glutinous " balsam. Linncea, x. 58. and 442. 



598. P. Lentiscus Linn sp. pi. 1455. Duham. ed. nov. iv. 1. 18. 

 DC. prodr. ii. 65. Ach. Rich. bot. med. 598. P. massiliensis 

 Mill. diet. P. chia Desf. cat. hort. par. In all the basin of the 

 Mediterranean. 



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