LAURACE/E. 



NECTANDRA. 



Hermaphrodite. Calyx 6-parted, rotate ; segments deci- 

 duous, the 3 outer rather the broadest. Anthers 9, ovate, nearly 

 sessile, with 4 cells arranged in a curve, and distinct from the 

 tip of the anther; cells of the interior anthers inverted. Glands 

 in pairs, globose, sessile, at the base of the 3 interior stamens 

 next their back. Sterile stamens either tooth-shaped and bi- 

 glandular at the base, or eglandular and then with a small oval 

 head. Fruit succulent, more or less immersed in the tube of 

 the calyx changed into a truncated cup. Flowers panicled or 

 corymbose, axillary, lax, pretty ample. 



691. N. cymbarum Nees Laurin. 305. Ocotea cymbarum 

 HBK. n. g. et. sp. pi. ii. 166. Ocotea amara Mart. in. Buchn. 

 Repert. 1830. xxxv. 180. Perms, bull. 1831. Jan. p. 63. 

 Woods of the Oronoko near S. Fernando de Atabapo, where it 

 is called '< Sassafras;" in the ancient forests of the Rio Negro in 

 Brazil. 



A tree 100 feet high. Branches and all the parts smooth. Leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, papery, shining above, they and the peduncles of the 

 fruit, which are short at the base of the branches and new shoots, quite 

 smooth. Cup large, with a double edge. Bark aromatic, bitter, 

 stomachic. Martius suspects that it is one of the ingredients in the 

 famous Woorary poison of Guiana. 



692. N. Cinnamomoides Nees Laurin. 307. Laurus Cinna- 

 momoides HBK. n.g. et.sp.pl. ii. 169. Cinnamomum sylvestre 

 americanum Seba Thesaur. ii. p. 90. t. 84. f. 6. Temperate 

 shady country of New Grenada, where it is called " Canela ; " 

 cultivated about Mariquita. 



Leaves oblong tapering into a fine point, acute at the base, between 

 papery and leathery, naked, smooth and shining above, finely downy 

 beneath, with numerous distinct narrow costal veins. Bark with the 

 flavour and smell of cinnamon, as which it is used in New Grenada. 



693. N. Puchurymajor Nees Laurin. 328. Ocotea Puchury 

 major Martius in Buchn. repert. 1830. xxxv. 171. Feruss. bull. 

 1831. Jan. p. 62. Puchury, Puchery, Puchyry of the Brazilians. 

 Woods of Tabatinga in the province of Rio Negro in Brazil. 



Leaves oblong or elliptical, tapering to a narrow point, between 

 papery and leathery, smooth, reticulated, of the same colour on both 

 sides. Peduncles axillary short. Cup of the fruit very large and 

 spongy. Martius assigns the Pichurim beans to this plant (see 

 Aydendron Laurel). The fruit, in the early months of the year drop 

 from their cups to the ground, when they are collected by the natives, 

 cleaned of their flesh and pericarp and dried by a gentle heat. They 

 are used in dysentery, diarrhoea, cardialgia, spasmodic colic, strangury, 

 incontinence of urine and other disorders. The bark has the smell of 



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