APOCYNACEJE. 



1113. C. Thevetia Linn, has a dangerous venomous milk. 

 The bark is bitter and cathartic, and is reported to be a power- 

 ful febrifuge, 2 grains only being affirmed to be equal to an 

 ordinary dose of cinchona. 



STRYCHNOS. 



Calyx 4-5-parted. Corolla tubular, with a spreading 4-5-cleft 

 limb, and a valvate aestivation. Stamens 4-5, inserted into the 

 throat of the corolla, which is either naked or bearded. Ovary 

 2-celled, with indefinite ovules attached to a central placenta ; 

 style 1 ; stigma capitate. Berry corticated, 1 -celled, many- 

 seeded, or by abortion 1 -seeded. Seeds nidulant, discoidal. 

 Albumen large, cartilaginous, almost divided into 2 plates. 

 Embryo with leafy cotyledons. 



1114. S. Nux vomica Linn.fi. zeyl. 91 . Roxb. corom. i. 8. t. 4. 

 fl. ind. i. 575. (Kheede i. t. 37.) Coromandel, Ceylon, and 



elsewhere in the East Indies. (Kuchila in Bengal.) 



Trunk short, often crooked, but pretty thick. Branches irregular, 

 covered with smooth ash-coloured bark ; young shoots highly polished, 

 deep green. Wood white, hard, close-grained, and bitter. Leaves op- 

 posite, short-stalked, oval, shining, smooth on both sides, from 3 to 5 

 nerved, or rather between that and triple, or quintuple, differing in size 

 from 1^ to 4 inches long, and from 1 to 3 broad. Flowers small, 

 greenisli-white, collected in small terminal corymbs. Calyx 5-toothed, 

 permanent. Filaments scarcely any, or exceedingly short, inserted 

 over the bottom of the divisions of the corolla ; anthers oblong, half 

 within the tube, and half out. Ovary 2-celled, with many ovules in 

 each cell, attached to the thickened centre of the partition. Style the 

 length of the tube of the corolla*; stigma capitate. Berry round, 

 smooth, size of a pretty large apple, covered with a smooth, somewhat 

 hard shell, of a rich beautiful orange colour when ripe ; filled with a white, 

 soft, gelatinous pulp. Seeds several, immersed in the pulp of the berry. 

 The wood is exceedingly bitter, particularly that of the root, which is 

 used to cure intermittent fevers, and the bites* of venomous snakes. The 

 seeds are employed in the distillation of country spirits, to render them 

 more intoxicating. The pulp of the fruit seems perfectly innocent, as it is 

 greedily eaten by many sorts of birds. Roxb. The seeds are extremely 

 poisonous, in large doses producing extraordinary rigidity and convulsive 

 contraction of the muscles previous to death. In very small and repeated 

 doses it promotes the appetite, assists the digestive process, increases 

 the secretion of urine, and sometimes acts slightly upon the bowels. 

 It is employed medicinally in paralysis, dyspepsia, dysentery, affections 

 of the nervous system, &c. ; and appears to be very active in removing 

 impotence. It appears however that virility is preserved no longer than 

 the use of the drug is persevered in. See Mr. Pereira's excellent 

 account of the action of Nux Vomica, in the Med, Gaz. xix. 440. The 

 bark of this plant has been sold in Europe as a sort of Angustura bark, 

 and obtained the name of false Angustura. It was at one time assigned 

 to Brucea antidysentmca ; but Guibourt suspected it to be produced by 

 some plant allied to Strychnos; M. Batka, a druggist of Prague, re- 

 ferred it to Strychnos NuxVomica (Guibourt y ed. 3. ii. 4); and Mr. Pereira 



528 



