250 MYEICACE^. 



C ASTANB A. — CnESTNUT. 



Castanea vesca Linne. — Chestnut. 



Description. — Staminate flowers clustered upon long, pendulous cat- 

 kins ; calyx commonly 6-parted ; stamens 8 to 20. Pistillate flowers few, 

 usually three together in a scaly, prickly involucre, which encloses them, 

 and at maturity opens by 4 valves ; calyx with a 6-lobed border which 

 crowns the 3- to 7-celled, 6- to 14:-ovuled ovary ; stigmas as many as the 

 cells of the ovary, and surrounded by 5 to 12 rudimentary stamens. Nuts 

 coriaceous, ovoid, flattened, 1 to 3 in number, sweetish, edible. 



A large tree, 30 to 50 feet in height, with a diameter of 3 to 6 feet. 

 Leaves 6 to 7 inches long, 1^ to 2 inches wide, oblong-lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, sharply serrate, very regularly feather-veined, when mature, smooth 

 and yellowish-green both sides. It blooms in June and July and matures 

 its fi'uit after frost, when the bmTS open and the nuts fall. 



Habitat. — In rocky and hilly places, and in alluvial or sandy soil ; 

 widely distributed, and often associated with oak and pine. 



Part Used. — The leaves, collected in September or October while still 

 green. Ofiicial name — Castanea. — United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Constituents. — Nothing save common vegetable principles have as yet 

 been detected in chestnut leaves. 



Preparations. — Extractum castanese fluidum — fluid extract of castanea. 

 — United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — There is much doubt regarding the medi- 

 cinal activity of chestnut leaves. Introduced as a remedy for whooping- 

 cough, the drug was considerably lauded for a time, but its slight poj^u- 

 larity seems akeady waning. In absence of anything to establish the 

 presence of a therapeutically active principle, or of physiological experi- 

 ments to prove its activity, the mere statement that it exerts a controlling 

 influence upon a disease of such uncertain course as whooping-cough may 

 well be received with caution. 



MYRICACE^. 



Character of the Order. — Monoecious and dioecious shrubs, with both 

 staminate and pistiUate flowers in short scaly catkins. Leaves alternate, 

 resinous-dotted, and often fragrant, 



A small order having few representatives in North America. In general 

 they possess, to a greater or less degree, aromatic, astringent, and stimu- 

 lant properties. 



MYRICA. — B AYBERKY. 



Myrica cerifera Linne. — Bayberry, Wax-Myrtle. 



Description. — Flowers mostly dioecious. Staminate catkins oblong, 

 scattered ; pistillate ovoid, from scaly, axillary buds. Both kinds destitute 



