XXI. BIXINE^. 243 



growing at the foot of Chiiuborazo, is supposed to yield the root called Cuichunchulli, prescribed by the 

 Americans for tubercular elephantiasis. 



The medical properties of Al$odinca> are very obscure, and entirely differ from those of Violets. The 

 leaves and bark of Ahodeia Ciixpu, which grows in New Granada, are bitter a:id astringent. The leaves of 

 A. castanea'folia and Lobolobo, Brazilian species, are mucilaginous, and are cooked and eaten by the negros. 



XX. CANELLACE^} 



\. 



Glabrous aromatic trees. LEAVES alternate, quite entire, penninerved, pellucid- 

 dotted ; stipules 0. FLOWERS g , regular, in terminal, lateral, or axillary cymes ; 

 Iracteoles (sepals of some authors) 3, orbicular, close under the calyx, much imbricate, 

 persistent ; sepals (petals of some) 4-5, free, thick, deciduous, much imbricate, the 

 inner narrowest. PETALS (petaloid scales of some) as many as the sepals, thin, 

 imbricate or 0. STAMENS hypogynous ; filaments connate into a tube ; anthers 20 or 

 fewer, linear, adnate to the outer surface of the tube, longitudinally 2-valved. DISK 

 0. OVARY free, 1 -celled; placentas 2-5, parietal, 2- or more-ovuled ; style short, 

 thick; stigmas 2-5; ovules horizontal or ascending, almost anatropous. BERRY 

 indehiscent, 2-many-seeded. SEEDS with a shining crustaceous testa ; albumen 

 oily and fleshy. EMBRYO straight or curved ? , radicle next the hilum ; cotyledons 



oblong. 



GENERA. 

 Canella. Cinnamodendron. Cinnamosma. 



A very small order, placed by Martins near Guttifcrtt, included by Lindley under Pittosporeee, and 

 placed by Miers near Magnoliacea ; but according to Bentham and Hooker fil. it has less affinity with any 

 of the above orders than with Vu>larietea,n<llti<vi)U*e, differing from the first of these chiefly in the absence 

 of stipules, aromatic properties, and more numerous anthers, which are extrorse, and adnate to the staminal 

 column. 



Canellacete, of which only five species are known, are natives of tropical America, with one Madagascar! 

 species ; all are highly aromatic. The Canella bark of commerce is the Wild Cinnamon of the West Indies, 

 and is a well-known carminative and stomachic; it is exported from the Bahamas as ' White-wood bark,' 

 on account of the white appearance of the trees when stripped of the bark ; the inner layers alone are 

 used, and yield -by distillation a warm aromatic oil. The bark of a Brazilian species is used as a tonic and 

 antiscorbutic; it is prescribed in low fevers, and made into a gargle is useful in cases of relaxation of the 

 tonsils. 



XXI. BIXINE^E. 



(BixiNE^E, Kunth. BIXACE^E ET COCHLOSPERME^E, Endlicher. FLACOURTIACE.E ET 

 PANGIACE^E, Lindl. FLACOURTIANEJB, L. C. Richard, D. Glos.} 



SEPALS distinct or connate, usually imbricate. COROLLA polypetalous, Tiypogynous, 

 or 0. STAMENS usually oo, hypogynous or sub-perinynous. OVARY free, usuallij 1- 

 celled, placentation parietal. STYLE simple, or divided to its base. BEKRY or CAPSULE 

 -with half-seminiferous valves. SEEDS albuminous. EMBRYO usually straight, axile. 



1 This order is omitted in the original. Ku. 

 u 2 



