354 LXIX. ACERINE2E. 



combined with a resinous matter and a certain quantity of volatile oil. The berries of several species and 

 Ihe aril of others have an agreeable taste, owing to the mucilage, sugar, and free acids which they con- 

 tain ; while others possess narcotic principles which render them eminently poisonous. The seeds of most 

 yield a fixed oil by expression. The bark, root, and pulp of the fruit of the Soap Tree (Stipftidu* Siipmariu) 

 are regarded as tonics; besides which, this pulp, like that of its Asiatic congeners, froths with hot water 

 like soap, and is used in washing, being said to cleanse more linen than sixty times its weight of soap. 

 The berries of & seneyalcnsi* are sought by the negros for their sugary and vinous taste. The succulent 

 and well-tasted aril of Melicocca serves as food in Asia and America, as well as that of the Akee (Blighia 

 or Cupania sapida), an African plant cultivated over the tropics of both worlds. The fruit, cooked with 

 sugar and cinnamon, is taken for dysentery, and when roasted is applied to indolent tumours. The species 

 of the genus Xep/ielitnn rank high among Asiatic fruits; N. Litchi (Litchi), N. Lonyanum (Longan), N. 

 lajjpaceum (Rambntan), and their congeners, are cultivated for their excellent fruits, which are used in 

 inflammatory and bilious fevers. The &'rjn)ri(r and the Paullinite, American genera, are poisonous ; the 

 Brazilians use their juice to stupefy fish ; and it is from the flower of Serjania lef halt's that the Lecheu- 

 quana bee collects a narcotic-acrid honey, of which a small quantity produces raving madness, and even 

 death. The juice of Paullinia Cimint is used by the savages of Guiana to poison their arrows ; the negro 

 slaves prepare a poison with the root and seeds of P. pinnata ; the expressed juice of its leaves furnishes 

 the Brazilian Indians with a powerful vulnerary. The seed of P. sorbilis is bitter and astringent ; the 

 Brazilians powder it, and make it into a paste called ffiiarana bread, which they roll into little balls or 

 cylinders; on th?ir journeys they dilute this dried paste with sugared water, when it forms a refreshing 

 and febrifuge drink. [It owes its properties to a principle, gunranene, identical with theine. ED.] Cardio- 

 fpirmum Halicacalum, a herb growing throughj^t the tropics, produces a mucous nauseous root to which 

 aperient and lithontriptic virtues are attributed, [but its leaves are cooked as a vegetable in the Moluccas. 

 ED.]. Dodontra owes its scent to a resinous principle which exudes from its leaves and capsules; the 

 leaves of D. viscosa are used for baths and fomentations ; its seeds are edible. [The Rambeh and Choopa 

 of Malacca, species of Pierardia, and the Tamptii (IMycarpus mulayatms) yield esculent drupes; these 

 genera, hitherto regarded as Euphorbiaceous, have recently been referred to Sajrindacea. The seeds of 

 the wild Prune of South Africa {Pupped) abound in oil. Many produce most valuable timber, and the 

 structure of the wood of man)' climbing species is most remarkable. The African Teak (Oldjicldia 

 qfrieana), doubtfully placed in Euphorbiacefr, is referred to Sapindactte by T. Mueller. The wood of 

 Ptero.rylon vtile, of South Africa, is hard, and as handsome as Mahogany ; its sawdust causes sneezing, 

 whence the Cape names of Neishout and Sneezewood. Hippodromtu aluta, of the same country, also 

 yields a valuable timber. En.] 



LXIX. 



(AcERA, Jussieu. ACERINF.^E, D.C. ACERACE.<E, Lindl.) 



PETALS 4-5, hypogynous, imbricate, sometimes 0. STAMENS equal or more in 

 number than the petals. OVARY 2-lobed, of two 2-ovuled cells ; style central. OVULES 

 pendulous, curved. FRUIT a samara. EMBRYO exalbuminous ; cotyledons folded or con- 

 volute; radicle descending. STEM woody. LEAVES opposite. 



TREES with sugary, usually limpid, but sometimes milky juice; buds scaly. 

 LEAVES opposite, petiolate, usually simple, palmi-nerved and -lobed, rarely entire or 

 imparipinnate, leaflets petiolulate ; stipules 0. FLOWERS $ , or often polygamo- 

 dioecious, regular, in a simple or compound raceme or corymb, axillary or terminal ; 

 pedicels with a caducous bract. CALYX 4-5- (rarely 6-8-) partite, segments often 



1 See Sapindacete, Suborder III., p. 353. El). 



