LXXIII. TEREBINTHACE^]. '363 



Pistacia vera (Pistachio). A tree of Persia and Syria, 1 now cultivated throughout the Mediterranean 

 region. Fruit with an oily green seed of an agreeable taste, used by confectioners and pharmacists. P. 

 Lentisctis. A small tree, cultivated in the Greek Archipelago, and especially at Scio, yielding by incision 

 of its trunk an aromatic resin called mastic, softening in the mouth, slightly tonic and astringent, and much 

 used in the East to perfume the breath and strengthen the gums [as also to flavour wines and confec- 

 tionery. In England it is used for varnishing pictures and in dentistry. ED.]. P. atlantica, from Mauri- 

 tania, also yields a mastic, employed in the same way. P. Terebinthus, a Mediterranean tree, yields by 

 incision the Ohio or Cyprus turpentine, formerly used in medicine, but now unjustly depreciated ; [it 

 further produces curious horn-shaped galls, used for tanning leather in the East. ED.]. 



Schinus Molle (False Pepper) is a small tree of tropical America with a sugary edible drupe and a 

 mastic with the odour of pepper, slightly purgative. [Fragments of the leaf floated on water move about 

 by jerks, owing to the discharge of a volatile oil from the tissues. ED.] 



Duvaua dependens is a small Chilian tree with fermentable seeds which yield an intoxicating drink. 



Rims Coriaria (Varnish-tree) is a small Mediterranean tree, the dried and pulverized leaves of which 

 furnish a tan much used in the preparation of leather ; its acid fruit is used in Turkey as a condiment. 

 The flowers and fruits of R. typhina, a North American shrub, are there used to sharpen vinegar, whence 

 its name of Vinegar-tree. R. Cotinus, a South European shrub, yields Venetian Sumach, or Young 

 Fustic, a valuable orange-yellow dye. Its bark is aromatic and astringent, and is used as a febrifuge. R. 

 Toxicodendron (the Poison Sumach or Poison Ivy), of North America, has a milky volatile very acrid 

 juice, the touch of which, or even an exhalation from it, brings on violent erysipelas [in many persons, 

 whilst others are wholly unaffected by it. ED.]. An extract is prepared from the leaves, and used in 

 some cutaneous disorders. R. Vernix, a Japanese shrub with milky juice, of which is composed Japanese 

 varnish. Other trees of the same family, natives of China and India, yield also by incision a very dele- 

 terious resinous juice, employed in the composition of Chinese lacquer. The juice of R. venenata, of North 

 America, is not less deleterious, and is similarly employed. R. Succedanea yields the Vegetable Wax of 

 Japan [which is found as a thick white coating of the seed within the capsule. ED.]. 



Melanorrhcea usitatissiina yields the celebrated black varnish of Burmah and Martaban. [A similar 

 varnish is yielded in India by the fruits of Holiyarna lonyifolia. ED.] 



Manyifera indica, an East Indian tree introduced into the Antilles, yields the Mango, a large drupe, 

 variable in colour and size, of a perfumed and sugary-acid taste, becoming purgative when eaten to 

 excess; [but which is one of the best of tropical fruits. Its bitter aromatic root is used medicinally. ED.]. 



Anacardium occidental, an American tree now naturalized throughout the tropics, yields the Cashew- 

 nut, which contains in its pericarp a caustic oil [and black varnish], and in its seed a sweet oil. Its 

 greatly enlarged and pear-shaped receptacle, called the Cashew-apple, is juicy, fleshy, sugary and acid in 

 taste, but a little cicrid. The true Cashew wood is furnished by a tree of the Antilles belonging 

 to the family of Cedrelacece. The juice of the pericarp of Semecarpus gives an indelible black dye, used 

 for marking linen. 



Spondias purpurea (Spanish Plum) is a West Indian tree with an acidulous sugary drupe. S. dulcis is 

 cultivated in the Friendly and Society Islands for its wholesome and refreshing fruit. [S. lutea, Mombra, 

 and tuberosa, yield the Hog Plum of the West Indies. ED.] S. birrea, a native of Senegambia, has 

 a fermentable fruit from which the negros make a spirituous liquor. 



[The gum of Odina Odier is used for plasters in India. ED.] 



1 The native country of the cultivated Pistachio nut ' Geographic Botanique.' I did not find it in Syria, and 



(P. vera) is unknown, and it is doubtful whether it may was informed that it was known there in cultivation 



not be a cultivated form of P. atlantica, or some only told. ED. 

 other species. The plant is omitted in De Candolle's 



