86 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1770. 



that some branches of it, with the husks and seeds only, without leaves or blos- 

 soms, were brought to England by Sir Thomas Cavendish, in Queen Elizabeth's 

 time, from the Philippine islands, where he met with it in his voyage round the 

 world. These branches were given to Mr. Morgan, the queen's apothecary, and 

 to Mr. James Garrat, of whom Clusius received them. 



M. GreofFroy, in his Materia Medica, translated in 1736 by Dr. G. Douglass, 

 p. 322, calls it anisum sinense, semen badian, and fructus stellatus, and says it 

 is highly esteemed in China, and all over the east. That it-is used to cure any 

 bad taste in the mouth, as a preservative against the effects of bad air, and also 

 for the stone and gravel. The Indians likewise steep this fruit in water, and 

 afterwards ferment the infusion, and thus make a vinous liquor : that the Dutch 

 in the East Indies, as well as the natives, mix this fruit with their tea and sherbet ' 



Kaempfer in his Amcenitates Exoticae, p. 880, calls it somo, or skimmi, and 

 has given a very good figure of a branch of it, with the leaves, flowers, and fruit. 

 He found it in Japan, and says that the Japonese and Chinese esteem it a sacred 

 tree, that they offer it to their idols, and burn the bark of it, as a perfume, on 

 their altars; and lay the branches on the graves of the dead, as an offering to the 

 ghosts of their pious departed friends; and that the public watchmen use the 

 powder of this aromatic bark strewed in small winding groves, or little channels, 

 on some ashes in a box secured from the weather, for the following purpose : this 

 powder being lighted at one end, burns slowly on, and being come to certain 

 marked distances, they strike a bell, and by means of this time-keeper, proclaim 

 the hours of the night to the public. And lastly, that it has the remarkable pro- 

 perty of rendering the poison of the bladder-fish (tetraodon ocellatus of Linn. 

 Systema Naturae, p. 333) more virulent, as many have experienced, that have 

 used violent means to destroy themselves. 



We are indebted for the first discovery of this curious American tree to a negro 

 servant of Wm. Clifton, Esq. of West Florida, who was sent to collect specimens 

 of all the rarer plants by his master, at my request ; and in April 1765, he met 

 vnth it growing in a swamp near the town of Pensacola ; the specimens I received 

 in July following. 



After this, in the latter end of January, 1766, Mr. John Bartram, the King's 

 botanist foi the Floridas, discovered it on the banks of the river St. John, in 

 East Florida, as appears from his description of it, and the drawing of a seed- 

 vessel, with some of the leaves, which he sent to our late worthy member 

 Peter CoUinson, Esq. Mr. Bartram's description of it, as it appears in his 

 journal up the river St. John's, published by Dr. Stork, in his account of East 

 Florida, is as follows: " Near here my son found a lovely sweet tree, with 

 leaves like the sweet bay, which smelled like sassafras, and produces a very 

 strange kind of seed-pop; but all the seed was shed, the severe frost had not 



