CROWNED WITH LAURELS. 407 



In the Flora of tropical Asia a very important position is occupied 

 by the Laurel family. Several species of this family deserve to be 

 particularized on account of their commercial value : thus, from the 

 Laurus camphora comes the camphor most esteemed by British 

 physicians, while the aromatic rinds of the Laurus cinnamomum, 

 Culilawan, Malabathrum, and Cassia, constitute the various kinds 

 of cinnamon. The Laurus cassia is not to be confounded with 

 another Indian tree, one of the Leguminosse, the Cassia fistula, 

 whose enormous cods formerly played an important role under the 

 name of Cassia in therapeutic science. While speaking of trees 

 which produce aromatic substances, I must not forget to mention the 

 Styrax benzoin, and the Boswellia serrata. The former is a member 

 of the family Styracacece, whose trees or shrubs, chiefly tropical, are 

 known by their monopetalous flowers, their epipetalous stamens, 

 their long radicle, leafy cotyledons, and by a part at least of the 

 ovules being suspended. The Styrax benzoin, a native of the Indian 

 islands, yields the resin called benzoin. The juice exudes from 

 incisions made in the bark, and when dried, is removed by a knife or 

 chisel. Each tree yields about three pounds' weight annually, the 

 gum formed during the first three years being superior in quality to 

 that which subsequently exudes. It is largely employed by per- 

 fumers, and in medicine is esteemed a remedy for chronic pulmonary 

 disorders. Styrax officinale, a native of the Levant, furnishes the 

 balsamic resinous substance known as storax, which is also one of the 

 materials manipulated by perfumers, and in medicine is used as a 

 stimulating expectorant. 



The Boswellia serrata supplies the fragrant incense whose vapours 

 were anciently supposed to be peculiarly agreeable to the gods made 

 by man's hands or conceived by his imagination. 



India is also the native country and home-land of the Indigo 

 plants (Indigofera tinctoria, and Indigofera anil, of the Leguminosse 

 family), and the Gossypiums, from whose expanded fruits is obtained 

 the all-powerful cotton ; and in Cochin-China we meet with the 

 Croton sebiferum or Stillingia sebifera (family of the Euphorbiacese), 



