SEMEN BONDUCELL.-E. 211 



it is a resin having a general resemblance to Balsam of Tolu, but of 

 somewhat deeper and redder tint, and greater hardness. Pressed be- 

 tween two slips of warmed glass, it does not exhibit any crystals. 



In a treatise on Brazil written by a Portuguese friar about 1570- 

 1600,1 mention is made of the " Cabueriha" {Cabure-iha), from which a 

 much-esteemed balsam was obtained by making incisions in the stem, 

 and absorbing the exudation with cotton wool, somewhat in the same 

 way as Balsam of Peru is now collected in Salvador. This tree is 

 Myrocarpus frondosus Allem., now called Cabriuva pi^efa. The genus 

 is closely allied to Myroxylon. 



Another fragrant oleo-resin, which has doubtless been confounded 

 with that of a Myroxylon, is obtained in Central America from 

 Liquidambar styraciflua L., either by incision or by boiling the bark. 



SEMEN BONDUCELLiE. 



Semen Guilandince ; Bonduc Seeds, Grey Nicker Seeds or Nuts ; F. 

 Gravnes de Bonduc on du Cniquier, Pois Queniqiies, Pois Guenic. 



Botanical Origin — Ccesalpinia Bonducella Roxb. (Guilandina 

 BondiLcella L.), a prickly, pubescent, climbing shrub^ of wide distribu- 

 tion, occurring in Tropical Asia, Africa and America, especially near the 

 sea. The compressed, ovate, spiny legume is 2 to 3 inches long, and 

 contains one or two, occasionally three or four, hard, gi'ey, globular 

 seeds. 



The plant is often confounded with C. Bonduc Roxb., a nearly 

 allied but much rarer species, distinguished by being nearly glabrous, 

 having leaflets very unequal at the base, no stipules, erect bracts, and 

 yellow seeds. 



History — "Pilti-Karanja," stinking Karanja, in Susruta (1.223,1) is 

 the plant under notice. The word Bunduk, occuning in the writings 

 of the Arabian and Persian physicians, also in Constantinus Africanus, 

 mostly signifies hazel-nut? One of these authors, Ibn Baytar,* who 

 flourished in the 13th century, further distinguished a drug called 

 Bunduk Hindi (Indian hazel-nut), giving a description which indicates 

 it plainly as the seed under notice. Both Bunduk a-ndBunduk Hindi 

 are enumerated in the list of drugs of Noureddeen Mohammed Abdullah 

 Shirazy,* physician to the Mogul emperor Shah Jehan, A.D. 1628-1661. 



The pods of C. Bonducella were figured by Clusius in 1605, under 

 the name of Lobus echinodes, and the plant both by Rheede ^ and 

 Rumphius. Piso and Marcgraf (1648) noticed it in Brazil and gave 

 some account of it with a bad woodcut, under the designation of 

 Inimboy (now Inimboja), or in Portuguese Silva do Praya. 



In recent times, Bonduc seeds have been employed on account of 

 their tonic and antiperiodic properties by numerous European practi- 



^ Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. (1625) 1308. ^ Sontheimer's translation, i. 177. 



- Fig. in Bentley and Trunen, Med. ' Ulfaz Udiciyeh, translated by Gladwin, 



Plants, part 24 (1877). 1793. No. 543. 551. 



^ The word also means a little ball or a « Hort. Malab. ii. (1679) tab, 22, snb 



round stone. Btinduk Hindi is frequently nom. Caretfi. 

 used by Arabic authors to denote also 

 Areca-nut. 



