17 i NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Worlds ; three are proper to tlie New World, and four to the Old. 

 The latter possesses about fifty-five species of its own ; the former 

 about a score. We know of none found native in both. 



The Magnoliacece are almost all useful to man. They only become 

 noxious in some cases by the very excess of their virtues. Thus it 

 is said that the too powerful scent of the flowers of Magnolia Um- 

 brella and of several other species of the same genus has sufficed to 

 cause headache, nausea, and nervous attacks. But in the open air 

 the lemon-like scent of M. grandifora, that which the species of the 

 section Talauma^ spread far and wide, and the yet sweeter odour 

 of M. pterocarpa Roxb., glauca, Yidan, &c., are very agreeable, and 

 cause these superb plants to be prized as ornaments in gardens,^ as 

 do the evergreen polished leaves of M. grandifora, and the white or 

 pink corollas of M. Yulan, 2^i(^purea, Soidangiana, auriculata, macro- 

 phglla, glauca, Camphellii^ Kobus,"^ &c. As drugs,^ the Magnolias pro- 

 perly so-called are rich in a bitter, aromatic, tonic principle found in 

 the bark of both root and stem, and especially the latter." The bark 

 oi M. grandifora{i\\Q Tulip-Laurel, Big Zaurel of the Americans) is con- 

 sidered a tonic and slight febrifuge. That of 31. glauca {Blue Magnolia, 

 Marsh Magnolia, Castor-tree, Beaver-tree, Virginian Cinchona, Swamj) 

 Sassafras of the Americans) enjoys a far greater reputation.^ This 

 species was for some time thought to jDroduce the true Angostura bark, 

 which will show pretty clearly what are its virtues. From it is pre- 

 pared an alcoholic tincture, which is a tonic stimulant^ and febrifuge, 



' It is assevered that the flower of T. fra- "! Michx., Arhr. Forest., iii. 77. — Pereira, 



grantUsima HooK. {Icon. t. ccxi.), which we op. cit., 675. In the south of the United States 



must refer to T. ovata A. S. H., can be smelt this Tplsmt is also caWed TFIiiie Boi/aud Sweef Bat/. 



half a mile off. Its bark is removed in autumn and winter. When 



- Tutw, Icon. Select., t. 9, 23, 25, fig. 2, 62, dry it occurs in light, smooth, somewhat quilled 



G3. — DciiAM., Traile des Arhr. (1775), ii. 2. pieces, several inches long, and one or two inches 



' Hook. & Thoms., Ulustr. PI. Himal., t. broad, of a silvery ash colour outside, white and 



4. — v. HoUTTE, Fl. des Serres, t. 1282-1285. fibrous within. It has a warm, pungent, bitter 



This species has a bright pink perianth, and a taste, and an agreeable smell. The bark of the 



pretty regular elongated fruit. root is thought more active than that of the 



* K.EMrF., Icon. Select. (1791), t. 42. trunk. It is supposed to contain the same prin- 



* Endl., Enchir., 429. — Pkreira, Flem. ciple analogous to liriodeudrine as that found in 

 Mat. Mf^d., ed. 4, ii. p. ii. 67 1. — Gdib., Hist. the bark of 31. grandiflora, by S. Proctee 

 Nat. des. Drog. Simpl., cd. A, iii. 678. — Lindl., (Amer. Joiirn of Pharm., .\iv.95). The prepara- 

 Fl. Med., 23. — Kosenth., Sgnops. Plant. tions usually used are the powder, the alcoholic 

 Dinphr., 59o. infusion, and the decoction. 



« Hlcme thought that these properties af- ^ According to Baetox it is so powerful an 



forded a clear separation between Magnoliacece excitant, that when improperly administered it 



and Dllleniacerr, which arc not aromatic, but may determine attacks of fever or rheumatism, 

 simply astringent. 



