MAGNOLIACEJE. 



175 



and appears verj' efficacious in clironic rheumatism.' M. acuminata and 

 auriculata are known in the same country as Cu cumber-trees f and 

 their bark, infused in various alcoholic liquors, is used by the people 

 of the mountain districts in rheumatic affections and intermitting: 

 fevers. Tlie leaves must possess similar properties, but are very 

 little used. The flowers are used to prepare perfumes of but slic^ht 

 stability. Those of M. Yulan are used in Cliina to give an aroma 

 to tea ; its buds are pickled in vinegar, and the fruits are also used 

 in infusion, as pectoral and demulcent, in cases of cough and other 

 pulmonary affections, and in catarrhal fever. The alcoholic in- 

 fusion of the green fruits of tlie Cucumber-tree is also thought to 

 cure rheumatism. Those of M. glauca are as useful as the bark. 

 The seeds of many species, such as M. glauca, acuminata, Yulan, are 

 much used as febrifuges. It is said that those of M. (jrandijlora are 

 used to treat paralysis of every description, and that those of M. 

 Yulan, prized in China^ for the lemon scent of their fleshy coats, cure 

 chronic rheumatism ; they are also powdered in that country for a 

 sternutatory. The wood of the species of this section is of no great 

 value ; it is usually white, of but little hardness or durability, and 

 too light and spongy. Accordingly, that of J/, (jrandijlora and 

 auriculata is only used in America for the internal beams of liouses. 

 That of M. acuminata is hardly stronger, but has a fine grain, and 

 easily takes a high polish, which brings out its brownish yellow 

 colour ; and it is much used in the woodwork of houses. 



In the Magnolias of the section Talauma the aromatic properties 

 are still more marked. Tlie intense scent of their flowers in con- 

 servatories may bring on faintness. It is to those of J/. Plumieri^ or 

 Talauma Plumierf {Bois Pin, Bois Cachiment of the Creoles), that, ac- 

 cording to L. C. EiCHARD,^ the excellent table liqueurs of Martinique 



1 BiaEiow, Med. Bot., ii. t. 27. 



^ In the United States the bark of M. grandi- 

 flora is often mixed with that of these species in 

 commerce. It possesses the same properties. 

 It has been analysed by Peoctee {loc. cit.) : it 

 contains an acid which gives a green precipitate 

 with salts of iron ; salts ; volatile oil ; a green 

 resin j and the same crystallizable principle analo- 

 gous to liriodendrine, as exists in 31. glauca 

 (Peeeiea, op. cit., 676). 



' It is their Yu-lan, or Tsin-y. Its emble- 

 matical flowers are so much prized that the tree 



is cultivated in pots, and forced so as to flower 

 in winter. — K.F.MrF., Ic. Sel., t. 43. 



* 31. fatiscens L. C. Rich, ex DC, Prodr., 

 i. 82. — Anona dodccajjeiala Lajik. 



^ Sw., Frodr., 87; Fl. Lid. Occid., ii. 1)97.— 

 T. ccerulea Xaum., ex DucH., Rip., 177. 



c A. Rich., Elem. d'llisi. ]S!af. 3L'd., cd. I, 

 Bof., ii. 454. The leaves and roots are i)ro- 

 scribed as astringent and stomachic, and the leaf 

 buds as antiscorbutic. The Indians make various 

 domestic utensils of the wood; and a resin 

 extracted from the plant is supposed to cure 

 catarrh and Icucorrlicca. 



