268 NATUEAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



A. fivt'tda anti sp'un'scrns are considered good for curing cutaneous ulcers 

 and for maturing abscesses, by the Indians of the provinces of Eio 

 Negro ;' the bruised pulp of the fruit is applied topically. In these 

 climates a chill of any part of the body is followed by a painful 

 swelling that prevents the use of that part ; the Indians remedy this 

 by baths and warm affusions prepared with the bark oiA.fcetida. 

 The leaves of >/. imiricafa, reticulata, squamosa, Marcgravii contain a 

 volatile oil of disaijreeable odour, but infused in water or bruised 

 with oil they bring abscesses to a head. The leaves of A. palustris" 

 have, according to Wright, the same odour as those of the Savin, 

 and possess the same vermicidal properties. The fruit of this 

 species, called Corossol des marais, de la mer, Pomme de serpent, is con- 

 sidered as venomous, or at least injurious to the stomach.^ Its odour 

 is repulsive, and, says PisoN, like that of rotten cheese ; and the 

 Topinambous think that the sea crabs that eat this fruit become 

 poisonous as an article of food/ However the negroes eat this 

 Pomme de serjjent for want of better, and it appears that in Senegal 

 too the fruit of A. chrysocarjja, really the same plant as A. jmlustris,' 

 is sometimes eaten. 



The seeds of Monodora Mt/ristica^ have nearly all the properties of 

 the nutmeg ; hence they are called Guinea or Calabash Nutmegs {Mus- 

 cades de Calabash). They are, indeed, more pungent, but they serve 

 exactly for the same culinary purposes ; and hence it has been con- 

 jectured that the negroes of Guinea transported this plant to Jamaica, 

 that they might be able to use the seeds as a condiment as in their 

 native country. The negroes of Guiana also use the fruit and seeds 



' Maet., Reise in Bras., ii. 555. to malignant ulcers. His A. longifulia (615, t, 



- L., Spec, 757. — Dun., Mon., 65. — DC, 248), which is an .^ieremoff, has, he says, an edible 



!%«/., i. 469 ; Prodr.,v\.Q. — A. S. H., PI. Us. fruit called P/waowia by the Galibis. A. DE Saint- 



Rrasil., n. 29 {Aralicu do hrejo). — A. vliginosa HiLAiRE also describes in his Plantes Usuelles 



!-«■ — A.aunlralis \.'!>.\\. — A. chrysocarpa Rich., des Braslliens (n. 29), his A. sylvatica {Araiicu 



GuiLL. & Peru. — A. Pisonis Maet. (see Adan- de mato). 



sonin, viii. 296, 380). 6 ^^^ ^ j^j^n., 80.— DC, Syst., i. 477 ; Prodr., 



^ Si.oANE, Jam., ii. 169. — Maecge., Bras., i. 87. — M. yrandijiora Benth., Linn. Trans., 



('d. a (1618), 93. — Piso, Bras., 48. — SoAKES DE xxiii. 474, t. 52, 53. — Anona Myrisfica G.eetn., 



SOCZA, Nut. do Bras., 194 (e.x Maet., Fl, 61). Fruct., ii. 194, t. 125, f. l.—Xylopia undulata 



* De Maktu-8 remarks that at the same Pal. Beauv., J'Z. Oeoar. ez! Pew., i. 27, 1. 16 (excl. 

 season they cat the fruit of the Manchineel, and fruct.) The multiple fruit represented in this 

 of Sapium auctipurinm. plate is no doubt that of a Xylopia (Pl., Ann. 



* AUBLKT {Guian.) also points out several Sc. Nat., ser. 4, ii. 262). The true fruit of 

 vlnonrt* with edible fruit. IW^ A. punctata {^W, Monodora My ristica h\x<s, o\\\y ?^ s,\ng\& cell (see 

 t. 247) is. lie says, the Corossol sauvnge, good fig. 299, p. 240). For everything relative to the 

 to cat. His A. Amhofay (()16, t. 249) is used Monodoras in general see above, pp. 239-242, 

 for its pu;igent bitter bark, applied in decoction and Adansonia, viii. 299, 344. 



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