LEGUMIN0S2E-PAPILI0NA OEM. 



381 



copies of monuments and works of art, &c. In these soft stemmed 

 plants the bark may become hard and covered with prickles like 

 those of the rose, which injure mechanically both man and beast. 

 The Erytltrinas are used in hot countries to make impenetrable 

 hedges, owing to their terrible prickles. The prickles of the heathy 

 Furzes {Jjoncs 1 ) are well known here as in France, like those of 

 many species of jRobinia, Genista, Erinacea, &c, due to the meta- 

 morphosis of leaves, branches, or some other organs. In Cowhage 

 (= Cow-itch? Fr., JPois pouilleuae, Pois a gratter), i.e., Mucuna urens? 

 prurient? &c, the action is also mechanical, and due to the peculiar 

 hairs covering the pericarp. 



Many of the fine woods due to Dalbergiem that are used in cabinet- 

 making are perfumed ; such as Violet-ebony, Coumarouna, &c. In 

 this last plant 4 the scent is especially marked in the seed, used under 

 the name of Tonka- or Tonquin-bean {Feve de Tonka) and containing 

 coumarin. The same principle has been found in the Melilots. 3 The 

 smell of Balsam of Tolu is very characteristic, it is found in all the 

 balsams used in medicine (especially for chest complaints) extracted 

 from the various species of Toluifera ; i.e., the dry, soft, or liquid 

 balsams of Peru and Tolu, the brown balsam of Peru, white balsam 

 of San Salvador, and black of Peru and San Salvador. All are 

 obtained by incisions from T. Bakamum 6 and other species to be 

 named : — T. pubescens, punctata, pedicettala, peruifera, Pereirce 7 &c. 



1 TJlex europceus L., nanus Sm., Gallii Pl., 

 &c. (See DC, Prodr., ii. 144.— Pl., in Ann. 

 Sc. Nat, ser. 3, xi. 202.) 



2 DC, Prodr., ii. 405, n. 1. — Dolichos urens 

 L., Spec, 1020. 



3 DC, loc cit., n. 4. — Stizolobium pruriens 

 Pees. The larger Pois a gratter (lit., Scratch- 

 pea) or Cowhage is 31. ureiis ; the smaller is 31. 

 pruriens (GuiB., op. cit., 381, 383). 



4 See p. 380, note 3. 



5 Melilotus officinalis W., Entim., 790. — DC, 

 Prodr., ii. 186. 31. arvensis W. serves the 

 same purposes (Gtjib., op. cit., 358, fig. 661). 



6 Mill., Diet., n. 1 (part.).— L., Mat. Med., 

 201. — 31yroxylon Toluifera H. B. K., Nov. Gen. 

 et Spec, vi. 375. — Myrospermum tohiiferum 

 Rich. (A.), in Ann. Sc Nat., ser. 1, ii. 172. — 

 DC., Prodr., ii. 95, n. 4. (See above, p. 225, 

 figs. 197-200 ; 368, note 2.) 



7 The large number of species admitted into 

 this genus appears to us to require reduction, and 

 the same species may here, as in other groups of 



balsamic plants, yield different products according 

 to its place of growth. Following the researches 

 of many authors, especially Guibourt (pp. cit,. 

 470-480) and Hanbuey (in Pharni. Journ., ser. 

 2, v. 241), we may ascribe the different balsams 

 to their species as follows: — White balsam of Peru 

 to Myroxylon peruiferum (Mut. & L. fil., Suppl., 

 233; — Myrospermum peruiferum DC, loc. cit., 

 n. 3); black balsam of Peru to 31. Pereirce Rotle, 

 which should be the same species as 31. Sonsonate 

 Kl., and according to Hanbtjrt, 31. pubescens 

 K. ; dry or soft balsam of Tolu to 31. toluiferum 

 K. (Toluiferum bahamum L.); dry balsam of Peru 

 to 31. peruiferum Ruiz. ; balsam of San Salvador 

 (wrongly called black or liquid balsam of Peru, 

 since it does not come from Tern) to 31. Pereirce 

 PiOYLE, which really grows in San Salvador. 

 There is, moreover, a white balsam of Sonsonate, 

 which is obtained not by making incisions in the 

 trunk, but by expressing the fruit, probably of 

 M. Pereirce. 



