NYCTAGINACE&. 17 



odour and a sweetish taste, leaving a little acridity in the mouth. 

 It is said to be pretty strongty purgative. The Boer/iaavias 1 also 

 often have purgative and emetic roots. In Guiana that of Boerhaavia 

 diffusa L., 2 bears the common name of Ipecacuanha. B. tuberosa 

 Lamk., 3 bears in Peru that of Yerba de la purgation. In Africa and 

 Central America B. erect a L. ; 4 in India B. procumbens Eoxb., 5 serve 

 also as purgatives. 



The root of the B. decumbens Vahl, is employed as an emetic in 

 Guiana. B. procumbens has been also prescribed as a febrifuge, 

 B. scandens in haemorrhoids, and B. hirsuta W., 6 in jaundice. Some 

 plants of this genus have edible roots and buds. r It is also said that 

 the roots of the Pisonias have evacuant properties : in India P. 

 aculeata L. ; 8 in America P. noxia Nett. 9 This last is considered in 

 Brazil as a powerful irritant, contact with which produces itching 

 and even leprosy, it is asserted. 10 P. Capparosa Nett., 11 of Brazil is 

 used to prepare an infused drink in the province of Minas-Geraes, 

 and, above all, to dye cotton stuffs black. 12 Some of the Pisonias of 

 Polynesia and Java have a wood strong enough to serve for building. 13 

 Several are cultivated in our hothouses for the beauty of their foliage. 14 

 Cephalotomandra fragrans 1 ' 3 has, like several other Pisonias, numerous 

 and fragrant flowers. Like Mirabilis, some of them are cultivated in 

 our gardens for their flowers, which blow at night, especially M. 

 longiflora> which exhales a sweet and musty odour at evening. The 

 Abronias have been introduced into our parterres as ornamental 

 plants, especially A. umbellata. 16 The Bougainvillea ornament our 

 greenhouses, not by their flowers, which are inconspicuous, but by 

 the brilliant colours of the three petaloid bracts protecting the 

 inflorescence. 



1 H. Bn.. in Bid. Bncycl. Sc. Med., x. IS. Tragtdaria horrida Kcest. — Pallavia loran- 



2 Spec, 4.— Chois., Prodr., 452, n. 9. thoides H. B. K. {Fingrigo of Jamaica). 



3 III., i. 10.— Chois., Prodr., 454, n. 16. 9 In Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 5, v. 80, t. 7. 



4 Spec, 4 (nee Foest.). — Chois., Prodr., 10 Hence the vulgar names of Pao lepra, Pao 

 n. 1, Judea. It is still called Jodo molle. 



b Var., it is said, of B. diffusa. " Boc. cit., 82, t. 8 (vulg. Capparosa do 



6 Phyt., i. n. 3. — Chois., Prodr., n. 5. campo). 



7 The young shoots of B. erecia are eaten. li The leaves of P. noxia serve the same 

 The tap-roots of B. mutdbilhs are harvested ;>.s purpose. 



Salsify in the South Sea Islands. Olus album 13 Especially P. sylvestris Tetsm. et Binn. 



Rumph. {Herb. Amboin., i. 78), whose shoots (ex Bosenth., op. cit., 1111). 



are eaten with meat at Amhoyna, has been u In Peru the silversmiths use Chulco, or 



named by Spanoghe [in Binnaa (1841), 342] Colignonia parviflora Endl., to clean silver vases. 



Pisonia alba. 1S See p. 9, note 1. 



8 Spec 1511— Chois., Prodr., 440, n. 1.— 16 Lame. Ill.,t. 5— Chois., Prodr., 435, n. 1. 



VOL. IV. C 



